Tejgaon Airport

Tejgaon Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh served as the country's sole international airport prior to the construction of Shahjalal International Airport.HistoryThe British had built military airstrips at Tejgaon, Dhaka during the Second World War for operating warplanes towards the battlefields of Kohima and other Burmese war threats. After Independence in 1947, Tejgaon Airport became the first airport to operate civil aviation in the then East Pakistan and it was also a station of the Pakistan Air Force. A number of other British built military airstrips in Bangladesh territory were also converted into civil airports – some during Pakistan period and some after Liberation. A few others were converted to STOL (Short Take-off and Landing) ports some years ago. And some are still left alone. The airstrips not yet converted to any civil airport of any kind are at Feni, Rajendrapur, Pahar Kanchanpur, Chakaria and Rasulpur.Soon after the Second World War broke out, the British authority felt the need of constructing the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) stations in Dhaka and other vulnerable places in Bangladesh territory. The construction of Tejgaon Airport at a place named Dainodda started in 1941; and the building of a landing strip at Kurmitola (Balurghat) started at about the same time. The airstrips at Tejgaon and Kurmitola had military fighter plane landing facilities and the British Royal Air Force used the airstrips for safe up‑keeping of their aircraft. There was also an American air force detachment here during the war. The first RIAF light fighter landed on the under‑construction runway of Tejgaon at the beginning of 1943 and after development of the airport facilities, it became the first civil airport of Bangladesh. Today it is a part of BAF (Bangladesh Air Force) Base Bashar.