air base
nounUS /ˈɛɹ beɪs/
Etymology From air + base.
1
Government, Military, Politics, War A military airport, providing housing and support for aircraft and personnel.
- American officers have observed how Chinese troops stationed at American air bases have frequently refused to shoot at Japanese raiding planes. Asked by an American officer for the reason for this behavior, a Chinese officer at Lao-ho-k’ou air base in Hupeh answered (November 1944): “Well you see, if we shot down a Jap plane, the Japs would be angry and would take revenge and return and bomb the city and do a lot of damage.”1968, Lyman P. Van Slyke, editor, The Chinese Communist Movement: A Report of the United States War Department, July 1945, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 90:
- Related terms
- airdrome, aerodrome, airfreight, airpower
- Hyponyms
- air force base, air force station, naval air station, Basa Air Base