Inniskillings in Iraq

70 Sqn RAF with their aircraft.

In May 1924, the 1st Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was stationed at Hinaidi, near Baghdad. Some 150 miles away lay the ancient city of Kirkuk with a mixed population of Christians, Assyrians and Arabs where, on Sunday 4 May 1924, there were serious disturbances, including a mutiny by the Assyrian levies.

At 1500 hours, the Battalion received a warning order to dispatch one company and a section of the machine-gun platoon to move immediately to Kirkuk to supress the disturbances. Rations and extra ammunition were drawn up and one and a half hours after receiving the warning order the detachment was ready to emplane with 70 (Bombing) Squadron Royal Air Force. The Squadron was equipped with the Vickers Victoria, a bi-plane with a troop carrying capacity of 22, and Vernon aircraft, a smaller bi-plane with a capacity of 11 passengers.

The first detachment was in Kirkuk at 1840 hours. Unfortunately, the aircraft carrying the Company Commander, Major Henry Allen, and his Company Sergeant Major, was delayed with engine trouble and did not arrive until the following morning. A second detachment flew to Kirkuk the following day. This had a remarkable effect on the rioters and peace was soon restored.

This was the first time in the Regiment's history that troops had been deployed by air*, now taken as the normal method of deployment worldwide, whether on routine or emergency moves.

During this tour in Iraq, the 1st Inniskillings 'Trooped The Colour' on St Patricks Day 1924, when the salute was taken by King Faisal I.

*
Indeed they were the first British Army troops to be airlifted but an Indian Army Sikh regiment had the distinction of having been the first to be airlifted by RAF Vickers Vernon during the February 1923 airlift of troops from Kingarban to Kirkuk during the Kurdish uprising.