Imperial Airways fort at Rutbah Wells

[RegDep]

Phileas, could you please elaborate. Your Wadi Hauran map is far away from Rutbah.

[Phileas Fogg]

Reg,

Once I compared the map to GE I agree with you however a previous post referred to the fort "seems to dominate the uplands overlooking Wadi Hauran".

[Selfloading]

Maybe ?

Ar Rutba, Al Anbar, Iraq - Google Maps

[wet wet wet]

Here's another photo, this is from a fascinating book "The Chariots of the Air" by Harold Hales published in 1938. This gentleman was an importer/exporter as well an MP who made frequent visits to the Far East. The book describes making the trip by air and contrasts it with his previous voyages by ship/train. Unfortunately the section on Rutbah (which he calls Rutbah Wells) is brief, saying only that they stopped there for lunch and fuel on a day's run from Gaza to Baghdad.

[Phileas Fogg]

I've read a few times regarding the fort and the oasis, i.e. they are/were adjacent to each other. There is also something on the web that the hospital was adjacent to the oasis, to the west of the town, but the hospital became destroyed in the 2nd Gulf War ..... just a thought but could the fort have become a hospital?

P.S. On GE, to the west of the town, just below the most southerly point of highway 10, in the large white, but lesser than white, area, there is a shape, could it be an aircraft on the ground?

[wet wet wet]

A bit of googling has come up with this, which suggests the fort was still there (and was being used as the police station) in 2008. (Scroll down approx one fifth of the page.)

[Herod]

Phileas, Interesting shape. I'd say it's the shadow of an aircraft, but where the aircraft is beats me.

[Tawhiri]

Looking at the old photographs that have been posted I'd go with Reg's identification of the structure in the centre of Ar Rutbah as being the old fort.

The triangular structure visible on one side of the fort in the photographs that have been posted has gone, but the shape and location of the structure relative to the curve of the wadi directly to the north are consistent with what is visible in Forget's photograph which seems to have been taken from a position to the west-south-west of the fort.

The other photographs that have been posted all appear to have be taken from a position to the north of the fort, but without the curve of the wadi being visible in the foreground.

[Phileas Fogg]

If one zooms in on GE for some reason a highway 10 lines goes straight thru the centre of town and at an angle, I reckon it could be the building above the numer '10' of that line and perhaps the single storey building adjacent to the bank as seen in the backround of this picture:

[India Four Two]

Well done, RegDep. That view confirms it.

forget: I don't suppose you can match the water courses to Google Earth?

How about this:

[forget]

wet wet posted a link to John Matel's blog and I dropped John a line to see if he had anything to add. He's based in the Rutbah area with the US State Dept and kindly replied below - I guess that answers the OP's question.

(PS. Spot on with the water courses India.)

---------------
Please feel free to post this.

I have seen and been in that fort. My blog entry re is below. The Iraq police were still using it when I was there. You can see by comparing the pictures that it is the same building featured in the airport pictures. Rutbah has grown around the fort and the actual airstrip is probably under the road in the lower picture.

World-Wide-Matel: Mad Dogs & Englishmen

This link shows the inside of the old fort
World-Wide-Matel: COPS

Our U.S. bases were well outside town. You can see about them here.
World-Wide-Matel: Water, Water Everywhere but Not a Pipe to Link

Finally, if you want to read about Rutbah in general, follow this link
World-Wide-Matel: A Quick Look Around Western Anbar

Hope this helps.
John Matel
U.S. Department of State

[Phileas Fogg]

Come on MissionControl, this is like a pub quiz with computers, have you got another one for us?

[forget]

You've read the (Prune) book, now see the movie!

Various shots of armoured cars crossing the desert and entering the gate of Fort Rutbah. Pan around the fort which is littered with debris, it is a typical old style desert fort and ramparts surrounding a square courtyard. M/S of Allied troops removing the white flag that had been left flying over the fort by the retreating enemy. Various shots of Arabs who live at Rutbah emerging from their hiding places, we see them being interrogated by British intelligence officers. Various shots of the debris that litters the fort, including saucy pin ups stuck to inside of crate.

THE WAR IN IRAQ - British Pathe

[RegDep]

Great catch, forget!

The picture above was taken 9 May 1941, this film was released 9 June 1941. Same air attack, I believe.

[missioncontrol]

Thank you everyone for your time and the amazing responses.

I didn't know whether the fort at Rutbah even still existed , so even better info. than I could have hoped for.

On another note , I flew over the old fort at Sharjah this very evening, and managed to visit it last week. It has recently been restored , is in good repair and there are some interesting exhibits inside from the Imperial Days.

My Uncle told me a good story recently concerning one of the staff who worked at Sharjah: He was none too popular- whereupon when he retired the staff there all chipped in to buy him a retirement present. The present was duly presented which was a pocket watch on chain.

- Inside the case though there was no watch but instead a folded note of paper with the words written on it: "we have no time for you"!

I don't know for the record who the gentleman was , but it makes for an amusing story.

As a further aside- back to Rutbah wells- aparently a Tornado crashed there during Gulf War 1- anyone know the location relative to the town? Over to you again.....

[oriste]

fascinating!

hello All, Fascinating information on this subject! I'm new and gladly took notice about all your information. I am searching for the exact location of the spot where the "uiver", the DC2 from KLM that two weeks before won the famous handicap-race to Melbourne, has crashed 20 dec. 1934, appr 23 km, 239 degrees of the fortress at Rutbah. (The position of the fort has correctly been stated in the centre of the town, also because Google-Earth gives as altitude 2019 Ft which was/is the by Imperial Airways mentioned official altitude of the fortress). Does anyone have information about the spot of this crash? oriste

[RegDep]

I think first you need to establish the distance to the crash site from a good source, because some sources say 16 kilometers, some 23 kilometers (which would be some 14 miles).

Then you might just use your GoogleEarth Ruler function and start from 33° 02' 17.7" N 40° 17' 13.7" E to the direction 239°. What you will find is desert and relatively little else.

You might look at this site and read its content (in Dutch) and try to reconcile the pictures and the landscape in GE. ONGEVALLEN 1934

Good luck, and please report us if you find something interesting!

Best regards,
Reg

Edit to add: Don't forget to click the links that are in the document behind my link above.

[A30yoyo]

Rutbah Wells and the Uiver

I put some edits of the Library of Congress Matson photos of Rutbah Wells into flickr albums....the 4 shots of the crash scene I would guess are Matson copies of British official photos (you can see the drawing pins!) whereas the overhead shot of Rutbah fort with the HP42 was scanned from a negative taken by the Matson from an Imperial Avro Ten 'Apollo'...the landscape around the Uiver crash might be some help in positioning the scene

03269u KLM dc-2 crash rutbah wells Dec1934 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

15940u-APOLLO-HANNO-2191 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

15937u HP42 Hanno Rutbah Wells Fort and Airfield | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Search Results: "dutch airplane" - Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (Library of Congress)

[AccessKnight]

Gentleman, I hope that this thread is not too old, but I was very excited to see that there were people out there interested in the Rutbah Fort. I am a Marine that was stationed within the fort during the entire year of 2008. I can assure you, the original fort is very much still in existence and it is currently used as Rutbah Police headquarters. The original square structure and turrets are still intact, however the triangular shaped offshoot has changed quite a bit from the original photos. I can recall several interesting things about the fort, namely, a large engraving in the entrance way to the fort that state "FORT RUTBAH WELLS, 1926." Most of the rooms had been renovated to some extent but there were a number of rooms that had the remnants of British manufactured generators and other machinery. If anyone is interested I have many pictures of the fort somewhere and I will upload them as soon as I find them.

[missioncontrol]

Access Knight-

thanks for your response and yes please- any pictures you can post of the Fort at Rutbah Wells today would be of great interest.

Thank you.