RAF Habbaniya
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RAF Habbaniya was a Royal Air Force station about 55 miles west of Baghdad in modern day Iraq, near the town and lake of Habbaniya. It was operational from the late 1930s until the 1950s when then British withdrew their forces from the newly independent Iraq. It was a large flying training school during the war, as well as a transport staging airfield. Roald Dahl was stationed there in 1940, as described in his book, Going Solo. Later in the 1930's Imperial Airways established a staging post for the flying boat service from the UK to British India. The lake provided the necessary landing area for these aircraft in the middle of the mesopotamian desert.
Among the RAF Units located at Habbaniya before the RAF withdrew in 1959 were:- 115 Maintenance Unit; 123 Signals Unit; 276 Signals Unit.
In present times, the former British base is used by both the United States Armed Forces and the New Iraqi Army as a forward operating base. From this outpost, combat operations are run from the outskirts of Fallujah to the outskirts of Ramadi.
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