RAF Flying Boat base, 1930s, location??

[chumpy]

Hi all, Can anyone out there identify the location in the attached photo. 1930s flying boat base, somewhere in the tropics. Looks like a Short Singapore II on the slipway??

Cheers, Chumpy.

[John Aeroclub]

Without the benefit of a hi-res copy a couple of thoughts arise. Is it a Singapore II? Because it could be a Calcutta or Rangoon or indeed a Bizerte. 203's Rangoons were based at Basrah. It could of course be an Imperial Airways base. In the fore ground is a pretty impressive (War?) memorial. Sorry if I've raised more questions.

John

[chumpy]

Hi John,
Alas only a small photo, the close up as good as it will get quality wise.

So yes could well be something other than a Singapore..I am open to offers!!

Chumpy.

[Mondariz]

The memorial is the Basra war memorial in Iraq.

The memorial is no longer at the same location, as In 1997, Saddam Hussein ordered the memorial to be moved from the city to a remote location in the desert, half an hour outside Basra.

You can see the hangars behind the memorial.



Caption: The winners were 203 Squadron.

[Mondariz]

This image might possibly be from the same base, as the caption is "British seaplanes awaiting flight near Basra in the late 1930s"

I seem to recognise the building in the foreground, from the aerial picture.

[Mondariz]

Maybe Im just imagining things, but browsing Google earth I came across this building, that looks pretty much like the hangar on the original picture. Its even about the same distance from the river.

We know the memorial was removed in 1997, but that whold area looks kinda abandoned.

30°33'14.49"N 47°48'19.32"E

[bms44]

Would agree with John on the aircraft type- a Rangoon, of 203 Squadron, the only flying boat unit stationed in Iraq in 1931- on. Note the single fin shadow on the tarmac and the port-side circular hatch (gun mounting emplacement?) in the fuselage just behind the wing. The Singapores would have been post 1935, so conceivably the shrubs and trees either side of the slipway would have grown in the intervening period. Well done Mondariz, on the detective work on the memorial. Fascinating stuff, the way the answers materialise so quickly never ceases to amaze!

[John Aeroclub]

The blow up and the rest of the detective work conclude this nicely. I had a feeling that the memorial was a Mem to the Missing as I have visited many similar along the Western Front.

John