Search Results

A brief history of the RAF Armoured Car Companies from 1915 to 1932, during which time they (Nos 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6) supported the Royal Air Force bases in Mesopotamia. Control of the No 2 Armoured Car Company remained with the Royal Tank Corps when it moved its operations to India, joining seven other Royal Tank Corps Armoured Car Companies. No 1 Armoured Car Company (from the Tank Corps to the RAF) Page 9 of "An Introduction to Iraq" provides a brief history of the Armoured Car Companies, from 1915 when Amoured Car Companies 1 and 2 were part of the Tank Corps employed in fighting against the Turks in Mesopotamia in the Battle of Ctesiphon to 1935 when four new Armoured Car Companies, part of the Royal Air Force, were supporting the RAF in defending its landing grounds and bases as well as long distance reconnaissance. At the time of this publication (August 1935) the commanding officer of the No 1 Armoured Car Company RAF (re-formed in April 1930 as an amalgamation of RAF Armoured Car Companies 3, 4, 5 and 6) was Squadron Leader (later Group Captain) Ronald S Sugden, CBE, AFC. For more details on the formation of Nos 3, 4, 5 and 6 RAF Armoured Car Companies, please click HERE and if you would like a comprehensive account of the 'RAF ARMOURED CAR COMPANIES IN IRAQ 1921 - 1947' written by Dr Christopher Morris, I recommend that you read his article in the Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal No 48 .

Amara War Cemetery contains 4,621 burials of the WW1, with more than 3,000 bodies brought to the cemetery after the Armistice. 925 of the graves are unidentified. Amara War Cemetery History of Amara War Cemetery In late 1914, in the early stages of the British Mesopotamian campaign to secure the Persian oilfields, the southern Iraqi city of Basra was seized. With the aim of eventually taking control of Baghdad, the allied expeditionary force (British and Indian) advanced up the river Tigris, reaching Amara on the 3rd June 1915 where a hospital centre was established. The advance towards Baghdad was short-lived, however, coming to an abrupt halt when the allied forces were surrounded and trapped by the Ottoman Turks between Amara and Kut in a siege of massive proportions. In what was later described as the worst defeat of the Allies during WW1, the whole of the allied forces surrendered to the Turks on the 29th April 1916, with the survivors forced to march in captivity to Eastern Turkey, losing thousands of men during the arduous journey from overwork and cholera. By that time, the burials at Amara had exceeded 4,000 and the number of medical units, constructed on both sides of the Tigris, had increased. By April 1917 there were seven general hospitals and a few smaller medical units based at Amara. In total there are 4,621 WW1 burials at the Amara War Cemetery, with more than 3,000 bodies brought into the cemetery after the Armistice and 925 of the graves unable to be identified. In 1933, every headstone was removed from the cemetery due to salts in the soil that were causing them to deteriorate. In their place a screen wall comprising nine panels (the central panel bearing only the name) was erected along the western perimeter, with the names of the buried engraved upon them, grouped by Service type and regiment. Note that Plot XXV is a Collective Grave, the individual burial places within this are not known. There are also seven non-war graves in the cemetery. Amara War Cemetery - Update 2025 Amara War Cemetery is situated in south-east Iraq, 230 miles SE of Baghdad, 100 miles NW of Basra and 320 miles from the Persian Gulf (GPS coordinates 31.84465 47.16047 ). Of the 4,621 burials recorded at Amara, the CWGC website database has identified 3,704 names of servicemen who lost their lives and were buried there. (Note that the number 3,704 is 8 names more than the official figure of 4,621 - 925 = 3,696). In looking at the database the only suggestion I have for the variation in numbers is the eight men whose rank was specified as 'Follower' (see extract below), though I'm not sure what this means. The cemetery at Amara has not fared well over time, with few identifiable features remaining. The Great Cross has all but been destroyed as has the War Stone and the headstones were removed in 1933 due to erosion caused by salts in the cemetery soil. With the road leading to the original entrance now cut off by a large carpark, access is effectively hidden from view, though there is a caretaker's gatehouse hut at the north-eastern corner of the cemetery. The screen wall has recently been repaired as several of the panels were missing or incomplete a couple of years ago. I have attached below photographs taken in 2021 by the (then) UK Defence Attaché to Iraq, Brigadier Adam McRae, which show some of the damage and also photographs taken by the local maintenance contractor in early September 2025, by which time significant repairs had been made to the screen wall. It can be seen that all 64 memorial panels are intact, as is the central section which bears the name of the Amara War Cemetery. There is very little evidence of the Amara (Left Bank) Indian War Cemetery, located to the immediate south of the Amara War Cemetery (see satellite image below). Bordered to its south by a water park, the Missan Fun-fair City, it is hard to imagine that the small area of wasteland is the final resting place of about 5,000 Indian graves. Amara War Cemetery - Now and Then Below are three images. The first is a diagram giving the location, shape and Plot / grave allocation, drawn to a scale that is specified at the bottom of the diagram. The second image is the present-day (2025) satellite view of the cemetery, showing that, apart from the north-west corner, the overall footprint remains the more or less the same, though the north-western corner has been cut off, possibly impacting the security of some of the graves in Plots XXV, XXVII, XXVIII and XXIII. In addition, half of the western perimeter wall has now taken up by the screen wall memorial. Below the first two images is a composite of the satellite photograph overlaid by the original plan. This will enable anyone visiting the cemetery to determine the exact location of any grave. Amara War Cemetery - Dimensions Using the Map developers website and tracing the approximate outline of the original cemetery on the satellite image, the Map Developers website calculated the area of the Amara War Cemetery to be 24,240 square metres or 260,921 square feet, equivalent to 6 acres or 2.42 hectares (see image immediately below). This figure compares favourably with the second composite image, where I determined the individual dimensions using the official scale on the Commonwealth War Graves diagram of the Amara War Cemetery to calculate the total area as being 24,489 square metres or 263,600 square feet , equivalent to 6.05 acres or 2.45 hectares . Using the scale on the CWGC plan, I calculated the length of the perimeter walls is 2,012 feet or 614 metres . Amara War Cemetery - Screen Wall 2022 In 2021 when the Defence Attaché from the UK Embassy in Baghdad visited the Amara War cemetery, the screen wall was found to be in disrepair, with several panels fallen from the wall and others poorly patched with cement in situ. Until recently it was not certain how things had changed since then, as it has not been deemed safe for Commonwealth War Graves Commission staff to visit the site. I have attached several photographs taken in 2021 and one of the Great Cross taken some years ago before it was deliberately blown up. Amara War Cemetery - Screen Wall 2025 In August and September 2025, I received several requests via this website for information regarding the present condition of the Screen Wall and also with regards specific names of the dead on the memorial panels. I approached the Area Director Africa & Asia at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to see if he could arrange for current photographs of the panels to be taken and he kindly asked the local contractor / caretaker to carry this out on the CWGC's behalf. From the photographs that came back I produced three composite photos that I have attached below. It can clearly be seen that significant restoration work has been carried out and that all of the 64 panels are now in place on the wall where they should be (numbered 01 to 64 from south to north). I have overlaid the first photograph with individual images of some panels. I will add more as and when I receive them. Amara War Cemetery - Existing Artefacts A small number of cemetery fragments are kept in the gardener's hut on the north-eastern corner of the cemetery. An old visitors' book and original cemetery documentation are also able to be viewed, including a comprehensive plan of the cemetery dated March 1919 as well as the official register of burials printed by the CWGC in 1930. If you ever get to visit the cemetery, the name of the Cemetery Manager is Mr Hasan Ahtif Mousa.

Numerous old photographs of men, funeral processions, burials and headstones at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery, Bahgdad Ma'Asker / Hinaidi Old Burial Photos The Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery (now known as Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery) has long been abandoned and has to date seemed to have 'fallen between the cracks' with regards the Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintenance of the headstones and the security of the site. I have been contacted by more than one hundred direct descendants and distant relatives of those buried at Ma'Asker who were interested in finding out more about their forbears' service in Iraq, but only a handful of people possessed any photographs or documentation that had survived the last one hundred years. Most of the photos were of very poor quality but there were a few that I thought would add to the story of what went on at RAF Hinaidi and I have included them below. The first two photographs were taken from the south-eastern corner of Plot 3 looking towards the north-western corner of the cemetery. The first was taken in c1935 and the second in 2020 before the new cemetery wall was built. My thanks to Bill Palmer of the 55 Squadron RAF Association for giving me permission to use the 1935 photograph which he found in the 55 Squadron Association's photographic archive. It should be noted that 55 Squadron suffered more than any other RAF squadron in the deaths at Hinaidi, with a total of 25 burials. For more information on 55 (Bomber) Squadron, take a look at its excellent website . Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery (formerly Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery) c1935 Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery (formerly Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery) 2020 Anchor 3 Headstone and Photos of Private James Palmer, Norfolk Regiment Janette Swales, the great great niece of Private James William Palmer, 2nd Battalion Norfolk Regiment, has kindly given me permission to reproduce the following photos of him and his final resting place at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery - Plot 3 Row D Grave 13. Though as yet I have been unable to determine the cause of his death on the 27th November 1922, I hope to be able to add these details in the near future after further research. In total, there are four Norfolk Regiment men buried at Ma'Asker, between July and November 1922. The photograph immediately below on the left shows the original headstone for Private Palmer and another in the background for fellow Norfolk Regiment man, Lance Corporal Ernest Smith, that grave located in Plot 3 Row B Grave 13. It wasn't until many years later that the design of the headstones at Ma'Asker conformed with the standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission design (as shown in the photograph below of the grave immediately next to Palmer's grave). To see the original NEWS story, click HERE. Headstone of LAC Robert Raw (Aircraft Depot Iraq) Cliff Thornton kindly sent me a photograph of the headstone for LAC Robert Raw's grave, Plot 2, Row A, Grave 3. The photograph of the headstone was taken shortly after Raw was buried (2nd June 1935) and is looking west with Plot 1 in the background. Note that the unused grave (Plot 1, Row D, Grave 3) is evident by the lack of a headstone immediately behind Raw's grave. Note also the cracked state of the cemetery ground and lack of foliage, showing that the cemetery had recently been flooded. I've added a photograph of the wreath placed on Raw's grave and the badge given to him when he undertook his apprenticeship training at the Technical Training School at RAF Halton. For a photo of LAC Raw after he graduated at Halton, click HERE . Buried at Mosul Cemetery Prior to Being Moved to Hinaidi Bill Palmer also sent me a photograph that he received as part of an enquiry to the 55 RAF Squadron Association. At first glance it appeared to be showing the final resting place of a 55 Squadron sergeant/pilot and an aircraftman from 6 Squadron at the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery. Upon further examination, especially as the headstones for the two graves were side by side though the men were killed nine months apart, I realised that this was not a photograph of Hinaidi, but of the RAF Cemetery at Mosul. Sergeant/Pilot Charles Dicks of 55 Squadron was killed taking off from Mosul whilst conducting the regular mail run between Mosul and Baghdad in DH9A Serial No: 9911 on the morning of 27th July 1924. AC2 Edward Barber was the observer in a 6 Squadron DH9A Serial No: 4961 on the 18th April 1925 when the aircraft exploded in mid-air during a bombing raid near Mosul due to a petrol leak. Barber and his pilot Flying Officer Rupert Pontifex of 6 Squadron were both killed. The three men were initially buried at Mosul but their bodies were exhumed at a later date and re-buried at Hinaidi. Though the photograph below only shows details of two men, it is highly likely that the partially visible third headstone is for FO Rupert Pontifex. Headstone of LAC William Bartlett (6 Armoured Car Company) Peter Reichelt recently contacted me regarding a photograph he found in his father's collection - a snapshot taken in the nineteen-twenties, while the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery (later renamed the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery) was still part of the RAF Hinaidi Cantonment, under the protection of the Royal Air Force. The men standing behind Willian Bartlett's headstone (Plot 3 Row H Grave 4) are dressed in the uniform of the RAF Armoured Car Companies. On the right in the photograph is the headstone of Flying Officer Ellis Reid of 1 Squadron RAF (Plot 3 Row H Grave 5) and the headstone on the left is for Alexander Noble (Plot 3 Row H Grave 3), a private in the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. Peter has kindly permitted me to reproduce the photograph here. To see the exact location of each of these graves, please click HERE to see a diagram of the cemetery. Funeral and Headstone for AC1 David Oldfield, RAF Aircraft Depot, Baghdad It is not clear how Aircraftsman First Class David Oldfield died on the 20th August 1930, though it was most certainly due to a disease or illness that was contracted whilst he was serving with the Royal Air Force Aircraft Depot in Baghdad. In looking at the burials at Ma'Asker around that time, apart from aircraft flying accidents, the causes of death included Malaria, acute Appendicitis, Typhoid, Septicaemia, Heatstroke and Sandfly fever. Living conditions on the base at RAF Hinaidi were extremely difficult, mainly due to the hot and unforgiving climate. The photographs for AC1 Oldfield's funeral were sent to me by his great nephew Kevin Godward who kindly gave me permission to include them on my website. The grave location is Plot 1 Row B Grave 11. The partially obscured headstone to the right (Plot 1 Row B Grave 12) in the first photograph is for Corporal Lucius (Lucian on CWGC records) Anderson of the Royal Air Force Fire Station Section 8 who died on the 8th August 1930 from sandfly fever leading to heat hyperpyrexia. The headstones in the background are for a baby girl Phoebe Marks (Plot 1 Row A Grave 11) and Sergeant George Garlinge (Plot 1 Row A Grave 12) of the RAF Aircraft Depot, who died of Septicaemia. Note the vacant grave location at Plot 1 Row A Grave 13. Though the dates of death for the burials in Plot 1 Row A Grave 14 and Plot 1 Row A Grave 12 were in April and June 1929 respectively, this plot remained unused for the life of the cemetery, as were Plot 1 Row D Grave 3, Plot 2 Row B Grave 1 and Plot 3 Row N Grave 8. To this day, no reason has ever been determined for the three vacant plots Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery (formerly Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery) c1923 The photograph below was taken from the north-western corner of Plot 3, with the camera focussed on the grave of Flying Officer Lionel Hooton (Plot 3 Row A Grave 9) and pointing in a south-easterly direction towards the southern perimeter fence, just in from of the raised bund. The graves in the photograph are of Plot 3, with only Rows A through F used. This would date the photograph early in the use of the cemetery, namely the latter part of 1923 (refer to Grave Sequence / Breakdown for more details). Note the non-standard headstones for Rows A and B, with burials in Row dating from July 1922 to October 1922. F/O Hooton was one of twenty Royal Air Force pilots buried at Ma'Asker who were WW1 veterans, representing over the years forty RAF squadrons. Four of the pilots were official wartime flying 'aces' and many had been decorated for bravery and courageous acts during the Great War. I have added some of the grave numbers on the photograph below which can be cross-referenced with the other charts and diagrams on this website. Two of the headstones can be seen in later photographs (also included on my website in the Ma'Asker RAF Cemetery pages): 1. Private Barnabus Brown Plot 3 Row B Grave 4 - this headstone survives to this day, though it has been damaged over the years. It is one of the few headstones for which a recent photograph has been taken, though it is hoped that more photographs will become available once restoration work has commenced on the site. Click here to see the image. 2. Private Andrew Rae Plot 3 Row E Grave 1 - this headstone can be seen in the photograph further up this page showing the funeral procession for AC1 David Oldfield, who died in August 1930. Note how much had been achieved regarding the standardisation of headstones and the beautification of the cemetery in the 7 years since the first photograph was taken. Note also that all of the grave allocations in Plot 3 had been filled by February 1929. Funeral of Sqn Ldr Jasper Cruickshank, Officer Commanding No: 6 Armoured Car Company This photograph was taken on the 20th February 1925 at the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery and shows the burial service for Squadron Leader Jasper W Cruickshank, the Commanding Officer of the No: 6 Armoured Car Company, who died from Typhoid and was buried in Plot 3 Row I Grave 14. In the foreground of the photograph, two black crosses (X) mark the grave of another member of the No: 6 Armoured Car Company, LAC John Bliss, who died of shock on the 7th October 1924 after receiving multiple burns and was buried in Plot 3 Row H Grave 7. Note that a headstone has yet to be erected on the grave next to LAC John Bliss, Plot 3 Row H Grave 6, despite the fact that Private Harry Rankin of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers died on the 12th November 1924. This photograph was taken from the southern end of the as yet unused Plot 3 Row I, looking towards the northern perimeter of the cemetery. Funeral of Sir Gilbert Clayton - High Commissioner to Iraq in 1929 Sir Gilbert Clayton The photographs below were sent to me by Sian Sumners, grand daughter of Wing Commander Philip Harry Perkins, who served as a pilot in WW1 and after the war served as a doctor at RAF Hinaidi. He was a keen photographer in his spare time and took many photos, including these of the funeral for Brigadier General Sir Gilbert Falkingham Clayton KCMG KBE CB, who was the High Commissioner to Iraq at the time of his death in September 1929. These images are remarkable in that they show the thousands of Iraqis who lined the road leading to the RAF Hinaidi Cemetery (Ma'Asker Al Raschid), such was the respect they had for Sir Gilbert, a man who was instrumental in putting the country of Iraq on the map. Though the main part of the headstone/monument has been destroyed the base remains in situ over Sir Gilbert's grave, located mid-way between Plot 1 and Plot 2. In the background of the third photograph can be seen the headstones of Plot 3, with the crowd of spectators standing in the unused eastern section of the cemetery and the yet-to-be-used Plot 2. Funeral of LAC Ernest Guy Rosevaere - Armoured Car Coy HQ Leading Aircraftsman Ernest Guy Rosevaere (the personal driver of Wg Cdr Primrose, who commanded the Armoured Car Companies when they were set up in Baghdad in late 1922) died only two weeks after his arrival in Baghdad and was buried at the Ma'Asker cemetery at RAF Hinaidi in Plot 3 Row D Grave 14. For the complete story, click HERE . Death of Leonard Marks, Electrician and Father to Phoebe Marks Anchor 1 Over the past few months I have had several conversations with Ron Workman and Lucille Mole (the children of Dorothy Marks, Leonard Marks’ second daughter) and they have kindly provided me with family photographs and details as to the movements of the Marks family before and after the deaths of their grandfather Leonard Marks and his first-born child Phoebe, both of whom were buried in the Ma’Asker al Raschid RAF cemetery. Ron and Lucille are very keen to see the cemetery restored and have offered to pay for new headstones for both Phoebe and Leonard Marks if that proves to be possible. Leonard Marks and his brother Frank were born in Fremantle during the time their British parents were working in Australia (their father was a doctor, their mother a senior nurse). In their late teens (c 1923) Leonard and his elder brother Frank took jobs in Baghdad at RAF Hinaidi working for the Royal Air Force in the Works and Building Dept, with Frank already a seasoned oil driller. Leonard was an electrician and he lived off-base in rented accommodation in Old Baghdad where he became friends with Rosemarie Hannah (known as Marie) whose grandmother owned the building in which they were both living. Leonard and Marie were married in Baghdad at the beginning of 1928, when RAF Hinaidi was the centre of operations for all British Forces (Army, Navy and Air Force) in Mesopotamia, present day Iraq. Leonard moved in with Marie and commuted to work at RAF Hinaidi by motorcycle. Marie gave birth to their first child, Phoebe, on the 6th November 1928. Sadly, Phoebe died on the 17th July 1929 when she was only eight months old and she was buried in the Hinaidi cemetery, Plot 1, Row A Grave 11, located in the south-western corner of the RAF Hinaidi cantonment. At that time the cemetery was named the Hinaidi RAF (Peace ) Cemetery but the name was later changed to the Ma’Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery. The cause of Phoebe’s death remains unknown, as no death certificate has been found despite extensive research. Marie was already six months pregnant at the time of Phoebe’s death and gave birth to her second daughter Dorothy in October 1929. Three and a half years later, in May 1934, Marie gave birth to her third daughter, who she named Leonora. On the morning of the 11th September 1934 at RAF Hinaidi, a local native employee at the Works & Building Depot was engaged in a dispute regarding his pay with civilian contractor James White. During the argument, the man pulled out a pistol and fired a number of shots, fatally wounding James White and seriously wounding Leonard Marks who was sitting next to him in the office. James White died that day in the RAF General Hospital and Leonard Marks succumbed to his injuries in the same hospital on the following day, the 12th September 1934. On his deathbed, Leonard made his brother Frank promise to look after Marie and his two daughters, five-year-old Dorothy and four-month-old Leonora. Leonard Marks was buried next to James White in the same cemetery as his daughter Phoebe, less than twenty yards away from her grave in Plot 1. Their grave location were Plot 2 Row A Grave 13 and Plot 2 Row A Grave 14 respectively. The extended Marks ‘family’ remained in the family home in Old Baghdad for a short while before Marie’s grandmother sold the building to buy a modern house in New Baghdad. When RAF Hinaidi closed in 1938, Frank, Marie and her two daughters moved to RAF Habbaniya where Frank took up a position associated with maintaining the British oilfields in Kirkuk. At about this time, Frank planned to marry Marie and he set off on a trip to England where he intended to obtain a divorce from his first wife. Sadly, before he had even left Iraq he caught an eye infection whilst driving across the desert. The infection quickly spread to his brain and he died. In 1948, when Dorothy was nineteen, she married a sergeant in the British Army and later gave birth to two children, Ron and Lucille. Tragedy was to strike the family yet again, when in 1963, Dorothy’s husband was run over by a police car in mysterious circumstances in Baghdad and died of his injuries. Ron was fourteen and Lucille was just nine years old. Over time, Ron and Lucille both married and moved to England. Lenora, Marie’s youngest child, grew up in Baghdad with her mother, Frank and Dorothy and eventually married a German before moving to live in Germany. They had three children, Barbara, Jurgen and Christina, all of whom are married. I often wonder how life would have been different for the Marks family had Phoebe grown to adulthood and her father Leonard not been murdered. I have reproduced here photos of Leonard Marks’ funeral procession (with his wife Marie following the coffin carrying a wreath) and his headstone, the headstone photo also showing part of Phoebe’s headstone in the background. I have also attached a press cutting describing the incident and a present-day photograph of Phoebe's headstone. Sadly, Leonard Marks' headstone is not one of the 71 headstones (out of 300 burials) that has survived the decades of neglect at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery. To see Phoebe's headstone as it is today, click HERE . Anchor 2 Burial of Corporal Mark Osborne LXX (70) Squadron Royal Air Force Corporal Mark Cyril Osborne was posted to LXX (70) Squadron at RAF Hinaidi as a chef / butcher on the 8th February 1933. A little over two years later he succumbed to heatstroke and heart failure in the RAF General Hospital Hinaidi on the 25th July 1935 and was buried in the Ma'Asker Cemetery (then named the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery) in Plot 2 Row 2 Grave 2. His grand-daughter, sent me photographs of her grand-father as well as of his burial ceremony which she has kindly permitted me to attach below.

Royal Flying Corps book describing the action of the Continous Wave Receiver Mk III Royal Air Force 1918 MKIII Continuous Wave Receiver - Action This page (taken from a Royal Flying Corps book) provides details of the action of the MK III Continuous Wave Receiver, as used by the RAF in 1918 during WW1. It also describes Spark Signals and the reception of continuous waves or Beat Reception.

Front cover of RFC / RAF Instructor notes on airborne wireless used in 1918 RAF 1918 Wireless Instruction Notes - Front Cover This is the front cover of a notebook my grandfather produced during WW1, at the time he became a wireless instructor at the No 1 (T) Wireless School, located at Flowerdown, near Winchester. He was invalided out of 6 Squadron Royal Flying Corps in January 1918 and held the position of instructor from January 1918 until January 1919 when he was demobilised.

This page shows an RAF wireless schematic of unknown type, dated 1918 Royal Air Force WW1 Wireless Schematic This page shows the schematic diagram of an RAF wireless set, unknown type, dated 1918.

More details on the Continous Wave Receiver Mk III and the importance of timing Royal Air Force 1918 MK III Continuous Wave Receiver - Timing This page provides information on the importance of timing in a MK III Continuous Wave Receiver, notes made from a Royal Flying Corps book in 1918, during WW1. There is also a table of screw threads and drill dimensions.

This page shows photographs of every headstone in Plot 6 of the Habbaniya Military Cemetery Plot 6 Headstones - Habbaniyah War Cemetery This page provides a photograph of each of the thirty-nine (39) new headstones in Plot 6 of the Habbaniya War Cemetery. The photographs appear in Row and Grave sequence but can also be accessed directly by clicking on the name of the person of interest by via the cemetery diagram page. Due to an oversight back in 2018 / 2019 when the Habbaniyah War Cemetery was completely restored, a new headstone was not made for Norwegian sailor Oskar Kristiansen, who died on the 26th March 1945 (Plot 6 Row C Grave 1). Consequently Kristiansen's grave is currently unmarked. As at January 2024, the CWGC on behalf of the Norwegian Graves Commission will make a new headstone and install it at Habbaniyah. In the meantime I have attached an image of Kristiansen's original and almost illegible headstone at the end of this section as well as a corrected image that shows the wording of the original inscription. I have also marked the position of Kristiansen's grave on the background image of Plot 6 (not visible if you are viewing this website using a mobile phone). See also the NEWS story on Oskar Kristiansen. The background image for this page (visible on all devices except mobile 'phones) is a wide-angle photograph taken of Plot 6 at Habbaniyah.Click HERE to see a copy of this photo. Anchor 1 Anchor 2 Anchor 3 Anchor 4 Anchor 5 Anchor 6 Anchor 7 Anchor 8 Anchor 9 Anchor 10 PLOT 1 HEADSTONES Anchor 11

Two aerial photos of the Ypres-Comines railway, taken by a 6 Squadron RE8, the first prior to and the second immediately after the attack on Messines in June 1917. 6 Squadron Aerial Photos - Ypres / Commines Railway Cutting The two photographs on Page 2 were taken by an RE8 of 6 Squadron, part of its aerial reconnaissance operations over the Western Front during WW1. The photographs show a section of the Ypres-Comines railway cutting, as defined by the mapping coordinates 28. I. 35. B and - 28. I. 35. D an area measuring 500 yards east/west and 1000 yards north/south. The first photograph was taken on the 17th March 1917 and the second on the 13th June 1917, 6 days after the 19 mines were detonated beneath the German lines along the Messines ridge.

This short story is the true account of Steve Buster Johnson at the last rowing regatta he attended in which he won the last event of the day - the men's double sculls at Iluka in northern New South Wales during 2006. The Last Race (short true story) This is the story of my very last rowing race (though I did not know this at the time), back in the summer of 2006. The two 'Steves' had never rowed together in a Regatta, yet managed to win the gold medal for the Men's Double against all odds - a great way for me to retire from competitive rowing. Pictured left is the team who won the silver medal for the Men's Quad race in the 2004 Pan Pacific Games (I am the tanned individual on the left). At the same games, I also won the silver medal for the Men's Single Sculls (55 to 60 years of age). "Some things in life are just meant to happen, no matter how heavily the odds are stacked against them. A prime example was at the last rowing regatta I competed in, before retiring from the sport. It was the last race of the day; the men’s double scull. My crewman Steve was the tallest and heaviest rower in the event whilst I was the oldest and lightest. We had never rowed together other than a quick practice run on the River Tweed to prove we could row in unison and travel more or less in a straight line. With four more-fancied crews from our rowing club having already reserved the best of the boats, Steve and I were left with an old training scull that had seen better days. Though we had our supporters, we would be the first to admit that little was expected of us. The conditions for the regatta at Iluka, a small fishing village on the mid north coast of New South Wales, were good, though a strong wind had developed during the afternoon, causing delays to some of the races. In our rush to get the scull into the water, I forgot to attach the lane number to the prow. With no time to go back and pick it up, we rowed across the harbour in an attempt to catch up with the other entrants, but were soon floundering in the heavy swell. To make matters worse, our scull was taking on water and Steve's weight pressing down on the stern meant that every wave broke over the gunwales. We were still more than a hundred metres from the starting line when the other seven boats began to take up their starting positions. Though we risked being penalised for arriving late, Steve and I had no choice but to run aground so that we could bail out enough water to keep us afloat for the duration of the race. I waved frantically to catch the starter's attention and he shouted back words of encouragement that fortunately I could not hear from the safety of his motor boat. While Steve kept the scull pointing into the wind, I jumped overboard and scooped out water with my hands until we were no longer in immediate danger of sinking. I then climbed back on board and we rowed as hard as we could, straight through a line of moored fishing trawlers towards the small gap that had been left for us in the line-up for the event. With sixteen rowers straining to keep their boats level with each other, the starter had more important matters on his mind than disqualifying us for not displaying our lane number. When the siren sounded, Steve and I pulled as if our lives depended upon it. The rowing course at Iluka is a difficult one, with the harbour wall running parallel to the shore and fishing boats moored at each end. In lane seven, only one boat width from the wall, Steve and I were protected somewhat from the sea swell. We also had an unforseen advantage over the other crews. With me sitting in the stroke position and taking the brunt of the wind, our scull was riding high at the prow and the waves no longer swept over us. By the halfway mark, I looked up and discovered to my amazement that we were lying third. A shout from Steve made me look to my left, where the scull in lane eight narrowly avoided colliding with the sea wall as it surged towards us in the maelstrom, its portside oars passing right over ours as the hull rose to the top of a huge swell. With two hundred metres to go, I yelled out, “Ten more Steve. Give it all you’ve got.” I counted down the strokes and when I reached zero I yelled again. “Sorry Steve, I lied. Another ten should do it!” "Bastard!" he shouted over his shoulder, but showing his true mettle, his mighty shoulders took the strain and the boat surged forward. Utterly exhausted and unable to believe that we had won, Steve and I crossed the line in first position to the applause of the spectators who were lining the wharf. We were later told that a dolphin had escorted us for the last few seconds of the race. When we were presented with our medals, I wasn't surprised to find that the club's emblem was a dolphin behind a pair of crossed oars. Like I said, some things in life are just meant to happen."

1918 Map of la Lovie aerodrome showing the location of hangars for 23 Squadron and 21 Squadron Royal Air Force. This is part of a bigger map of all aerodromes at Poperinge La Lovie Aerodrome Reproduced below is a section of the Proven map of 1918 that shows the position and boundary of la Lovie aerodrome as it was in 1918. The buildings (in brown) were already on the map, but I have indicated which hangars were used by 21 Squadron and those by 23 Squadron. I have also included an overhead photo (courtesy of Google Maps) overlaid by the boundary of la Lovie aerodrome. Though la Lovie was a major aerodrome in the Poperinge region of the Western Front, it was never home to 6 Squadron during WW1.

30 Sqn, from its formation in 1914 until the end of WW1. It was a RAF squadron that served in Mesopotamia and during the 1920s was based at RAF Hinaidi, Iraq 30 Squadron Royal Air Force Page 3 of "An Introduction to Iraq" provides a brief history of 30 Squadron (one of the Royal Air Force squadrons to be based at RAF Hinaidi during the inter-war years). At the time of publication (August 1935) the commanding officer of 30 Squadron was Squadron Leader (later Air Vice Marshall) Arthur L Fiddament DFC. The aircraft in the background, Serial Number K4053, was a Hawker Hardy on charge with 30 Squadron.