I just read in todays Daily Telegraph that AVM Tony Dudgeon
has died at the age of 87. He played a major part in
suppressing the german sponsored Iraqi rebellion of
1941 in which the Naizs attempted to get control of Iraq's
oilfields by supporting the coupl launched by Rashid El Ghailani

RAF Habbiniyah was a training field equipped with obsolete
biplanes, the most modern type being Gloster Gladiators
but managed to fight off an attack by the Iraqi Army
supported by German Me-110's and Italian CR-42's
until relieved by Hab Force, a relief column from Palestine.

He wrote an excellent account of the events as they
transpired in his book "Hidden Victory: the Battle of Habbaniya"

One more gallant gentleman is lost to us, we are all the poorer.

Keith