70 (LXX) Squadron Deaths in Mesopotamia

70 LXX Bomber Squadron Royal Air Force was based at RAF Hinaidi in Baghdad from the 31st May 1922 until the 16th October 1937, almost the entire time that RAF Hinaidi was the centre of operations for all British Forces in Mesopotamia. No other squadron matched that record, though No 1 Squadron did take up residence at RAF Hinaidi on the 20th April 1921, before the base was fully operational, remaining at Hinaidi until the squadron was disbanded on the 1st November 1926. On the 16th October 1937, 70 Squadron moved from Hinaidi to the newly completed British centre of operations at RAF Dhibban, the name later changed to RAF Habbaniya. In the time that 70 Squadron was based at RAF Hinaidi in what was once called Mesopotamia, eleven men lost their lives and were buried at the base's cemetery, located on the southern border of the cantonment on land that is still owned by the British Ministry of Defence.

Originally named the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery, the cemetery was renamed the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery in 1961. According to the CWGC Annual Reports it was last maintained in 1974 and is now in a derelict condition, though a new wall was constructed around the used part of the cemetery in October 2021. Only 77 identifiable headstones have survived at the cemetery today but only six of these headstones are for 70 LXX Squadron burials.

Details of eleven burials of 70 LXX Squadron men at Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery, Iraq

Breakdown of 300 burials at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery, Baghdad

Photos of six remaining headstones for 70 LXX Squadron men at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery, Baghdad