Iraq 1941- RAF HAbbaniya defenders
The Air component
The principal force at RAF Habbaniya was No 4 Service
Flying School. By the onset of
hostilities many of the training aircraft had been fitted to carry bombs.
Much of this preparation was made at the insistence of a couple of
relatively junior
RAF officers (see “Hidden Victory” for more details).
Often they were working on their own initiative to overcome their
commander’s inertia.
The table shows the strength of the school and the conversions made as only the
7 Fairey Gordons were fitted to carry 250 lb bombs.
All others had racks for small practice bombs and many had to have
modifications to carry even the 20lb HE bombs.
Add to that the fact that there was no .303” belted ammunition for the
Gladiators’ Brownings and only one belt filling machine.
Without the instructors and students working in their own time filling
belts and fitting bomb racks the base would have lacked any real offensive
capability.
“Screaming Bombs” were used effectively at Falluja to demoralise the defenders. These were conventional bombs fitted with dive screamers in much the same way as some dive bombers. I’ve also heard empty bottles being dropped from aircraft to terrorise or distract AA troops in the same way.
RAF Habbaniya
4 Service Flying
Training School
3 x Gloster Gladiator
6 x Gloster Gladiator arrived 19 April
18 x Hawker Audax with 8 x 20lb bombs
12 x Hawker Audax with 2 x 250lb bombs and 8 x 20lb bombs
7 x Fairey Gordon with 2 x 250lb bombs
27 x Airspeed Oxford with 8 x 20lb bombs
26 x Hawker Hart with 2 x 250lb bombs
24 x Hawker Hart trainers with no armament
1 x Bristol Blenheim I (departed 3 May)
4 x Bristol Blenheim IV from 203
Sqn RAF (from Sunday 4 May)
Further south at RAF Shaibah outside Basra was the main offensive force.
Even that was fairly small – a handful of obsolete Vickers Vincent
bombers with some Vickers Wellingtons flown in just before hostilities opened.
RAF Shaibah
244 Sqn – Vickers Vincent
31 Tpt Sqn – Vickers Valentia, Douglas DC-2 and Armstrong-Whitworth Atlanta
(from 17 Apr)
814 Sqn FAA – 6 x Swordfish from HMS Hermes
37 Sqn – 10 x Wellington (from 1-12 May)
70 Sqn – 8 x Wellington (from 1-12 May)
At
the airstrip attached to the oil line pumping station at H-4 in TransJordan,
Blenheim bombers and fighters supported operations.
The Westland Lysanders of 6 Squadron RAF may also have operated from here
in support of HABFORCE before it set off across the desert to Habbaniya.
H-4 Transjordan
Det 84 Sqn – 5 x Bristol Blenheim IV
Det 203 Sqn – 2 x Bristol Blenheim IVF
The Ground Component
The defence of the perimeter of RAF Habbaniya was entrusted to a strong battalion of Iraq Levies. These troops were mainly Christian Assyrians though there were both Kurds and Arabs in the companies as well.
The Levy Companies at Habbaniya were:
·
HQ Wing
·
Composite Company
·
1, 2, 3, 4 Assyrian Companies
·
8 Kurdish Company
Some sources give them 3.7” howitzers though I believe that these were the
weapons captured from the Iraqis on the plateau later in the fighting.
Conjecture: The Composite company
was larger. Maybe double the size
of a normal company?
At the start of the fighting the strength was 1,199 all ranks:
·
17 x British Officers
·
5 x British NCOs
·
3 x Surgeons
·
40 x Assyrian Officers
·
1,134 Assyrian Other Ranks
The uniform was the khaki drill tunic, trousers and puttees together with a
khaki drab (Australian style) slouch hat with the left side folded up and either
a red or white hackle displayed. In
hot weather a light blue shirt replaced the tunic and this was worn with KD
shorts and puttees. During the war
battle dress and web gaiters (1937 Pattern) was adopted and khaki hose tops
replaced the puttees.
No 1 Assyrian Company
At Falluja, illustrations show the levy in long trousers and British Helmets.
These may have be battledress, overalls or denims as a recognition sign.
No1 RAF Armoured Car Company
Providing
mobile defence forces and fire support was No1 RAF Armoured Car Company equipped
with 18 WW1 vintage Rolls Royce armoured cars.
These venerable vehicles were armed with a Vickers gun and a Lewis gun on
a pintle mount on the turret. Some
are reported to have been armed with a Boys Anti-Tank Rifle on an extemporised
mounting.
Names I’ve Identified in 1941 are; HMAC Avenger, HMAC Conqueror, HMAC Euphrates,
HMAC Superb.
RAF Defence Platoons
Formed
from station administrative and other services about 10 platoons were formed.
They were mainly armed with rifles and a few LMGs.
These latter may well have been Vickers K or Lewis guns rather than Bren
guns.
The uniform would have been the standard RAF Khaki Drill uniform for the region.
These might be Walrus and Seal
In addition the Osprey “Iraq 1941” mentions that there were two ancient tanks
named “Walrus” and “Seal”. I have
been unable to identify these properly and they are not mentioned in any
accounts of the fighting that I’ve read.
At first I thought they might have been WW1 tanks left over or Medium Mk1
tanks. However, I have seen on the
Internet a photo of two different armoured hulls built on Dragon gun tractor
chassis. Maybe these were the
“tanks”?
Two old 4.5” Howitzers of WW1 vintage used as gate guards were reactivated and
brought into action by a Royal Artillery fitter flown in from Basra.
Ammunition was flown in to allow them to take part in the action.
Conjecture: think it unlikely
that the ground crews were used for the defence platoons as they were needed to
keep the aircraft flying, armed and fuelled. However, the administrative staff,
store men and the like would be most likely for the task.
1st Battalion the King’s Own Royal Regiment
Some
364 troops with12xLMG, 6xMMG, 2xBoys ATk Rifles were flown in to RAF Habbaniya
and this represents most of HQ company and 3 under strength rifle companies.
Since the half battalion was flown in by 31 Sqn in Vickers Valentias and
Douglas DC-2s I assume that they left all of their vehicles behind.
The uniform would be the standard hot climate dress of khaki drill shirts and
shorts in hot weather. Steel
helmets and 38 pattern webbing complete the equipment.
The battalion had been depleted while in India and lacked many of its officers,
NCOs and specialists. It only
received Thompson SMGs in Habbaniya.
The remainder of the battalion arrived by rail via Baghdad once the first
fighting element reached Habbaniya before the Iraqis occupied the plateau.
6 Army Co-operation Squadron
The army co-operation squadron in Palestine was equipped with Westland Lysanders
and was preparing to receive Hawker Hurricanes.
Glubb Pasha notes that he was flown to and from his forward HQ.
He does not specify the type though it was probably a Lysander.
Modelling the defenders of RAF Habbaniya
Aircraft
Gloster
Gladiator
– Obsolete British fighter biplane with 4 x .303” MG in the wings.
These are available from Airfix and sometimes from e-bay as Heller or
Matchbox offerings. These were
camouflaged in either desert or temperate schemes depending upon their origin.
The desert scheme predominated.
The aircraft illustrated is from 94 Squadron based at RAF Habbaniya.
The aircraft illustrated has split white/black undersides.
|
|
Hawker Audax
– The Army Co-Operation version of the Hawker Hart bomber.
I intend to convert Airfix Hawker Demons building up the dorsal position
and adding a message hook. These
can be modelled with 8 x 20lb bombs, 2 x 250 lb bombs or both for variety.
These aircraft were still in their silver pre-war colours.
AZ have released a model of the Audax, though it is a bit expensive for
my taste. The aircraft illustrated
is from 4 SFTS. |
|
Hawker Hart
– externally similar to the Audax, some of the Harts carried 2 x 250lb bombs if
they were the bomber variant or no weapons at all if they were the trainer.
Again the source of these would be the Airfix Demon or the second hand
market. These aircraft were still
in their silver pre-war colours.
The Hart Trainers may have been overall trainer yellow. |
|
Airspeed Oxford – The Oxford is available from Pavla in the Mk1 version with a turret mounting 1 x .303” machine gun and from the second hand market from Frog or Novo as the turretless Mk2. If necessary bomb racks under the fuselage can be added. Intriguingly Dudgeon’s account mentions that the Oxfords had a windshield for the gunner not a turret. Photographs suggest that both marks were used at Habbaniya. The model is the Novo, ex-Frog kit. |
Bristol Blenheim IV
– both versions, fighter and bomber, come from the Airfix kit.
I painted these in the colours illustrated.
The fighter version carried an armament of 7 x .303” machine guns; 2 in
the dorsal turret, 5 beneath the fuselage firing forwards and one in the port
wing. |
Vickers
Valentia
– There is a very expensive Contrail vacuum formed model of this aircraft.
However, the similar Maquette Vickers Vernon or Commercial is sometimes
available second hand. This, too,
is quite expensive. The photographs
show these in desert colours with machine guns mounted in the doors and racks
fitted for 2,200lb of bombs. The
aircraft illustrated is from 216 Squadron. |
||
|
Fairey Swordfish – There are models of the Swordfish by Airfix, Revell, Matchbox and many others. It was armed with a .303” machine gun fixed firing forwards and another in the rear cockpit. In the case of Iraq they flew with up to 1,500lb of bombs. I used the standard FAA colours for my model. | |
Hawker
Hurricane
- Any 1/72 model with tropical
filter and cannon will do. I used
the old Matchbox kit painted in desert colours.
The aircraft sent to Iraq included the Mk IIA armed with 8 x .303”
machine guns and the Mk IIC with 4 x 20mm cannon.
|
Vickers
Wellington Mk1
– available from MPM and Airfix are to issue this mark in the near future.
These appear to have been coloured in standard night bomber (black, earth
and green) scheme used in Europe.
They were armed with 6 x .303” machine guns; two each in nose and tail turrets
and 2 in either a ventral turret (Mk 1A & 1B) or one each in the waist positions
(Mk 1C) plus a bomb load of 4,500lb.
The aircraft below is a Mk1A from 37 Squadron. |
|
Curtiss
Tomahawk
– The early version of this aircraft made its RAF combat debut over Syria in
support of operations in Iraq.
These aircraft were armed with 2 x 0.5”machine guns in the nose and either 2 or
4 x .303” machine guns in the wings. I
had an old Novo kit of this aircraft but there may be others available.
|
|
Westland Lysander – This rugged monoplane was used in the Middle East long after it was rendered obsolete in Europe like so many of the other RAF aircraft mentioned here. I used the Airfix kit (with some spare Matchbox decals) painted in the earth/stone colours to represent an aircraft of 6 Sqn. The Matchbox kit should be equally usable.
The Lysander was armed with 2 x .303” machine guns in the spats and one in the
rear cockpit with racks on stub wings for 8 x 20lb bombs |
Fairey Gordon
– the only kit of this I’ve heard of is the Contrail vacuum formed limited run
kit that sometimes appears on e-bay or in second hand sales.
It was armed with 1 x .303” machine gun firing forwards and another in
the rear cockpit and carried 2 x 250lb bombs.
Although it was used it is difficult to find as a model.
Bristol Blenheim I
– this one I ignored because there was only one of them.
Unit |
Types |
Code in Iraq |
4 SFTS |
Hawker Audax
Airspeed Oxford
Hawker Hart Trainer
Hawker Hart Trainer/Bomber
Gloster Gladiator
Fairey Gordon |
2 digit number (last 2 of serial)
2 digit number (last 2 of serial)
2 digit number (last 2 of serial)
2 digit number (last 2 of serial)
Original Squadron ( RT, NW [217], YK)
1 digit number (last of serial?) |
Communications Flight |
Vickers Valentia |
Single Letter |
70 Squadron |
Vickers Wellington |
LZ |
37 Squadron |
Vickers Wellington |
LF |
244 Squadron |
Vickers Vincent |
None |
203 Squadron |
Bristol Blenheim IV (F) |
LG |
94 Squadron |
Gloster Gladiator
Hawker Hurricane |
GO |
84 Squadron |
Blenheim IV (bomber) |
Single Letter |
216 Squadron |
Vickers Valentia
Bristol Bombay
Atlanta
DC-2 |
SH |
6 Squadron |
Westland Lysander
Hawker Hurricane |
JV |
250 Squadron |
Curtiss Tomahawk |
LD |
814 Squadron Fleet Air Arm |
Fairey Swordfish |
None
|
Modelling the Ground Forces
Iraq Levy
In addition I made enough Austin K2 30cwt (from the Airfix Emergency set) trucks
to mount one company as the Quick Reaction Force that was used at the fighting
at Sinn el Dhibban.
RAF
Defence Platoons |
|
No1
Armoured Car Company
I painted the exposed crew members in standard desert shirts with sand steel
helmets. |
|
1/King’s
Own Royal Regiment |
Die cast toy van painted as an Iraqi Ambulance.
Build Arab Legion and Transjordan Frontier Force
Build 10th Indian Infantry Division (Iraqforce)