Habbaniya, Iraq

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years and two days ago] "• 6,000 Iraqi troops with 30 artillery pieces leave Baghdad on a "training exercise". By dawn, they occupy a plateau overlooking RAF airbase at Habbaniya (45 miles West of Baghdad). RAF Habbaniya is reinforced with 300 men of 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Regiment flown from RAF Shaibah. British Ambassador Sir Kinahan Cornwallis warns British civilians to leave Baghdad. "

 

[80 years ago today] "• Air Vice Marshal Smart at RAF Habbaniya organizes the sixty-four antiquated aircraft of No.4 Flying School Squadron into four bombing squadrons covered by his four Gladiator fighters. All serviceable aircraft are bombed up and equipped with machine guns; the Gordons and Audaxes with 2 x 250 lb bombs and the Oxfords with 8 x 20 lb bombs. Qualified pilots, including instructors, number only thirty-five so it is decided to promote the more promising pupils to swell the ranks, and to ask for volunteers amongst the rest to act as observers and gunners. "

 

RAF Habbaniya; Iraqi forces hold the plateau at the top of the map

 

Hawker Audaxes over the Euphrates

 

Airspeed Oxford at Habbaniya

 

Fairey Gordon

 

Vickers Valentia over Iraq

 

Iraqi SM-79b

[Heliopause]

Iraqi Breda Ba 65. A number of these where purchased in 1937. Based at Rashid (Bagdad).

[twilson37]

I have always been fascinated by the Habbaniya story, from the stand of the RAF base, to the Habforce relief column, and the Luftwaffe support aircraft, such an interesting piece of history

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• RAF aircraft continue to pound Iraqi positions around Habbaniya, while artillery shells the airbase. Iraqi forces at Basra begin to resist continued landings by Commonwealth troops, but are no match for the Indian brigade already there.

• Vichy France agrees to allow German and Italian use of airfields in Syria to support the Iraqi revolt against the British. In return, Germany lowers the daily tribute that France has to pay Germany from 20 million to 15 million Reichsmarks.

- This decision will result in British support for De Gaulle’s plan to take Lebanon and Syria for Free France.

 

Assyrian troops in British service in Iraq."

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• After four days of non-stop British air raids, Iraqi troops are forced to leave the high ground around Habbaniya and retreat towards Falluja. This column meets a reinforcement column and both forces stop to confer. An RAF Audax reports this to Habbaniya and forty aircraft are quickly dispatched. They bomb and strafe the stopped vehicles and report a 500 yard long sheet of flame. When examined, it is reported that destroyed or abandoned are: seven 3.7" Howitzers; two anti-tank guns; three 20 mm anti-aircraft guns; forty five Bren guns; eighteen Vickers guns; three Hotchkiss machine guns; three Lewis guns; four Italian machine guns; ten Crossley armoured cars; one Italian tankette; seventy nine motor vehicles of various kinds; seven motor cycles; and a vast quantity of rifles, machine gun spares and ammunition and other equipment.

- The small Royal Iraqi Air Force has been effectively eliminated as well.

 

Downed Iraqi Breda Ba-65"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Germans begin deployment of one squadron each of Bf-110 fighter-bombers, He-111 bombers, and Ju-52 transports in Iraqi markings with pilots and ground crew to Iraq via Vichy Syria to support the rebel Iraqis. The transports will need to return immediately for the invasion of Crete. The route goes mainland Greece→Rhodes→Aleppo→Damascus→Mosul, and each stage will require a day's flight. The force doesn’t have tropical kit or the maps to assist missions in the area. Most of the aircraft will be lost to mechanical breakdown.

 

Bf-110 of Fliegerführer Irak

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Six Bf-110s and three He-111s of Fliegerführer Irak raid RAF Habbaniya. While minor damage is inflicted on the base, the Germans lose a Heinkel in exchange for a Hawker Audax and a Gloster Gladiator. Raids back and forth between Habbaniya and the German fields at Mosul and Baghdad will continue over the next week. "

 

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Attempting to further placate Germany, the Soviet Union signs a trade and mutual support agreement with the Iraqi government which is currently fighting the British.

• The invasion of Crete is delayed several days due to a shortage of aviation fuel. An Italian tanker is dispatched with an additional 5,000 tons for Luftwaffe planes in Greece.

• Vichy airfields in Syria are bombed by the RAF, destroying three German aircraft on the ground. An RAF raid on Athens destroys the last remaining Lufthansa G38 luxury airliner in existence, the 'Generalfeldmarschal von Hindenburg'.

 

The G38 had passenger seating in the wings with forward facing windows"

 

 

• Two Gloster Gladiators from Habbaniya on a sweep over Baghdad notice two Bf-110s attempting to take off from Rashid airfield. They strafe and destroy both Messerschmitts. "

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• In return for Vichy collaboration with the Germans in Syria, 100,000 French POWs are released.

• While British and Arab troops cross the Euphrates River, four Vickers Valentia biplanes land a company of King's Own Royal Regiment on the Baghdad road to block any counter-attack on the river crossing."

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Fifty-seven RAF aircraft drop ten tons of bombs on Iraqi positions in Fallujah along with leaflets demanding surrender. As Assyrian and Kurdish troops advance backed by RAF armoured cars, an Iraqi envoy is met who surrenders the 300 strong garrison.

 

Fordson armoured car on the Baghdad road "

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• David Raziel of the Zionist terrorist organization Irgun had been released from British confinement in Palestine after agreeing to kidnap the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem with a team of Irgun militants. Today he is killed when a German or Iraqi plane strafes the car he is travelling in from Habbaniya to Baghdad. "

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• The Iraqi 6th Infantry Brigade counterattacks the British forces within Fallujah, but is turned back with obsolete British aircraft making 56 sorties against the Iraqis and losing one Audax. Once the attack is defeated, aircraft of Fliegerführer Irak will make a belated appearance, strafing the British positions but accomplishing little.

 

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• Eleven Fiat CR-42 fighters of Italian 155ª Squadriglia arrive at Aleppo, Syria, on their way to Iraq.

• Two Bf-110s strafe RAF Habbaniya. One is damaged and abruptly loses power, landing nearby and being captured intact. Named ‘The Belle of Berlin’, it will be used by No 276 Squadron in Egypt, primarily for testing and training about the capabilities of the type.

 

The Bf-110D outside RAF Habbaniya

 

Belle of Berlin in North Africa"

[cardboard_killer]

[80 years ago today] "• A Vichy MS-406 downs a Bristol Blenheim making a reconnaissance flight over Syria.

 

Australian troops with Morane-Saulnier MS.406C1 fighters of Groupe de Chasse I/7, Syria, in July 1941.

• The 20th Indian Brigade advances up the Euphrates and reaches the ruins of ancient Ur while the 21st Indian Brigade advances up the Tigris River towards Baghdad from Basra. “HabForce” is advancing on Baghdad from Falluja. The defending rebels destroy bridges to delay the advances.

• Fliegerführer Irak has only two He-111s and three Bf-110s remaining, and only four bombs. The Italian 155a Squadriglia has arrived with eleven Fiat CR-42s but they can do little to hinder the ground advance. "

 

A Messerschmitt Bf-109 with Iraqi Air Force insignias flown by a German pilot of the air expeditionary force 'Fliegerführer Irak' (Aviation Command Iraq); somewhere in Iraq, May of 1941

 

 

[Heliopause]

After the battle.  Near Mosul an British soldier inspects the remains of a He 111 P (4./KG4).

[telona]

It seems that Air Vice Marshal Smart at RAF Habbaniya iraq is preparing for a potential conflict by organizing the antiquated aircraft of No.4 Flying School Squadron into four bombing squadrons, each covered by a Gladiator fighter. To make up for the lack of qualified pilots, Smart plans to promote promising pupils and ask for volunteers to act as observers and gunners.

All serviceable aircraft are being equipped with machine guns and bombs, with the Gordons and Audaxes receiving 2 x 250 lb bombs and the Oxfords receiving 8 x 20 lb bombs.

It is unclear what specific conflict Smart is preparing for or if this is just a precautionary measure. However, it is clear that he is taking steps to ensure that the RAF Habbaniya is prepared for any potential threats. ?