Qayyarah Airfield West
| Qayyarah Airfield West FOB Endurance FOB Q-West |
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|---|---|
| Coordinates | 35°45′57″N 043°07′18″E / 35.76583°N 43.12167°E |
Qayyarah Airfield West is a former Iraqi Air Force base in the Qayyarah subdistrict of Mosul District in northern Iraq. It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. It was also known as Q–West or Key West by the various U.S. Army Forces and civilian contractors stationed there.
Formerly known as Saddam Airbase, the facility is located 16 kilometers west of the Tigris River, 20 kilometers west of Qayyarah town, 60 kilometers south of Mosul and about 300 kilometers north of Baghdad. Qayyarah West AB was built in the late 1970s and was one of several Iraqi Air Force airfields of the 1970s which were re-built under project "Super-Base" in response to experiences from Arab-Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973. It became a major airfield during the 1980s war with Iran, when it was the main hub for Iraqi Mirage F1EQ operations, and when it was the first airbase of MiG-23MLs. Later during that war, MiG-25s operated from the airbase as well.
The secondary "Sector-Operations Center" (SOC) of the Northern Command IrAF was based here until March 2003. There were two Weapon Storage Areas (WSA) located 10 and 12 kilometers to the north that were probably associated with Qayyarah West. WSA 1 had 30 munition storage igloos and is 1640 acres in size. WSA 2 had 42 munition storage igloos and is 800 acres in size. It is not known whether these storage areas were built after Operation Desert Storm or whether they were struck during Operation Desert Fox.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003, the base was heavily attacked by Coalition airpower and seized by Coalition ground forces. When US troops arrived on May 23, the main runway and the control tower, set about two miles away from the headquarters compound, had suffered damage. More than thirty craters were the result of precision bombing by American planes during both Gulf Wars: about 13 craters were gouged out of the 2.2-mile long main strip, and another 30 impact craters destroyed surrounding runways and lesser airstrips; some of the craters reached 30 feet in depth, and 120 feet in diameter.
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