Officially established on 22 April 1931, around a core of 5 pilots and 32 aircraft mechanics, the Royal Iraqi Air Force was the first military flying service in any Arab country. Coming into being with the task of supporting the Iraqi armed forces and the British against revolts by local tribes, it saw extensive combat and gradually grew into a potent force. During the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941, it became involved in its first conventional campaign in support of an anti-British coup but was destroyed as a fighting force. It was still recovering when deployed in combat again, this time against Israel in the course of the Palestine War of 1948-1949. During the relatively quiet decade of the 1950s, the air force experienced a rapid growth, further intensified once the monarchy was toppled during the 14 Tammuz Revolution in 1958, and once again, after two additional coups in 1963. During all of these affairs, a dozen additional coup attempts in the 1960s, and then during the long and bitter war against a Kurdish insurgency in the north, and the next clash with Israel in 1967, the Iraqi Air Force continued playing a dominant role in the fate of the country. The situation changed only little following the coup of 1968 that brought the Ba'ath Party to power. What did instrument a major change was the air force's involvement in the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, and then the showdown with the Iranian-supported Kurdish insurgency in northern Iraq in 1974-1975. These two affairs taught the Iraqis that numbers alone did not make an air force. Correspondingly, during the second half of the 1970s, Baghdad embarked on a project based on full technology transfer from France, which was intended to result in preparing the IrAF for the 21st century. This process hardly began when the new ruler in Baghdad, Saddam Hussein at-Tikriti, led his country into an invasion of neighbouring Iran, embroiling it in a ruinous, eight-year-long war. Amazingly enough, for the first few years of that conflict, the IrAF still continued planning and growing as if there was no conflict to fight, although frequently suffering heavy losses while - due to the micromanagement from the government - de-facto fighting with one hand tied to its backs. It was only the experience of facing sustained and massive Iranian offensives of the 1984-1986 period that prompted Baghdad into unleashing the air force into an all-out campaign against the Iranian economy that effected a turn-around in the war. Almost unexpectedly, the IrAF emerged from the eight years of Iran stronger, better equipped and better trained, and more experienced than ever before. However, Saddam Hussein took care to remove all of its top commanders, and replace them with his favourites, thus de-facto castrating the most powerful branch of the Iraqi armed forces shortly before embarking upon his ultimate adventure: the invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The resulting Second Persian Gulf War of 1991 left the IrAF in tatters: mauled by sustained air strikes on its air bases, and cut off from its former sources of equipment and training, it was never to recover again, and rather vegetated for the last years of existence, pending its ultimate destruction during the US-led invasion of 2003. Although virtually 'born in battle', collecting precious combat experience and playing an important role in so many internal and external conflicts, the Iraqi Air Force remains one of the least known and most misinterpreted military services in the Middle East. Richly illustrated, Wings over Iraq provides a uniquely compact yet comprehensive guide to its operational history, its crucial officers and aircraft, and its major operations.

Officially established on 22 April 1931, around a core of 5 pilots and 32 aircraft mechanics, the Royal Iraqi Air Force was the first military flying service in any Arab country. Coming into being with the task of supporting the Iraqi armed forces and the British against revolts by local tribes, it saw extensive combat and gradually grew into a potent force. During the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941, it became involved in its first conventional campaign in support of an anti-British coup but was destroyed as a fighting force. It was still recovering when deployed in combat again, this time against Israel in the course of the Palestine War of 1948-1949. During the 1950s, the Royal Iraqi Force experienced a phase of unprecedented growth: after acquiring several batches of Hawker Fury piston-engined fighter-bombers, Bristol Freighter transports and its first helicopters, it entered the jet-age through the acquisition of de Havilland Vampires and Venoms, and Hawker Hunters in quick succession. The 14 Tammuz Revolution of 1958 toppled the British-imposed monarchy and cut the ties to London. For the next five years, the Iraqi Air Force (IrAF) maintained close links to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and became the first Arab air force to operate types like the MiG-19 and MiG-21, and also the first equipped with Tupolev Tu-16 medium jet bombers. Through the 1960s, the IrAF played a dominant role in Iraq's inner politics, determining the fate of the nation to an unprecedented degree. It not only became involved in combat against Kurdish insurgents in the north of the country: its officers staged multiple coups d'etat in 1963, 1965 and 1966, served as Ministers of Defence and Prime Ministers of the Iraqi government, became involved in the June 1967 War with Israel, and were instrumental in the putsch of 1968 that brought the Ba'ath Party to power. Although subjected to the tight control of the Ba'ath and the Army, the IrAF continued growing through the 1970s and reached its zenith during the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, when it flew some of the most advanced combat aircraft available world-wide, became the air force with most combat- and flying experience on the MiG-25 and the first true multi-role combat aircraft ever - the Mirage F.1 - and played the crucial role in forcing Tehran to accept a cease-fire. In 1990, the IrAF took part in the invasion of Kuwait. Decimated during the 1991 Gulf War against the US-led coalition, it became involved in the suppression of the uprisings in northern and southern Iraq, and subsequently continued fighting a decade-long no-fly zone maintained by the USA and Great Britain. Although virtually 'born in battle', collecting precious combat experience and playing an important role in so many internal and external conflicts, the Iraqi Air Force remains one of the least known and most misinterpreted military services in the Middle East. Richly illustrated, 'Wings over Iraq' provides a uniquely compact yet comprehensive guide to its operational history, its crucial officers and aircraft, and its major operations.