Shaibah Air Base
| Shaibah Airport Shaibah Air Base RAF Shaibah |
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Map of RAF Shaibah, 1947
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Private Ex-military |
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| Owner | Iraqi Government | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operator | Unknown Iraqi Army MND(SE) Iraqi Air Force Royal Air Force |
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| Serves | Shaibah | ||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Shaibah, Basra Province | ||||||||||||||||||
| Built | 1920 | ||||||||||||||||||
| In use | 1920-present | ||||||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 276 ft / 84 m | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 30°25′34″N 047°38′34″E / 30.42611°N 47.64278°ECoordinates: 30°25′34″N 047°38′34″E / 30.42611°N 47.64278°E | ||||||||||||||||||
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 Shaibah Airport
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| Runways | |||||||||||||||||||
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Shaibah Air Base is a former Iraqi Air Force airfield in the Basrah Governorate of Iraq.
It was established by the Royal Air Force in 1920 as RAF Shaibah, the resident squadron was No. 84 Squadron RAF until 1940 when No. 244 Squadron RAF took over. No 244 Sqn was involved in the Rashid Ali rebellion on 1941. RAF Station Shaibah was a small and primitive airfield in the desert with a harsh hot and humid climate. It expanded during the Second World War. By July 1942 RAF Shaibah was under the control of the RAF's Air Headquarters Iraq (see AHQ Iraq and Persia). At this time several units were located at Shaibah. They included:
In 1956 it was handed over to the Iraqi Air Force, and it then became an Iraqi Air Force airfield.
The airfield was bombed by a flight of four Mk.82-equipped F-4 Phantom IIs as part of the Operation Revenge launched by Iranian Air Force two hours after the Iraqi invasion of Iran. According to Iranian sources, the MiG-25s and some MiG-23 were stationed in this airbase. The airbase was again bombed in the large-scale Operation Kaman 99 on the second day of the war.
It was abandoned after Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
It was captured by Coalition forces during the Iraq War of 2003 and it became the site of a British Military Hospital and the Shaibah Logistics Base (SLB), but the original RAF buildings remain. While the SLB was in operation it was home to British, Dutch, Czech, Danish and Norwegian forces.
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