36 FLYPAST December 2018
1918 2018remnants of
Sonderkommando Junck out
of Mosul.PERSIA AND IRAQ FORCE
The nationalists surrendered on May
31 – Rashid Ali fled, taking the party
funds with him. The Royal Family
was re-instated the next day and in
the following weeks the remnants of
4SFTS resumed training duties with
23SFTS at RAF Heany, Rhodesia.
The loyalty shown during the siege
by the Iraqis was recognised; they
were formed into a mobile battalion,
including a parachute company. By
1943, their ranks had expanded –
they were led by 166 British officers
commanding 44 companies;
including Assyrian, Yazidi, Kurdish,
Gulf Arab and Baluchi units. They
served with distinction in Palestine,
Cyprus, Albania, Greece and Italy,
and in 1944 they were renamed the
Royal Air Force Levies.
Following the June 1941 uprising,
Iraq Command took part in
Operation Exporter, the invasion of
Vichy-controlled Syria. In pro-
German Persia (Iran) the joint Soviet/
Allied Operation Countenance swept
aside weak opposition, securing
valuable oil fields. Consequently, Iraq
Command was renamed Persia and
Iraq Force (PAI Force) with its
headquarters at Habbaniya.
In 1942 the PAI Force oversaw the
establishment of the ‘Persian
Corridor’, a major transport link for
aid from Basra via road, river and rail
routes to the Soviet Union.
Habbaniya became an important
staging post for servicing and
resupplying aircraft to the Far East,
and BOAC ran a regular service
between the UK and the USSR via
Iraq using Consolidated B-24
Liberator transports. The USAAF
also used it as a stopover point
between the Lend-Lease aircraft
assembly facility at Abadan in Iran
and Cairo.The Allies left Persia at the end of
the war, although the Russians
lingered, causing political unrest.
Fearing complications, 249 Squadron
arrived with de Havilland Mosquitos
in June 1946. The wooden airframes
suffered in the extreme temperatures
and the unit soon re-equipped with
Hawker Tempests.COLD WAR, HOT CLIMATE
From the late 1940s Habbaniya
was home to a succession of secret
entities – 276 Signals Unit was a
listening post, set apart from the
rest of the station, with Russian-
speaking personnel conducting
signals intelligence (SIGINT).
Habbaniya became an
‘accompanied posting’ in 1947 –
married quarters were built, schools
opened and families arrived, as well
as the first Women’s Auxiliary Air
Force members.
During 1948, 249 Squadron was
replaced by No.84, flying Bristol
Brigands. In the early 1950s a longer
runway was opened to accommodate
larger and more powerful jet aircraft.
The last operational units flying de
Havilland Vampires and Venoms (73,
6 and 8 Squadrons) had left by 1955.
On May 2, 1955, the Anglo-Iraq
Treaty ended and the Iraqi
government took formal control of
RAF Shaibah, Basra and Habbaniya.
The station became RAF Staging Post
Habbaniya, under Air Headquarters
Cyprus, sharing the camp facilities
with RIAF Hawker Sea Furies.
The 1956 Suez Crisis in Egypt
caused unforeseen consequences in
Iraq and history seemed to be
repeating itself at Habbaniya –
fearing the RAF would use the
airfield to attack Egypt (a fellow Arab
nation), personnel awoke to find
Iraqi troops on the plateau
overlooking them. After a tense few
weeks, skilfully overseen by the CO,
Gp Capt ‘Hughie’ Edwards VC, life
returned to normal.THE BLOODY END
In 1958, British relations with the
Iraqi monarchy and government
appeared to be good, so it was
a shock to ‘Hughie’ when he
received news that a coup d’état
had taken place. On July 14, 1958
the Hashemite monarchy was
brought to a violent demise; King
Faisal II, Prince ‘Abd al-Ilah, and
Prime Minister Nuri al-Said were
all assassinated and their mutilated
bodies put on show in Baghdad.
Once again, the Iraqi military
surrounded Habbaniya and British
personnel were effectively held
hostage. Edwards again displayed his
diplomatic talents, mediating
between the new Iraqi regime, the
British Government and Air
Headquarters Cyprus. Gradually the
‘hostages’ were released and the
RAF’s departure was negotiated.
This was marked with a final parade,
bringing an end to British military
presence in Iraq after 45 years. It
also signalled the departure of the
RAF from Habbaniya after 23 years.
The station continued as an Iraqi
military base but the once-beautiful
gardens lay untended and returned
to desert. The opulent buildings also
fell into disrepair and the British
cemetery was neglected and
desecrated. In 2003, US forces built
Al-Taqaddum Air Base on the
plateau, and also occupied
Habbaniya. Showing immense
respect, they restored the graves as
best they could. On behalf of the
families of those buried there, and
the RAF Habbaniya Association,
they laid wreaths on Armistice Day.
In 2015, Habbaniya was used as a
base for Shia militias, the Iraqi army
and its American trainers, in the
campaign against so-called Islamic
State. During the summer of 2018,
the US military further restored
Habbaniya’s cemetery and will
conduct more Acts of Remembrance
there later this year.Below
De Havilland Venoms
from 6 Squadron at
Habbaniya. H JARVIS