The original Al Ayn airfield was pretty much South-East of the Muraba'a fort, which was the Police station. I have a feeling it's been preserved. It was a mile or two into the scrub, and was used by GF DC3 and Heron scheduled services, at least it was when I lived in downtown Al Ayn in 1965-68, as well as the Twin Pins and then Andovers from RAF Sharjah in support of the TOS Squadron in Jahili fort..
There was also a strip for Buraimi, used by SOAF and Police Air Wing.
There were no navaids there; but there was a very nice windsock, provided by BP.
Edit...I've just been on Google Earth; maybe my estimate of "a mile or two" is slighlty under the truth.. There wasn't much built to the East of the Muraba'a, until the Hilton in 1973 or so (?) and it was only a short Landrover drive to the strip from the town. The orientation was more or less N-S, as I recall, and it was long enough for a DC3 on a hot day (+45C ++). The Andovers struggled at A Ayn though, but then they would do that at the N Pole. Beavers leapt into the air, of course, no matter what, as did the Twin Pins. A Prentice had to swerve to avoid the bushes at the far end on take-off, but that's the Prentice all over.
Last edited by Capot; 28th Mar 2009 at 17:15.