H-2 Air Base

H-2 Air Base
Al-Anbar Province, Iraq
250px H-2 Air Base, 1995
H-2 Air Base Location of H-2 Air Base
Coordinates
Site information
Condition	Abandoned
Site history
Built	1935 (1935)
In use	1935–2003
Battles/wars	World War II Operation Desert Storm Operation Iraqi Freedom
Garrison information
Garrison	Royal Air Force (1935–1958) Iraqi Air Force (1958–2003) Coalition Forces (2003)
Airfield information
Runways Direction Length and surface 11/29 12,600 ft (closed) Concrete 16/34 8,800 ft (closed) Concrete

H-2 Air Base (code-named 202B) is a former Iraqi Air Force base in the Al-Anbar Governorate of Iraq. It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. It is currently abandoned.

Overview

H-2 is located in Southern Iraq approximately 350 kilometers West of Baghdad. The airfield is served by two runways 12,600 and 8,800 feet long. H-2 occupies a 41 square kilometer site and is protected by a 26 kilometers security perimeter.

History

RAF H2

H-2 was established by the Royal Air Force as a landing ground as "RAF H2" in the 1930s. It was named for the nearby H2 pumping station on the Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline. H2 one of several airfields established as part of the British Mandate of Iraq. Iraq was artificially created at the close of World War I from the former Ottoman Empire as part of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. It was used until the 1940s by No. 84 Squadron RAF.

During the early days World War II, the airfield was abandoned as the RAF moved its units to RAF Habbaniya during the 1941 Iraqi coup d'état and subsequent Anglo-Iraqi War. It may have been used by some German Luftwaffe units that had moved in from Vichy French controlled Syria, during an attempted coups by German-leaning Iraqi Generals who had engineered a coup in Iraq on 31 March 1941. However, the British moved in both land reinforcements from British Palestine and flew in some Wellington and Blenheim bombers to RAF Habbaniya. The coup crumbled in disorder, with the pro-Nazi forces in Iraq surrendering on 30 May. The Luftwaffe units stranded in Iraq retreated back to Syria. Outnumbered at least three to one, using outmoded equipment and facing the best of Nazi Germany's air power, the British still managed to conquer Iraq in less than four weeks. It was the first time the Luftwaffe had been beaten in World War II.

Iraqi Air Force

The airfield remained under British control until 1958 when, as a result of the 14 July 1958 Iraqi Revolution when Hashemite monarchy established by King Faisal I of Iraq in 1921 under the auspices of the British was overthrown. Subsequently, it was turned over to the Iraqi Air Force. During the 1970s, it was one of several Iraqi airfields upgraded under project "Super-Base" in response to the experiences from Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973.

Companies from Yugoslavia – previously engaged in building bridges in Iraq – became involved in airfield construction. Due to their specific construction of these airfields – which included taxi-ways leading right out of Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS) and laid diagonally to the runways – they became known as "Trapezoids" or "Yugos".

The facilities were divided into two categories: "surface" and "underground". The "surface" facilities were actually the "softest", and included maintenance hangars of metal construction, and HAS of concrete construction. In total, the Yugoslavs have built no less but 200 HAS on different airfields in Iraq during the 1980s.

The protection of each HAS consisted of one meter thick concrete shells, reinforced by 30 cm thick steel plates. There was only one entrance and this was covered by sliding doors, made of 50 cm thick steel armoured plate and concrete. The HAS' were usually built in small groups – seldom more than five, with each group sharing the same water and power supply, besides having own backup gasoline-powered electrical generator, and each HAS being equipped with a semi-automatic aircraft-refuelling system.

In addition, underground facilities that could shelter between four and ten aircraft on average were constructed. In order to build these the Yugoslavs used equipment and construction techniques identical to that use in underground oil-storage depots, additionally concealing the extension and the true purpose of the whole project. The underground facilities were all hardened to withstand a direct hit by a tactical nuclear bomb, buried up to 50 meters below the ground and consisted of the main aircraft "hangar" (consisting of two floors in several cases, connected by 40ts hydraulic lifts), connected with operations, maintenance, and logistical facilities via a net of underground corridors.

1991 Gulf War

H-2 became an important target for U.S. F-117 "Stealth" fighter attacks in the opening days of the 1991 war, according to military analysts. The U.S. conducted some 47 raids on the base, effectively closing it for the duration of the war.

2003 Iraq War

The H-1, H-2 and H-3 airfields in Western Iraq were used as operating hubs for Iraqi mobile Scud units deployed to bombard Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, and securing the area was seen to be vital to deny Iraq the opportunity to launch WMD loaded Scuds into Israel once the invasion began, while also permitting coalition control of road traffic to and from Syria and Jordan.

On G-Day +1, 21 March 2003 a combined force of a squadron of British Special Air Service (SAS) and a squadron of the Australian Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) seized H-2 who assaulted the sites in formations of heavily armed Land Rovers – the British driving DPV (Desert Patrol Vehicles), the Australians driving their similar 6-wheeled vehicles. After neutralizing the guard towers and other defensive positions, the SAS/SASR teams cleared the hangars and administration buildings of the sites. It has been reported that troops from 45 Commando, Royal Marines then set up a security screen around the airfields, which were rapidly set up as forward operating bases (FOBs) for the SAS.

With the two FOBs established (also at H-3 Air Base), the SAS then headed eastwards, out into the Iraqi desert. In a reprisal of their role in Operation Desert Storm, the SAS were on the prowl for Iraqi SCUD missile launchers – which Saddam might again use to attack Israel – as well as any other military assets they could find. The SAS Land Rover columns were reportedly backed by air power provided by the 410th Air Expeditionary Wing, which flew primarily A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and Harrier GR.5s from Shahid Muafaq Al-Salti Air Base, Jordan, attacking any Iraqi forces that presented themselves. Unmanned Predator B spy planes were flown ahead of the SAS advance in order to scout out targets.

A few nights after the initial SAS operation, the U.S. 75th Ranger Regiment airdropped in and took the H-1 Air Base which was then used as a launching pad for more allied Special Operations. One military source at the time described Iraq's western desert as a special forces playground. By 29 March, an area some 170 miles east of the Jordanian border was blocked off from Iraqi forces, with the captured air bases serving as forward special operations bases.

After the seizure of the base, the base was de-militarized, with runways being torn up and all military equipment being removed and/or destroyed. Current aerial imagery shows that the operational structures around the airfield appear to have been demolished and removed. Today the concrete runway and series of taxiways remain exposed and deteriorating to the elements, being reclaimed by the desert. As with H-3 Air Base the runways are blocked at regular intervals by sandbags and debris.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Air Force Historical Research Agency.