Berca, near Benghazi, Libya was built sometime prior to 1938 by the Italians for civilian air flights to Benghazi in colonial Cyrenaica. The area, known as البركة (al Birkah, "the Pond") was adjacent to the southern part of Benghazi. By the arrival of the Luftwaffe in 1941, three landing strips had been built on the site. The British 8ᵀᴴ Army seized Benghazi on 20 November 1942, after which the landing strips remained in Allied hands. On 26 March 1943, the 98ᵀᴴ Bombardment Group of the 9ᵀᴴ Air Force, had established itself at Berca. By the time the 389ᵀᴴ Bombardment Group of the 8ᵀᴴ Air Force had arrived for TDY on 3 July 1943, there were now at least 10 landing sites at Berca. Phillip Ardery commented: "There were numerous airdromes in the area and by flying over and calling the radio tower of each, we finally surmised which one must be our new home." The 389ᵀᴴ operated out of Berca 10, sometimes called "Site 10." It was carved out of the desert, as Ernest Poulson recalled: "There was virtually nothing there when we arrived. ... The runway was nothing but a section of desert that the engineers had scraped clear of big rocks. It was dirt." Ardery adds, "It didn't have a hard surface, but it obviously didn't need one for this season of the year. It was dusty but plenty hard to sustain the ship." Once the site was operational, "The dust and sand were so bad that it was a real challenge for our maintenance men to keep the aircraft up and operating" (Poulson). The famous raid on the Ploesti oil fields was launched from Berca. After the war, Berca 2 was used as a radar site. Today the area has been absorbed by urban Benghazi.