The airport was originally built in 1923 by the
Italian Air Force as
Mellaha Air Base (). A motor racing circuit was subsequently built around the airport and Mellaha Lake began hosting the popular
Tripoli Grand Prix in 1933. Mellaha was used by the German
Luftwaffe during the
North African Campaign, with the Germans using it for short range
recon units, as well as coastal and naval recon units. Special weather recon units also existed at Mehalla. The main Luftwaffe unit stationed at the base was the 2nd Staffel of the Aufklärungsgruppe (H) 14 or 2.(H)/14. The squadron was equipped with twelve single-engine
Henschel Hs 126, an aircraft with a 2-man crew, which could cover approx 710 km, with a maximum speed of 360 km/h, as well as three
Fieseler Fi 156 Storch liaison aircraft, and a
Junkers Ju 52 for transport of men and materiel. The airbase was captured by the
British 8th Army in January 1943. The
US Army Air Force began using Mellaha as a base in January 1943. It was used by the
376th Bombardment Group (Heavy) of the
12th Air Force for
Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomb missions into
Italy and southern parts of
Germany. In addition, Mellaha Field was used by
Air Transport Command. It functioned as a stopover en route to
Benina Airport near
Benghazi or to
Tunis Airport,
Tunisia on the North African
Cairo-
Dakar transport route for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel. On 15 April 1945, Mellaha AAF was taken over by
USAAF's
Air Training Command. It was renamed Wheelus Army Air Field (AAF) on 17 May 1945 in honor of USAAF Lieutenant Richard Wheelus who had died earlier that year in a
plane crash in
Iran. During the USAFs tenure, the base was extended, demolishing the derelict motor-racing buildings. A 1954 agreement with Libya extended use of the base until 1971, but changing needs led the United States to withdraw completely by 1970, handing the facility over to the new Libyan government that had taken power a year earlier in the
1969 Libyan coup d'état.
Libyan/Soviet use After the US Air Force left in 1970, the base was renamed Okba Ben Nafi Air Base (seemingly after the legendary hero
Uqba ibn Nafi) and served as a
Libyan People's Air Force (LPAF) installation. The base housed the LPAF's headquarters and a large share of its major training facilities. In addition, aircraft and personnel of the
Soviet Air Force took up residence at the base. LPAF Soviet-made
MiG-17/
19/
25 fighters and
Tu-22 bombers were based at Okba Ben Nafi Air Base. Of the combat aircraft, the
US State Department estimated in 1983 that fifty percent remained in storage, including most of the MiG fighters and
Tu-22 bombers.
U.S. bombing raid in 1986 targeted in the bombing of 1986. The base was a primary target of the
1986 United States bombing of Libya (Operation "El Dorado Canyon"), launched against Libya due to missile attacks on US aircraft and Libyan involvement in terrorist attacks against US servicemen in Europe. At 2 a.m. on 16 April 1986, Okba Ben Nafi AB, various Libyan government buildings, and three alleged Libyan terrorist training camps were bombed by
General Dynamics F-111 Aardvarks from the
48th Tactical Fighter Wing, flying from the United Kingdom, to Libya. The raid included eighteen F-111 fighter-bombers, five
General Dynamics–Grumman EF-111A Raven from the
66th Electronic Combat Wing/
42nd Electronic Combat Squadron, and carrier-based Navy
F-14 Tomcats and
A-6E Intruders. The EF-111s formed up with the attack force to provide electronic defense during the attack. One 48 TFW F-111F was lost presumably to a
surface-to-air missile or AAA hit. The 48 TFW that bombed the base had practiced for years with
F-100s at this very same air base when it was Wheelus Air Base and later at
Zaragoza AB Spain with
F-4D Phantoms and F-111s for similar missions.
Post–Cold War Okba Ben Nafi AB was converted for civilian use and became Mitiga Airport in 1995. The airport also housed the headquarters of
Buraq Air.
2011 Libyan civil war During the
2011 Libyan civil war, the
Times of Malta and
The Guardian reported claims that the airport had been taken over by protesters opposed to Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi. On 13 March 2011, Ali Atiyya, a colonel of the
Libyan Air Force at the airport, defected and joined the
anti-Gaddafi forces. On 21 August 2011, rebels launched an assault on Mitiga as part of a bid to battle loyalist forces in Tripoli, sustaining a number of casualties in the process. On 25 October 2011
Google Earth released
multispectral imagery from
GeoEye taken on 28 August 2011 which showed the airfield as well as the highly capable
MiG-25 aircraft with no visible damage. This imagery helped corroborate reporting which suggested that the airfield had been taken over early on by opposition protesters; moreover,
NATO and US air forces would have wanted to avoid collateral damage to the opposition movement.
2014 Libyan civil war During the
2019–20 Western Libya campaign, the airport, held by military units loyal to the
Government of National Accord, was repeatedly targeted with
airstrikes from the opposing
Libyan National Army in order to enforce a
no-fly zone declared by the LNA several days prior. On 8 April 2019, an airport spokesman announced that the airport was forced to close due to airstrikes. TunisAir was the first foreign carrier to resume flights to the airport, in May 2021. ==Airlines and destinations==