The Habbaniya, or Habbania, are a SunniMuslim tribe of the nomadic BedouinBaggara people in the plains of Sudan's Darfur, North Kordofan, and South Kordofan provinces. Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) (sometimes also pronounced Moslem) is an adherent of Islam. ... Bedouin resting at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic badawi بدوي, a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and... The Baggara or Baqqarah are a nomadic Bedouin people inhabiting the Darfur region of western Sudan and Chad. ... Darfur (Arabic دار Ùور, meaning home of the Fur) is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad. ...
In London, the 30 April news that a large Iraqi force was marching on Habbaniya caused the Chiefs of Staff to exult that their intervention in Basra had caused Rachid Ali's "plot" to "go off at half-cock" before the Axis could organize military support for the Iraqi regime.
Habbaniya was an airfield that housed a Flying Training School of 1000 airmen, supported by 9000 civilians, many of them British dependents.
Fortunately, the arrival from Egypt of eight Wellington medium bombers, a few Gladiators, and 300 soldiers of the King's Own Royal Regiment that were air-lifted from the RAF base at Shaibah caused the air vice-marshal in command to conclude on 2 May that attack was the best form of defense.
Luckily most of RAF Habbaniya was flat with packed earth runways and the Polo pitch from which some aircraft operated.
But I've also just joined the RAF Habbaniya Association and hope to get some better idea of aircraft paint schemes and Habbaniya layout from other members; some of whom were actually there.
I now need to find out if the Gordon's at Habbaniya were Mk Is or IIs, as they had different rudder styles.
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