Description
Object description
British officer served as pilot with 55 Sqdn, RAF in Iraq, 1930-1932
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Air Force in GB, 1925-1929: enlistment in Royal Air Force, 1925; flying training at Royal Air Force College Cranwell; attending photography course at No 1 School of Photography, RAF at RAF Farnborough. Recollections of period as pilot with 55 Sqdn, RAF in Iraq, 1930-1932: reaction to posting; preparations; conditions on board troopship; initial impressions of Iraq; description of RAF Hinaidi; accommodation; lifestyle on station; officer servants; inadequacy of Arab servants; chit system; uniform worn by servants; honesty of servants; servant pay; degree to which officers learnt Arabic; food; squadron duties; operations against Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji's Kurds.
REEL 2 Continues: organisation of squadron during operations against Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji; amusing story of goat gunned down during reconnaissance patrol; degree of danger from ground fire; observance of bombing rules; attitude towards Kurds; story of treatment of crashed pilot taken prisoner by Kurds; purpose of 'goolie chit'; effectiveness of Westland Wapiti for reconnaissance role; crash landing at Sulaymaniyah; armaments carried on Westland Wapiti; nature of landing grounds; communications with ground; duration of sorties; effectiveness of air control operations; contact with special service officers; learning to fly Westland Wapiti.
REEL 3 Continues: duties as photographic officer including participation in selecting site at Habbaniyah as new Royal Air Force airfield; size of Photographic Section; degree to which Iraq was mapped; flying conditions in Iraq; fatality during accident on all weather airstrip; flying clothing worn; altitudes and effect of convection currents; navigation difficulties; observing borders of frontiers; presence of Royal Iraqi Air Force personnel in squadron; relations with Iraqi military and civilian population; lack of female company; man management skills; alleviating boredom; popularity of service in Iraq; how men looked forward to going home.
REEL 4 Continues: bombing techniques; strafing practice; exercises with armoured cars; formation flying; aerobatics; desert stores carried in Westland Wapiti; personal aircraft, crew and ground staff; aircraft markings; crash landing during flight to Cairo, Egypt, 1932; medical treatment received; reactions to being invalided back to GB; flights throughout Iraq; attitude to British presence in Iraq.