Iraq 1941- Royal iraqi aIR FORCE

The RIAF deployed a significant number of aircraft in a mix of modern and obsolescent types deployed:

Other aircraft shown in photographs include small numbers of DeHavilland DH-89 Dragon Rapide transports, Puss Moth Liaison, Gipsy Moth trainers, Avro Anson trainers, DeHavilland Dragonfly and some Vincent. 

Photographs show the Iraqi aircraft as being silver painted all over except for the SM-79s which are all one pale colour.  Some of the Hawker Nisrs had black cowlings.  One picture I have shows this to be a pale cream though another shows the same aircraft in silver!  .  

The Iraqi national marking was an equilateral triangle (point up) in green outlined black with a red Arabic letter “J” in the centre (for “Jaish” – Army) with a white diamond in the lower part. The rudder was painted in four equal vertical stripes (from the front) green-white-red-black.

Other aircraft shown in photographs include, a couple of De Havilland DH-89 Dragon Rapide transports, a few Puss Moth Liaison, some Gipsy Moth trainers, a  few Avro Anson trainers, a few De Havilland Dragonfly and some Vincents.   They were silver all over except for the SM-79s which are all one pale colour.  Some of the Hawker Nisrs had black cowlings. One picture I have shows this to be a pale cream though another shows the same aircraft in silver! 

The RIAF launched several raids on Habbaniya and scored a few successes.  However, aggressive RAF bombing and strafing of their airfields quickly reduced the RIAF over a short period to virtual impotence.

Modelling RIAF Aircraft

	Gloster Gladiator (left) – Obsolete British fighter biplane with 4 x .303” MG 2 in the fuselage sides and 2 in the wings.  To all intents and purposes these were identical to the RAF Gladiators opposing them.  These are available from Airfix and sometimes the better Heller or Matchbox kits are available on the second hand market.
	Hawker Nisr (left) – This is the venerable Hawker Audax ( a Hart derivative) that had a Bristol Pegasus radial engine replacing the Rolls Royce Kestrel in-line engine of the Audax.  It had a slightly better performance that the older Audax.  I converted Airfix Hawker Demons building up the dorsal position, adding a message hook and a Mercury engine from “bargain” Airfix Gladiators found on e-bay years ago.  Yes, I know that the engines are wrong but I’m going for “look” again rather that complete accuracy.  Since then I've managed to get the correct engines and these will be fitted in due course.
	Douglas 8A (left) – A modern fighter-bomber with 4 fixed forward firing and one dorsal machine gun.  It carried up to 1,200 lb of bombs.  I used two vac form kits of these but MPM make it now as a Northrop A-17A, which comes with Iraqi markings.
	Breda Ba-65 (left) – an Italian ground attack aircraft with 4 fixed forward firing MG (2 x 12.7mm and 2 x 7.7mm) and a 7.7mm MG in a turret. Its bombload was 661 lb internal and 441 lb external. I used a couple of Rareplanes vac form kits.
	Colour Schemes and Markings   Almost all of the Royal Iraqi Air Force aircraft appear to have been painted silver with markings limited to the national insignia and a black number in Arabic.  The Iraqi national marking was an equilateral triangle (point up) in green outlined black with a red Arabic letter “J” in the centre (for “Jaish” – Arabic for army) with a white diamond in the lower part.  The rudder was painted in four equal vertical stripes (from the front) green-white-red-black.  The Iraqi national markings are difficult to find but are not too difficult to hand paint or make using decal paper and fixative and printing from your laser or ink-jet printer.

De Havilland DH84M and DH89M – Militarised versions of the Dragon and Dragon Rapide with 2 fixed forward firing .303” machine guns and another in a dorsal position and bomb racks for 8 x 20 lb bombs.  For these use an Airfix/Heller Dragon Rapide.

Savoia-Marchetti SM-79B – The version used by the Iraqis was the twin engine version of the Italian bomber.  These aircraft carried 3 x 12.7mm and 1 x 7.7mm machine guns plus an internal bomb load of 2,800 lb.   Given the lack of a model of this particular type you may have to compromise and use a tri-motor from Airfix or Italeri if you really want one.. 

Vickers Vincent – an obsolete British light bomber.  Difficult to find as a model and probably not needed as they do not appear to have been used.

Avro Anson – trainer.  I have only one reference for these being used and, like the Vincent, use them if you like.  Airfix make a model of the turret version.

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