ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 2488
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| Date: | Sunday 6 July 1941 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: | Hawker Audax Mk I |
| Owner/operator: | 4 SFTS RAF |
| Registration: | K7502 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Habbaniya -
 Iraq
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Training |
| Departure airport: | RAF Habbaniya, Iraq |
| RAF Habbaniya, Iraq |
The Audaxes from No. 4 S.F.T.S. were used to form squadrons of the of the Habbaniya Air Striking Force. Each squadron was equipped with 10 Hawker Audaxes. The commanding officer of No. 4 S.F.T.S. at the time was Wing Commander W.A.B. Saville.
The Habbaniya Air Striking force consisted of the following:
'A' Squadron - 10 Hawker Audaxes
'B' Squadron - 1 Bristol Blenheim, 26 Airsped Oxfords, 8 Fairey Gordons and 4 Gloster Gladiators
'C' Squadron - 10 Hawker Audaxes
'D' Squadron - 10 Hawker Audaxes
Iraq Communications Flight - 3 Vickers Valentias under commad of the O.C. Flight Lieutenant Maurice R. Skeet. The Valentia serial numbers are K2792, K2808 and K8852
Every aircraft at R.A.F. Station Habbaniya that could be made servicable was fitted with bomb racks and machine guns. The Fairey Gordons and Hawker Audaxes carried two 250 pound bombs, while the Oxfords carried eight 20 pound bombs.
It is very interesting to note that the schoool only had 35 instructors and other qualified pilots on hand. In a great leap of faith (no other choice actually), the students who showed the most potential were drawn onto their ranks. Other students volunteered to acts as aerial gunners and observers. This really illustrates how desparate the situation really was.
During the five day seige of Habbaniya, No. 4 S.F.T.S. flew 584 sorties, dropping 45 metric tons of ordnance and fire off 100,000 rounds of ammunition.
No. 4 S.F.T.S. flew some 1605 operational sorties in a 30 day period. The greater portion of the said sorties were flown by the pupils. I guess this is the definitive meaning of ' Trial by Fire'.
No. 4 Service Flying Training School's aircraft were ferried out from Habbaniya during the month of June 1941. The school was officially closed on the 1st of July 1941.
Here are the only serial numbers I can come up with at this time: K3099, K7502 and K7542. There was no unit code for No. 4 S.F.T.S. until post-war.
As for Audax K7502 it was recorded hat it was written off (damaged beyond repair) on 6 April 1941 when it swung off the runway on landing at RAF Habbaniya, Iraq. Struck off charge same day as FACE (Flying Accident Category E). Total time on airframe 1091 hours.
Sources:
1. The K File - The RAF of the 1930s (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1995 p.114)
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft K1000-K9999 (James J Halley, Air Britain 1976)
3. http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/02563.php
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 22-Feb-2008 10:07 | JINX | Added |
| 23-Nov-2018 18:43 | Nepa | Updated [Operator, Nature, Source, Operator] |
| 30-Oct-2020 15:24 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Time, Operator, Total fatalities, Total occupants, Other fatalities, Location, Country, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative] |
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