RAF Habbaniya



Royal Air Force Station Habbaniya, more commonly known as RAF Habbaniya, (originally RAF Dhibban) was a Royal Air Force station at Habbaniyah, about 55 mi west of Baghdad in modern day Iraq, on the banks of the Euphrates near Lake Habbaniyah. It was operational from October 1936 until the 31 May 1959 when the British were finally withdrawn following the July 1958 Revolution.

It remained a major Iraqi military airbase.

History
RAF Habbaniya was constructed on the west bank of the Euphrates and opened on 19 October 1936. The squadrons, units and headquarters and the hospital gradually moved in from RAF Hinaidi, Baghdad, which was vacated by the British and renamed "Rashid Airfield" by the Iraqis. Originally called RAF Dhibban, the station was renamed RAF Habbaniya on 1 May 1938. The base was extensive and included the Air Headquarters of RAF Iraq Command, maintenance units, an aircraft depot, an RAF hospital, RAF Iraq Levies barracks, the RAF Armoured Car Company depot as well as fuel and bomb stores. There were numerous billets, messes and a wide range of leisure facilities including swimming pools, cinemas and theatres, sports pitches, tennis courts and riding stables. It was self-contained with its own power station, water purification plant and sewage farm. Within the base was the Civil Cantonment for the civilian workers and their families and the families of the RAF Iraq Levies. Water taken from the Euphrates for the irrigation systems enabled green lawns, flower beds and even ornamental Botanical Gardens. After World War II the families of British personnel started living at Habbaniya and a school was started. There was a 7 mile perimeter fence round the base but this did not enclose the airfield which was outside. In 1952 a second airfield was built on the plateau to cope with the long range and jet aircraft using the base (this subsequently became the Iraqi Air Force Al Taqaddum airbase). In the late 1930s Imperial Airways established a staging post on Lake Habbaniya for the flying boat service from the UK to British India using Short Empires. The lake provided the necessary landing area for these aircraft in the middle of the Mesopotamian desert.

The station was a large flying training school during World War II, as well as a transport staging airfield. During the Rashid Ali rebellion in 1941 the airfield was besieged by the Iraqi Army encamped on the overlooking plateau. On 2 May 1941, British forces from the airfield launched pre-emptive airstrikes on Iraqi forces throughout Iraq and the Anglo-Iraqi War began. The siege was lifted by the units based at Habbaniya, including pilots from the training school, a battalion of the King's Own Royal Regiment flown in at the last moment, Number 1 Armoured Car Company RAF and the RAF's Iraq Levies. The subsequent arrival of a relief column (Kingcol), part of Habforce sent from Palestine, then a British mandate, combined with the Habbaniya units to force the rebel forces to retreat to Baghdad.

Later in World War II Habbaniya became an important stage on the southern air route between the UK and the USSR. British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) ran a regular passenger service via North Africa and the Middle East using Consolidated Liberator transports. The United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command used Habbaniya as a stopover point between the large Lend-Lease aircraft assembly facility at Abadan Airport, Iran and Payne Field, Cairo. Also ATC operated a transport route from Habbaniya to Mehrabad Airport. Tehran. After World War II, BOAC discontinued the flying boat service and the hotel buildings at the lake were acquired by the RAF and used as a Rest and Recreation Centre.

Operational RAF squadrons were based at Habbaniya and very many aircraft passed through in transit.

Roald Dahl was stationed there in 1940, as described in his book, Going Solo but his description is somewhat inaccurate and his opinion rather unfavourable compared with that of most personnel who served there.

Among the Units located at Habbaniya at various times were:
 * No 4 Service Flying Training School;
 * No. 115 Maintenance Unit RAF;
 * No. 134 Maintenance Unit RAF;
 * 123 Signals Unit;
 * 276 Signals Unit;
 * Squadrons Nos 8, 30, 70, 84, 244, 249, 683;
 * RAF Hawker Hunter Servicing Flight/(Royal Iraqi Air Force) 1957-1958
 * 19 Topographical Squadron R.E.
 * No. 1 Armoured Car Company RAF;
 * Number 2 Squadron RAF Regiment;
 * 1st Battalion King's Own Royal Regiment.
 * Iraq Levies, HQ, 1st, 2d,3d, 4th, and 5th Assyrian Levies and 8th Levy. All companies of 125 men plus their dependents totaling 2,000 people.

Current use
According to the Federation of American Scientists the site was used to produce Mustard gas (a chemical weapon). The site was built in 1983 - 1984. The factory produced the gas for use against the Iranians during the Iran–Iraq War. The factory produced 60-80 tonnes per year.



In present times, the former British airfield was used by both the United States Armed Forces and the New Iraqi Army as a forward operating base, and is now known as Camp Habbaniyah. From this outpost, combat operations are run from the outskirts of Fallujah to the outskirts of Ramadi. Since 2006 Camp Habbaniyah has grown into a Regional Training and Regional Support Center as well as the headquarters for the Iraqi Army 1st Division. On going Coalition and Iraqi construction projects have revitalized much of the base.

In December 2008, the U.S. Army and all civilian contractors departed Camp Habbaniyah. U.S. Marines had stayed behind to provide the Iraqi Army with additional perimeter security until a time TBD.

On 16 April 2009, a suicide-bomber dressed as an Iraqi 1st Lieutenant detonated a bomb among a group of Iraqi soldiers at a canteen.

289 British and Commonwealth personnel, women, children and babies still lie buried in the RAF/Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery in Habbaniya. The register of those buried is held by the RAF Habbaniya Association. RAF Habbaniya Association



Units and aircraft

 * No. 6 Squadron RAF (1950–1954) de Havilland Vampire FB5 & FB9
 * No. 8 Squadron RAF (1956) de Havilland Vampire FB4
 * No. 11 Squadron RAF (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV
 * No. 14 Squadron RAF (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV
 * No. 30 Squadron RAF (??)
 * No. 45 Squadron RAF (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV
 * No. 52 Squadron RAF (1941–1942) Hawker Audax
 * No. 55 Squadron RAF (1937–1939) Vickers Vincent Bristol Blenheim I
 * No. 70 Squadron RAF (1937–1939) Vickers Valentia
 * No. 73 Squadron RAF (1953–1955) de Havilland Vampire FB9 & FB1
 * No. 74 Squadron RAF (1943) Hawker Hurricane I
 * No. 82 Squadron RAF detachment (1951–1952) Avro Lancaster PR1
 * No. 84 Squadron RAF (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV
 * No. 94 Squadron RAF detachment (1941) Gloster Gladiator
 * No. 123 Squadron RAF (1942) Gloster Gladiator
 * No. 162 Squadron RAF (1942) Bristol Blenheim IV
 * No. 185 Squadron RAF (1952-1952) de Havilland Vampire FB5
 * No. 203 Squadron RAF detachment (1941) Bristol Blenheim IV
 * No. 208 Squadron RAF detachment (1941) Hawker Audax
 * No. 216 Squadron RAF detachment (1942) Lockheed Hudson IV
 * No. 223 Squadron RAF detachment (1942) Martin Baltimore
 * No. 244 Squadron RAF
 * No. 249 Squadron RAF (1946) de Havilland Mosquito FB26 Hawker Tempest F6
 * No. 261 Squadron RAF (1941) Gloster Gladiator Hawker Hurricane I
 * No. 651 Squadron RAF detachment (1948) Auster AOP6
 * No. 680 Squadron RAF detachment (1945–1946) Fairchild Argus
 * No. 683 Squadron RAF (1952–1953) Vickers Valetta C1
 * No. 1412 (Meteorological Flight) RAF (1942–1946) Gloster Gladiator Hawker Hurricane
 * No. 1434 (Photo Survey) Flight RAF (1942) Bristol Blenheim
 * No. 4 Flying Training School RAF (1939–1941)
 * No. 104 Maintenance Unit RAF (1954–1956)
 * No. 115 Maintenance Unit RAF (1945–1954)
 * No. 134 Maintenance Unit RAF (1942 and 1943–1946)