R.A.F. IN IRAQ.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 138, 13 June 1934, Page 10

R.A.F. IN IRAQ.

NEW ZEAI/ANDERS' PART. Stationed in Iraq with one of the Royal Air Force bombing squadrons, and now on leave, Flying Officer It. S. Lamb, of Masterton, arrived in Wellington on Monday from Sydney. Flying Officer Lamb is a member of No. 70 B.T. Squadron, which is located at Hinaidi. In an interview he said that he had been in Iraq for the past 15 months, having been transferred there from England. He expected to return to England in August next year. His term with tho R.A.F. expired in October, 1035, and he hoped then to take up civil aviation. There were seven New Zealanders in his squadron, which consisted of three flights of five machines each. Hinaidi was about seven miles from Bagdad, and No. 70 Squadron was principally engaged in troop-carrying and evacuation work. The machines used were twin-engined bombers, and were capable of carrying 16 fully-armed men. The country over which the squadron operated was desert, having a very high temperature in the hot season, which lasted about eight months, and a winter similar to that in England for the remainder of the year. A good deal of Rugby football was played by the men stationed at Hinaidi. Lan McNicol, of Wellington, who left No. 70 Squadron about three months ago, was captain of the Iraq Command Rugby team. Flying Officer Lamb referred to the death of Flying Officer G. E. S. Williams, of Wellington, who with Corporal R. Brown was killed at Monxton, England, last month. Flying Officer Williams, he said, was one of the finest men he had ever met, and one of tho finest heavy-weight boxers the R.A.F. had ever had. In December last he flew one of the army machines from England to Iraq.