Airport in the gambia history. Airfield of Ancient Civilizations or Aliens found !!? Yundum airfield, discovered in the small African country of Gambia

Recently, a lot has been said about the mysterious Yundum airfield, discovered on the territory of a small African country Gambia.

This airfield is almost the legacy of ancient civilizations, which, according to some information, had aircrafts- the so-called vimanas.

In any case, no one knows for certain who and when Yundum was built.

In this photo, red circles mark the unpaved portions of the ancient runway slabs.

This former British colony is located on Atlantic coast tropical Africa and belongs to the group of the most economically backward countries not only in the world as a whole, but also in its by no means prosperous continent. The territory of the state is strongly elongated in the latitudinal direction.

Inland, the Gambia juts out 350 kilometers from west to east, it is located along the bed of the full-flowing river of the same name. The width of the country from north to south does not exceed 50 kilometers. Slightly more than one and a half million people live in Gambia, including 75% in rural areas.

The industry is extremely underdeveloped there and consists of enterprises for the production of peanut butter, beer, soft drinks and tailoring. The export of peanuts gives the country half of its foreign exchange earnings.

The backwardness of the Gambia is eloquently evidenced by the fact that until recently the population could receive higher education only abroad: in Senegal, the United States or Western Europe... The situation changed only in 1999, when the University of The Gambia was established in the capital Banjul. There is only one library in the country and not so long ago the first museum was opened, but now, however, there are already five of them.

Here, the transition at the end of the last century from manual processing of fields with hoes to plows drawn by bulls, horses or donkeys is considered an achievement. Equipping fishing boats with outboard motors also testified to the involvement of the Gambia in technological progress.

Of course, this small country has its own strengths... She is one of the few on the Black Continent where a multi-party political system operates. There are several great resorts in the vicinity of Banjul with spacious and clean sea beaches, where tourists from Great Britain love to have a rest. Animal husbandry can be considered highly developed: the number of cattle exceeds 400 thousand heads.

Paved, marked and flew

But the Gambia has a real international airport. Also mysterious. This is Yundum - the one so beloved by ufologists and alternative historians. It is located 27 kilometers from Banjul.

The length of its runway (runway), which meets the highest requirements, is 3,600 meters, so Yundum is capable of accommodating aircraft of any weight. The Gambians themselves did not build this expensive runway. They just laid the asphalt on the roughly polished stone slabs already cleared of the ground and made the markings.

The Gambia was then assisted by NASA, as the US space agency was interested in creating an alternate airfield for reusable shuttle ships. Initially, the US chose the airport in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, but its runway has too large an angle relative to the main trajectory of the shuttles.

Therefore, in September 1987, the Americans reached an agreement with the Gambian side on the use of the Yundum airfield for this purpose. The runway has been improved. In particular, its width was increased from 29 to 45 meters. The Americans also installed the necessary electronic control and navigation systems. And in 1996 the building was put into operation international airport, built according to a joint Anglo-Gambian project.

If you look closely at the satellite images, you can see that the central part of the Yundum runway is actively exploited, but there are unused sections on both sides of the runway. They are paved with light slabs of an unusual sandy-brown color. There are also continuation strips not yet cleared of the ground. And the trees grow along it in a very interesting way - along the lines of some faults in the soil.

Versions, versions, versions

Sometimes a more accurate date is also called - 1944. At first glance, this version is not devoid of some plausibility. Indeed, during the war years, the Nazis showed great interest in African uranium and allegedly even took it out of the Congo by plane, making several stopovers.

In this regard, one can even recall the secret German airfields built in the Arctic in the rear of the Soviet troops. As far as the Gambia is concerned, there are some big buts. Firstly, such airfields were paved not with massive stone slabs, but with small metal slabs, which also had several holes to reduce weight.

Secondly, the Gambians claim that the slabs partially covered with soil have always been there, and did not appear in the middle of the 20th century. Finally, thirdly, back in January 1943, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt traveled through Banjul. This was due to the holding of a conference in Moroccan Casablanca.

During the meeting, Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, together with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States and Great Britain, discussed the prospects for opening a Second Front and a strategy for combating German submarines in the Atlantic.

The port of Banjul was used at that time for intermediate stops for Allied naval convoys, and the mysterious airfield was chosen by the US Army Air Corps. So there could be no secret Nazi bases in the immediate vicinity of such a strategic Anglo-Saxon hub.

Did the allies try?

On some sites, you can even find statements that Yundum, in fact, was built by the allies themselves. So is there really no mystery ancient airfield does not exist? No matter how it is! The runway length is clearly excessive for the aircraft of the time.

As we already know locals saw this cover long before the war. And the color of the slabs differs sharply from that of concrete. There is a photograph of the only one combat aircraft the Gambian army, bought in 2008 in Georgia by a Su-25 attack aircraft, standing on a platform of concrete slabs attached to the Yundum runway.

They have a clearly different - gray - color, which concrete should have. It can also be noted that, judging by the photographs, the sandy-brown stone slabs vary in size, and this is absolutely not typical of airfields of the XX-XXI centuries.

So the riddle of Yundum really exists, and it still has to be solved.

Valdis PEYPINSH
Secrets of the twentieth century

According to supporters of the paleovisite, in ancient times, our planet was actively visited by aliens from outer space. They taught earthlings how to cultivate the land and a number of crafts, gave them knowledge of medicine and structure Solar system... Having left the Earth, the aliens left behind not only a long memory, which became the basis of a number of ancient myths and legends, but also quite material traces, for example, their cosmodromes ...

With the light hand of the explorer Erich von Daniken, the famous Nazca desert on the southern coast of Peru was “designated” as the main ancient alien cosmodrome on the southern coast of Peru: ships, consisting of two tracks. The ships were patrolling in the vicinity of the Earth. When the cosmonauts completed their mission, they departed for their planet. "

According to Daniken, local tribes for a long time they waited for the return of the "gods", but they did not appear. Then they decided to attract them and began to draw new straight lines in the desert. When this did not work, the Indians depicted on earth surface giant insects and animals. This is how, according to Daniken, Nazca acquired its famous lines and figures. Of course, such arguments are not taken seriously by archaeologists, historians, or even many ufologists.

The fact is that the ships of the aliens, who reached the stage of space flights in their development, had to have the ability to strictly vertical landing and take-off, and therefore they did not need runways. In addition, the soil of the desert after the rains becomes rather viscous and multi-ton starships would simply get bogged down in it. However, it cannot be ruled out that the planes of the Hyperboreans or Atlanteans, and maybe the Vimanas of the ancient Indians, landed in the Nazca desert.

There is a hypothesis by Jim Woodman and Julian Knott, according to which the Nazca Indians were able to rise into the air themselves, for the first time in the world they built primitive Balloons from a thin dense fabric and filling them with warm air.

The famous researcher Maria Reiche, who devoted more than 40 years of her life to the study of Nazca, believed that the drawings of the desert were a giant ancient calendar. In her book, she wrote: "For the ancient peoples, the positions of the Sun and Moon served as a calendar by which they determined the arrival of spring and autumn, seasonal fluctuations in the water regime, and, consequently, the timing of sowing and harvesting." Reiche was able to establish the astronomical significance of many lines and even images of the Nazca desert.

THE GIANT TRILITON OF BAALBECK

In the mountains of Lebanon, in the basin Dead sea, there is an amazing structure - the Baalbek terrace, made of gigantic slabs weighing over 1,000 tons each. One of them still lies in the ancient quarry. What titans, with the help of what technical means, could lift such slabs up the mountain and there, at a seven-meter height, lay them in the structure? Indeed, even now, with all the technical power, it is impossible to do this.

"For what purpose did they emphatically choose such bulky and integral parts of the structure, in comparison with which the blocks of the Cheops pyramid or the rock-pedestal of the Bronze Horseman seem like pebbles?" - this is how science fiction writer A. Kazantsev described the Baalbek terrace, which amazed his imagination. It is located in ancient temple Jupiter, which is directly adjacent to the Lebanese city of Baalbek.

The first mention of Baalbek was found in one of the Assyrian inscriptions dating back to 804 BC. NS. The city was founded by the Phoenicians, it was they who worshiped the god Baal - the ruler of the sun and water, and the sanctuary of this god was called Baalbek, which means “the city of Baal”. The temple that glorified this city is in place ancient sanctuary was laid by Alexander the Great, and the Romans finished it, dedicating it to the god Jupiter.

He was on a platform that was higher than all other buildings. It is in this platform, called the Baalbek terrace, that there are three huge stones, which in ancient times were called trilithon and were considered sacred.

At the very beginning of the 60s of the XX century, the Soviet mathematician M. M. Agrest suggested that this terrace was built in ancient times by aliens from outer space. According to his hypothesis, it could be either an ancient cosmodrome, or a kind of memorial structure left by aliens for future generations of earthlings.

Erich von Daniken also became an ardent supporter of this hypothesis, who saw in the trilithon of the Baalbek terrace a surviving fragment of the alien landing site. According to the researcher, the trilithon is very ancient, and the builders of the temple did not move it, but only used it in the construction of the platform.

Trilithon is truly amazing. The length of the giant monolithic blocks is 19.5 meters, the width is 4.5 meters, and the thickness is 3.75 meters. The weight of each of the blocks is about 750 tons, although some researchers often cite the figure as 2,000 tons. In addition to the trilithon, there is another huge block that remained in the quarry, its dimensions are 16x4x2 meters.

Baalbek's huge stone blocks pose many mysteries to scientists. How were these stone monoliths without distortions and damage been mined in the quarry, moved two kilometers away and perfectly matched to each other? How did you manage to make an absolutely flat stone surface of tens of square meters, because it is impossible to do this with hand tools? These questions are still awaiting answers.

Is it worth associating the appearance of these blocks only with aliens? After all, such blocks could well have been made by representatives of the civilization of giants, whose existence in the distant past is no longer disputed by many researchers. It is unlikely that the aliens needed such a powerful platform for their ships, however, it is still impossible to completely exclude the hypothesis of an ancient cosmodrome.

THE MYSTERY OF YUNDUM AERODROME

On the territory of the small African country of Gambia there is a mysterious Yundum airfield, about which in last years have already written a lot. What is the mystery of this airfield? The fact is that no one built its main and most expensive component - the runway (runway), since it already existed. The runway consisted of monolithic stone slabs carefully fitted to each other. As local residents assured, these plates were in this place from time immemorial.

During the construction of the airfield, all that was left was to roll asphalt onto these slabs, apply markings, and the result was a magnificent runway with a length of 3,600 meters, capable of receiving any modern aircraft, regardless of their weight and dimensions. It should be noted that NASA took an active part in the creation of the Yundum airfield.

The US space agency has selected it as an alternate airfield for the landing of its reusable spacecraft, the Shuttles. With the help of the Americans, the necessary radio-electronic control and navigation systems were installed on Yundum, and in 1996 the building of the international airport, built according to the joint American-Gambian project, went into operation.

It is curious that, despite the impressive length of the strip, not all ancient slabs are covered with asphalt, and some of them can be seen both at the beginning and at the end. And then it turns out that the ancient runway was much more impressive than the modern one. But who took off from it? It is still difficult to answer this question - from the available publications it becomes clear that no one has conducted any research on this topic.

The unpaved sections of the strip are represented by light sandy-brown slabs carefully fitted to each other. The age of the plates has not yet been determined. According to some publications, their surface is roughly sanded, while others claim that the sanding is close to perfect. Judging by the published photographs, the first is closer to the truth, but this only speaks of the antiquity of the slabs, the perfect grinding of which could be significantly damaged by prolonged weathering processes.

Fascists, aliens, or ancient people?

Attempts to explain the presence of such an impressive runway in the African wilderness led to the hypothesis that it was built in the 40s of the XX century by German Nazis, who allegedly exported uranium from the Black continent during World War II.

However, it is completely incomprehensible why the Nazis needed to build a strip with a length that significantly exceeded all those available at that time. Opponents of this version note that the Germans built runways using small metal plates with a number of holes to reduce weight.

To build this strip, the Germans would need to open a large-scale stone-cutting production, use powerful machines and cranes. But local old-timers assure that nothing like this has ever happened here, and the plates have always been here - with their grandfathers, great-grandfathers, great-great-grandfathers, etc.

Thus, the existence of this runway can only be explained by the assumption of some ancient earthly civilization that built it, or by linking it with aliens. As for the latter option, it seems less convincing, because extraterrestrial ships should have the ability to land on any unprepared, albeit fairly flat, place.

From the numerous publications about the Yundum airfield, it can be concluded that no studies of ancient plates have been carried out, they are simply used, and that's it. Of course, one should study them carefully. However, it is possible that NASA employees during the construction of the airfield carried out some research, but hid their results.

Of all the supposed cosmodromes of antiquity, Yundum is the most promising place for research. It is possible that spaceships did not start here, and it was not a cosmodrome, but an airfield from which ancient planes took off, whose appearance was brought to us by golden artifacts from Colombia.

The discovered ancient maps of Antarctica without ice cover, the mysterious slab found in Bashkortostan by Professor A. N. Chuvyrov and named the Creator's Map, on which a model map of a part of the earth's surface is made, indicate that aerial photographs were clearly used in their production.

It is doubtful that aliens were in any way involved in making the map on an impressive stone slab from Bashkortostan. Its authors, most likely, were representatives of an ancient earthly civilization, destroyed as a result of some kind of global cataclysm or nuclear war. Recall: a number of authoritative researchers believe that the aliens had nothing to do with the construction of the so-called ancient cosmodromes, they were built by earthlings.

Perhaps, once our very distant ancestors managed not only to rise into the sky, but even visited the Moon and Mars. Now such assumptions seem fantastic to many, but recently more and more facts have been accumulating in favor of this particular hypothesis.

This airfield represents the legacy of ancient civilizations, which, according to some information, had flying vehicles - the so-called vimanas. In any case, no one knows for certain who and when Yundum was built. I offer you all the available information on this issue, since the riddle of Yundum really exists, and it has yet to be solved.

This airfield is the legacy of ancient civilizations, which, according to some information, had flying vehicles - the so-called vimanas. In any case, no one knows for certain who and when Yundum was built. This former British colony is located on the Atlantic coast of tropical Africa and belongs to the group of the most economically backward countries not only in the world as a whole, but also in its far from prosperous continent. The territory of the state is strongly elongated in the latitudinal direction. Inland, the Gambia juts out 350 kilometers from west to east, it is located along the bed of the full-flowing river of the same name. The width of the country from north to south does not exceed 50 kilometers. Slightly more than one and a half million people live in Gambia, including 75% in rural areas. The industry is extremely underdeveloped there and consists of enterprises for the production of peanut butter, beer, soft drinks and tailoring. Peanut exports provide the country with half of its foreign exchange earnings. The backwardness of the Gambia is eloquently shown by the fact that until recently the population could receive higher education only abroad: in Senegal, the United States or Western Europe. The situation changed only in 1999, when the University of The Gambia was established in the capital Banjul. There is only one library in the country and not so long ago the first museum was opened, but now, however, there are already five of them. Here, the transition at the end of the last century from manual processing of fields with hoes to plows drawn by bulls, horses or donkeys is considered an achievement. Equipping fishing boats with outboard motors is also a testament to the Gambia's commitment to technological advancement, and of course this small country has its own strengths. She is one of the few on the Black Continent where a multi-party political system operates. In the vicinity of Banjul, there are several magnificent resorts with spacious and clean sea beaches, where tourists from Great Britain love to relax. Animal husbandry can be considered highly developed: the number of cattle exceeds 400 thousand heads.
Paved, marked and flew.

But the Gambia has a real international airport. Also mysterious. This is Yundum - the one so beloved by ufologists and alternative historians. It is located 27 kilometers from Banjul. The length of its runway (runway), which meets the highest requirements, is 3,600 meters, so Yundum is capable of accommodating aircraft of any weight. The Gambians themselves did not build this expensive runway. They only laid asphalt on the roughly polished stone slabs already cleared from the ground and made the markings. NASA then helped Gambia, since the American space agency was interested in creating an alternate airfield for reusable shuttle ships. Initially, the US chose the airport in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, but its runway has too large an angle relative to the main trajectory of the shuttles. Therefore, in September 1987, the Americans reached an agreement with the Gambian side on the use of the Yundum airfield for this purpose. The runway has been improved. In particular, its width was increased from 29 to 45 meters. The Americans also installed the necessary electronic control and navigation systems. And in 1996, the building of the international airport was put into operation, built according to a joint Anglo-Gambian project. If you look closely at the satellite images, you can see that the central part of the Yundum runway is actively exploited, but there are unused sections on both sides of the runway. They are paved with light slabs of an unusual sandy-brown color. There are also continuation strips not yet cleared of the ground. And the trees grow along it in a very interesting way - along the lines of some faults in the soil.

Versions, versions, versions.
So where did this runway come from? The most sensational, of course, is the hypothesis that the runway was built during the time of pre-civilization, and that from here, very possibly, ancient Indian or Atlantean aircraft - vimanas - took off. However, fans of versions of the conspiracy plan expressed another assumption. They say that the airfield was secretly built by the Germans during the Second World War. Sometimes a more accurate date is also called - 1944. At first glance, this version is not devoid of some plausibility. Indeed, during the war years, the Nazis showed great interest in African uranium and allegedly even took it out of the Congo by plane, making several stopovers. In this regard, one can even recall the secret German airfields built in the Arctic in the rear of the Soviet troops. As far as the Gambia is concerned, there are some big buts. Firstly, such airfields were paved not with massive stone slabs, but with small metal slabs, which also had several holes to reduce weight. Secondly, the Gambians claim that the slabs partially covered with soil have always been there, and did not appear in the middle of the 20th century. Finally, thirdly, back in January 1943, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt traveled through Banjul. This was due to the holding of a conference in Moroccan Casablanca. During the meeting, Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, together with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States and Great Britain, discussed the prospects for opening a Second Front and a strategy for combating German submarines in the Atlantic. The port of Banjul was used at that time for intermediate stops for Allied naval convoys, and the mysterious airfield was chosen by the US Army Air Corps. So there could be no secret Nazi bases in the immediate vicinity of such a strategic Anglo-Saxon hub.

Did the allies try?
On some sites, you can even find statements that Yundum, in fact, was built by the allies themselves. So is there really no secret of the ancient airfield? No matter how it is! The runway length is clearly excessive for the aircraft of the time. As we already know, the locals saw this cover long before the war. And the color of the slabs differs sharply from that of concrete. There is a photograph of the only combat aircraft of the Gambian army, bought in 2008 in Georgia by a Su-25 attack aircraft, standing on a platform of concrete slabs attached to the Yundum runway. They have a clearly different - gray - color, which concrete should have. It can also be noted that, judging by the photographs, the sandy-brown stone slabs vary in size, and this is absolutely not typical of the airfields of the XX-XXI centuries. So the mystery of Yundum really exists, and it still has to be solved.

This former British colony is located on the Atlantic coast of tropical Africa and belongs to the group of the most economically backward countries not only in the world as a whole, but also in its far from prosperous continent. The territory of the state is strongly elongated in the latitudinal direction. Inland, the Gambia juts out 350 kilometers from west to east, it is located along the bed of the full-flowing river of the same name.

The width of the country from north to south does not exceed 50 kilometers. Slightly more than one and a half million people live in Gambia, including 75% in rural areas. The industry is extremely underdeveloped there and consists of enterprises for the production of peanut butter, beer, soft drinks and tailoring. The export of peanuts gives the country half of its foreign exchange earnings.

The backwardness of the Gambia is eloquently evidenced by the fact that until recently the population could receive higher education only abroad: in Senegal, the United States or Western Europe. The situation changed only in 1999, when the University of The Gambia was established in the capital Banjul. There is only one library in the country and not so long ago the first museum was opened, but now, however, there are already five of them.

Of course, this small country also has its strengths. She is one of the few on the Black Continent where a multi-party political system operates. In the vicinity of Banjul, there are several magnificent resorts with spacious and clean sea beaches, where tourists from Great Britain love to relax. Animal husbandry can be considered highly developed: the number of cattle exceeds 400 thousand heads.

But in the Gambia there is a real international airport, moreover - a mysterious one. This is Yundum - the one so beloved by ufologists and alternative historians. It is located 27 kilometers from Banjul. The length of its runway (runway), which meets the highest requirements, is 3,600 meters, so Yundum is capable of accommodating aircraft of any weight. The Gambians themselves did not build this expensive runway. They just laid the asphalt on the roughly polished stone slabs already cleared of the ground and made the markings.

The Gambia was then helped by NASA, since the US space agency was interested in creating an alternate airfield for the shuttle-type reusable spacecraft. Initially, the US chose the airport in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, but its runway has too large an angle relative to the main trajectory of the shuttles. Therefore, in September 1987, the Americans reached an agreement with the Gambian side on the use of the Yundum airfield for this purpose.

Photo: Wolfgang REH

The runway has been improved. In particular, its width was increased from 29 to 45 meters. The Americans also installed the necessary electronic control and navigation systems. And in 1996, the building of the international airport was put into operation, built according to a joint Anglo-Gambian project.

Red circles mark non-asphalted portions of ancient runway slabs

So where did this runway come from? The most sensational, of course, is the hypothesis that the runway was built during the time of pre-civilization and that from here, very possibly, ancient Indian or Atlantean aircraft - vimanas - took off. However, fans of versions of the conspiracy plan expressed another assumption. They say that the airfield was secretly built by the Germans during the Second World War. Sometimes a more accurate date is also called - 1944.

At first glance, this version is not devoid of some plausibility. Indeed, during the war years, the Nazis showed great interest in African uranium and allegedly even took it out of the Congo by plane, making several stopovers.

In this regard, one can even recall the secret German airfields built in the Arctic in the rear of the Soviet troops. But as far as the Gambia is concerned, there are a few big buts. Firstly, such airfields were paved not with massive stone slabs, but with small metal slabs, which also had several holes to reduce weight.

On the Internet, one can even find statements that Yundum, in fact, was built by the allies themselves. So is there really no secret of the ancient airfield? No matter how it is! The runway length is clearly excessive for the aircraft of the time. As you know, local residents saw this coating long before the war. And the color of the slabs differs sharply from that of concrete.

There is a photograph of the only combat aircraft of the Gambian army, purchased in 2008 in Georgia. This is a Su-25 attack aircraft, standing on a platform of concrete slabs attached to the Yundum runway. They are clearly different - gray, which is what concrete should have. It can also be noted that, judging by the photographs, the sandy-brown stone slabs vary in size, and this is absolutely not typical of airfields of the XX-XXI centuries.

So the riddle of Yundum really exists, and it still has to be solved.

Valdis Peipins

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the mysterious Yundum airfield, discovered on the territory of the small African country of Gambia. This airfield is almost a legacy of ancient civilizations, which, according to some information, had flying vehicles - the so-called vimanas. In any case, no one knows for certain who and when Yundum was built.
In this photo, red circles mark the unpaved portions of the ancient runway slabs.

This former British colony is located on the Atlantic coast of tropical Africa and belongs to the group of the most economically backward countries not only in the world as a whole, but also in its far from prosperous continent. The territory of the state is strongly elongated in the latitudinal direction. Inland, the Gambia juts out 350 kilometers from west to east, it is located along the bed of the full-flowing river of the same name. The width of the country from north to south does not exceed 50 kilometers. Slightly more than one and a half million people live in Gambia, including 75% in rural areas. The industry is extremely underdeveloped there and consists of enterprises for the production of peanut butter, beer, soft drinks and tailoring. The export of peanuts gives the country half of its foreign exchange earnings.
The backwardness of the Gambia is eloquently evidenced by the fact that until recently the population could receive higher education only abroad: in Senegal, the United States or Western Europe. The situation changed only in 1999, when the University of The Gambia was established in the capital Banjul. There is only one library in the country and not so long ago the first museum was opened, but now, however, there are already five of them. Here, the transition at the end of the last century from manual processing of fields with hoes to plows drawn by bulls, horses or donkeys is considered an achievement. Equipping fishing boats with outboard motors also testified to the involvement of the Gambia in technological progress.
Of course, this small country also has its strengths. She is one of the few on the Black Continent where a multi-party political system operates. In the vicinity of Banjul, there are several magnificent resorts with spacious and clean sea beaches, where tourists from Great Britain love to relax. Animal husbandry can be considered highly developed: the number of cattle exceeds 400 thousand heads.

Paved, marked and flew.

But the Gambia has a real international airport. Also mysterious. This is Yundum - the one so beloved by ufologists and alternative historians. It is located 27 kilometers from Banjul. The length of its runway (runway), which meets the highest requirements, is 3,600 meters, so Yundum is capable of accommodating aircraft of any weight. The Gambians themselves did not build this expensive runway. They just laid the asphalt on the roughly polished stone slabs already cleared of the ground and made the markings.
The Gambia was then assisted by NASA, as the US space agency was interested in creating an alternate airfield for reusable shuttle ships. Initially, the US chose the airport in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, but its runway has too large an angle relative to the main trajectory of the shuttles. Therefore, in September 1987, the Americans reached an agreement with the Gambian side on the use of the Yundum airfield for this purpose. The runway has been improved. In particular, its width was increased from 29 to 45 meters. The Americans also installed the necessary electronic control and navigation systems. And in 1996, the building of the international airport was put into operation, built according to a joint Anglo-Gambian project.
If you look closely at the satellite images, you can see that the central part of the Yundum runway is actively exploited, but there are unused sections on both sides of the runway. They are paved with light slabs of an unusual sandy-brown color. There are also continuation strips not yet cleared of the ground. And the trees grow along it in a very interesting way - along the lines of some faults in the soil.

Versions, versions, versions ....

So where did this runway come from? The most sensational, of course, is the hypothesis that the runway was built during the time of pre-civilization, and that from here, very possibly, ancient Indian or Atlantean aircraft - vimanas - took off. However, fans of versions of the conspiracy plan expressed another assumption. They say that the airfield was secretly built by the Germans during the Second World War. Sometimes a more accurate date is also called - 1944. At first glance, this version is not devoid of some plausibility. Indeed, during the war years, the Nazis showed great interest in African uranium and allegedly even took it out of the Congo by plane, making several stopovers.
In this regard, one can even recall the secret German airfields built in the Arctic in the rear of the Soviet troops. As far as the Gambia is concerned, there are some big buts. Firstly, such airfields were paved not with massive stone slabs, but with small metal slabs, which also had several holes to reduce weight. Secondly, the Gambians claim that the slabs partially covered with soil have always been there, and did not appear in the middle of the 20th century. Finally, thirdly, back in January 1943, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt traveled through Banjul. This was due to the holding of a conference in Moroccan Casablanca. During the meeting, Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, together with members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States and Great Britain, discussed the prospects for opening a Second Front and a strategy for combating German submarines in the Atlantic. The port of Banjul was used at that time for intermediate stops for Allied naval convoys, and the mysterious airfield was chosen by the US Army Air Corps. So there could be no secret Nazi bases in the immediate vicinity of such a strategic Anglo-Saxon hub.

Did the allies try?

On some sites, you can even find statements that Yundum, in fact, was built by the allies themselves. So is there really no secret of the ancient airfield? No matter how it is! The runway length is clearly excessive for the aircraft of the time. As we already know, the locals saw this cover long before the war. And the color of the slabs differs sharply from that of concrete. There is a photograph of the only combat aircraft of the Gambian army, bought in 2008 in Georgia by a Su-25 attack aircraft, standing on a platform of concrete slabs attached to the Yundum runway. They have a clearly different - gray - color, which concrete should have. It can also be noted that, judging by the photographs, the sandy-brown stone slabs vary in size, and this is absolutely not typical of airfields of the XX-XXI centuries.
So the riddle of Yundum really exists, and it still has to be solved.

Valdis PEYPINSH
Secrets of the twentieth century