IRAQ – 216 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Lot 212

IRAQ – 216 Squadron, Royal Air Force

Two photograph albums. Egypt, Palestine and Iraq, c.1939.

Closed14 December 2022

Estimate

GBP 2,000–3,000

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IRAQ – 216 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Two photograph albums. Egypt, Palestine and Iraq, c.1939.
Two albums with photographs of the Middle East taken by a British serviceman in the RAF, stationed at Heliopolis and Aboukir (Egypt), Lydda (Palestine) and Habbaniya (Iraq) during the 1930s. One album contains images of the squadron sailing to Egypt followed by extremely interesting photographs of military activity in Palestine. These latter show vehicles destroyed by land mines, armoured car patrols, Palestine Police, and sandbagged machine gun emplacements. 216 Squadron provided transport duties around the Middle East, and there are a number of photographs of their Vickers Valentia aircraft. The second album contains images of Habbaniya airbase in Iraq, as well as more domestic photographs and shots of camp life. Both show the dangers of flying in this era, with images of various wrecks and crashes.

Two albums: 1. With one large initial photograph of the camp at Heliopolis with the aircraft laid out in a circular formation, and 49 medium-sized (100 x 125mm) and 141 small (65 x 90mm) photographs mounted on 24 leaves (235 x 305mm). Original cloth (extremities lightly rubbed); 2. 6 large (135 x 88mm), 32 medium (110 x 70mm) and 63 small (65 x 90mm) original photographs mounted on 24 leaves (176 x 237mm). Original cloth (extremities lightly rubbed).