Posted on 08/20/2005 7:41:26 AM PDT by Wiz
Iraq's new air force is being rebuilt from the ground up at this sprawling desert base outside Nasiriyah, once Saddam Hussein's center of air operations against Iran during the 1980-1988 war.
Now the site, 375 kilometers (235 miles) southeast of Baghdad, is home to Air Force Squadron 23 and its three C-130 Hercules transport planes.
The US-donated planes are backbone of Iraq's new air force, which also includes a dozen light reconnaissance planes and another dozen helicopters spread across the country. Officials are vague on numbers for security reasons.
Currently, 109 Iraqi students - all air force veterans with years of experience - are learning how to maintain and fly Hercules fleet. The youngest trainee is 30. Others appear twice that age.
Gone are days of Saddam's air armada of 500 warplanes, which included Russian Mig 21 and Mig 25 fighters, Sukhoi fighter-bombers and French Mirage interceptors.
Somewhat bizarrely, most of Saddam's planes were flown to Iran during the 1991 Gulf War to prevent them from being destroyed in US bombing raids.
Unsurprisingly those aircraft were not returned by the time Iraq's next conflict rolled around and any valuable surviving planes were buried in the desert.
Just days after the US-led invasion began in March 2003 "we removed the engines and the wings of six Mig 25s and buried them in the desert," said an Iraqi air force veteran, now captain in the new force.
"It was crazy, but nobody dared contradict Saddam. He thought the war would last just a few months."
Facing death threats and attacks on their families by anti-government insurgents, the Iraqi officers and airmen agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity.
With no aircraft left, the main asset available as the foundation of a new post-Saddam air force was the expertise of these veterans.
(Excerpt) Read more at middle-east-online.com ...
ping
New airplanes for the Iraqi Air Force line the flight line at the Basrah International Airport. The Iraqi Air Force received the new planes from the United Arab Emirates on Nov. 13, 2004. These planes represent the first shipment of four aircraft out of a total of 16 to arrive at Basrah International Airport . U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher J. Crawford
A pilot of the new 1 Squadron Iraqi Air Force with the observation aircraft used to undertake security patrols over infrastructure
That sucker looks like a practice target for ground fire...
If Saddam was the reincarnation of Hitler, then this must have been the reincarnation of the Luftwaffe.
"It was crazy, but nobody dared contradict Saddam. He thought the war would last just a few months."
This makes me wonder if Saddam has syphillis eating his brain.
Well, that's what the DOD promised as well.
Damn, you really know about the Iraq Air Force, knowing what they have. Did they also have UH-1H? I wonder what happened to the fighters. Did they sell it or scrap it?
UH-1 Huey helicopters sits on the tarmac at Taji Military Training Base, north of Baghdad, Iraq. Photo courtesy of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team.
A total of sixteen UH-1H aircraft are slated to arrive by February 2006
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
