Imperial Airways fort at Rutbah Wells
 

Can anyone give me an accurate reference for the old Imperial Airways Fort at Rutbah Wells in Iraq please?

Have been trying to find it on Googleearth to see whether there are any remains but so far without success.

Thanks in advance.

M.C.

Well, apparently, this is what it looked like:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4151/...a628b3e5_z.jpg

-Thanks Mr Fogg-

I found the same picture on the net, but cannot find exactly where this is- anyone got any directions please?

As you probably know, the name was changed to Ar Rutbah. If you go to Google Earth and tick Transport/Airports and do an Iraq centred search on Ar Rutbah you'll see Ar Rutbah Highway Strip at N33-03-28-95 E40-23-54-21. 3 miles due East of the centre of Ar Rutbah town.

I'd put money on this being the old Rutbah Wells.

Wikipedia states the fort as having been 16km south of the city!

Phil I looked at that, too, but if you look at other sources, it may be that an accident was 16 km south of the airfield.

From the pictures (not the painting that also appears in the net) it seems that it was closer to the river bank formation and may have been closer to "down-town" Ar Rutba.

"Forget"- thanks for that- it certainly could be the location.

The shape of the fort looks different though and there are no indications that the v-shaped structure on the end was ever there.

The access road and the small escarpement to the south don't seem to be there either.

Nevertheless, it is entirely possible that the whole structure could have disappeared, been altered or demolished since the 1930's.

Phileas Fogg- I have also read that the fort was 16km south of Rutbah.
Taking a measure at this range on Google-earth shows nothing there as far as I can see.

Thanks to you all-

the mystery continues....

I think what's confusing matters here is the DC2 crash mentioned in Wikipedia -

In Wiki the full stop after 'fort' is easily missed so it (wrongly) reads - travellers who stopped lodged in a fort 16 Kilometers South of Rutbah (Rutbah Wells, in 1934).

As I see it, the fort was at Rutbah Wells; the DC2 crashed 16K South of Rutbah Wells.

I see that RAF Tornado ZA467 crashed here on 22 Jan 1991. Possible NVG problems, AAA night flashes might have caused distractions - suspected that they might have impacted with ground on break manoeuvre. What were they attacking? The strip?

ASN Aircraft accident 22-JAN-1991 Panavia Tornado GR1 ZA467

PS.If you're reeeally keen to get info on Rutbah Wells I'd try to contact someone with BA or KLM archives.

EDIT: I wrote this while forget wrote his own.... Part of it is redundant :O

Missioncontrol,

I do not want to sound pedant, but the Wikipedia says

So, Rutbah Wells should be in Ar Rutba or its vicinity.

There is a contemporary (1930) mention of Rutbah and a (the?) fort in Untitled, although the picture of the fort does seem to be from a smaller one than in the aerial picture in #2. Anyhow, I'd put Rutbah Wells along the old road, and pretty close, if not in, Ar Rutba.

A cleaned-up GoogleTranslation from German:

Hans Helfritz this published this photo in 'Under the sun of the Orient "(Berlin 1931), page 111:" Rutbah, the fort in the desert. " At this point (p. 110-112) he reports: "Finally, in the evening at seven clock, as the storm set and the setting sun painted purple tones in the yellow uniform, but at the same moment the night in the desert sinks, we approach Rutbah, a fortress, which the English have just built in the middle between Damascus and Baghdad, in the middle of the desert. Slowly we descend into a small valley, here and there glow eerily on a couple of fire of the Bedouin, here the Englishmen can rest protected and quietly. The gate of the fort, which we passed is watched by Zouaves, armed up to their teeth. Here accumulate gradually all the cars, and one hour is our peace gone. Here are also armored cars prepared to accompany, particularly in uncertain times, the "convoy" to Baghdad. In the darkness of the night, interrupted only by individual lamps of cars, the tall and strong desert police, with their daggers and triple cartridge belts, look very strange. Some of they have come suddenly into an argument, one raging like an idiot, waving hands and feet around and has to be carried away handcuffed. Men explode at the slightest opportunity; it is a miracle that nobody is just stabbed with a dagger. We continue or journey at eight. Some cars had already left half an hour ago, others who arrived later, will remain in the fort. The driver sits at the wheel as indifferent as during the day. He drives the thousand-kilometer route from Damascus to Baghdad in two days and a night without closing his eyes. The drivers in the East are actually not bad at all. There are more bad mechanics who have their car break down after a year, and good to keep them going longer. ... Nothing can be seen any more of the other cars. Pale moonlight spreads over the dull area in which flashes up every now and then bleached bone or empty fuel tanks. It may be about two clock, when we notice a faint light ahead of us. Coming closer, we recognize one of our cars, which has been stuck here ... "

Sorry for the verbiage and thread drift; this is also a piece of history and nostalgia for me: I did the 900 km road trip from Amman to Baghdad in early 1980s, and THAT was in an air conditioned bus. Yet a long one.... Must have been pretty close to Ar Rutba at one point.

Best

Reg

From: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-js...etin%20253.pdf

The airstrip and rest house in the desert oasis of Rutbah Wells in the Syrian
Desert was specially built for Imperial Airways by the Iraqi Government and defended against hostile tribes by armed infantry. One passenger wrote of the ‘unforgettable experience of arriving at the most desolate and extraordinary hostelry in the world', while another remarked on ‘the absurdity of coming down [in the morning] to an English ham and egg breakfast in the middle of the desert' (cited in Frater 1986 p85).

Phileas, coming to think of it, it is very possible that there has been one or more forts in Al Rutba and the Imperial Airways "terminal building" in Rutbah Wells is one or none of them. Equally, the German travel report may very well not be from the airfield.

Here you are. The hills won't have moved. Pin them down and you have the original strip. :ok:

Also, I wonder if any of the Nav furrow can still be seen.

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...l_rutbah2b.jpg

l'aventure des Imperial airways, chronicles of the imperial Airways

The beacon tower in the painting is mentioned on some sources, but not seen in the aerial picture. I wonder how much artist's freedom has been used. You also might notice, that this source calls the building "originally a legionnaire fort", which may or may not contradict Phileas' source (the building may be built where a fort had been).

This would confirm the desert location as opposed to Ar Rutba village.

Further:

Here is a picture of Rutbah in 1941 File:Rutbah under attack.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It shows the building still as it was, but more buildings next to it.

My current offer is 33 02 17.36 N 40 17 13.55 E, which, in fact, was my original idea when starting to insist "down-town".

Cracking find Reg. :ok: I've blown it up. I don't suppose you can match the water courses to Google Earth?

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/cumpas/wells.jpg

PS. I think you've nailed it.

What this all seems to boil down is that everybody had it right: There was one fort, in the middle of the desert, built by the British, and it is now "down-town" Ar Rutba :ok:.

I have a copy of "The Baghdad Air Mail" by Wg Cdr Roderic Hill published in 1929.

The following description appears on Page 87:

"Near Rutbah Wells, beside the Air Mail Track between L.G. 8 and L.G IX a combined police post, wireless station and rest house has been built, and a landing ground cleared in front of it for the use of Imperial Airways. The grey stone building, with an avenue leading up to it from the landing ground, is strangely impressive, and seems to dominate the uplands overlooking Wadi Hauran."

Now before some clever soul tells me that L.G. 8 should be written as L.G. VIII, I quote from Page 21:

"The party from Amman lettered all the landing grounds that they marked from "A" to "R", with the omission of "I" and "Q". The party from the other end (Baghdad) numbered their landing grounds from "I" to "XI", which is not far from where the two parties met at the wells of El Jid. All the numbered landing grounds are marked in Roman numerals, except landing ground No. 8, which is marked as written".

As someone once said, not many people know that!

I'll use that in Friday night's pub quiz. :ok:

Wadi Hauran near the desert post Qasr Muheiwir (ca. 33° latitude / 41° longitude).

Map: W?d? Mu?eiwir, Jordan - Geographical Names, map, geographic coordinates

As KLM's Uiver has been mentioned here's the aftermath.

Google Translate

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

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".

Maybe ?

Ar Rutba, Al Anbar, Iraq - Google Maps

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.
http://i489.photobucket.com/albums/r...g?t=1288118503

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?

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.)

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

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.

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:

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/p...m/27146378.jpg

Well done, RegDep. That view confirms it.

How about this:

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b270/cumpas/wells.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...rutbah40-2.png

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 - :ok: 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

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

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

Great catch, forget!

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

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.....

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

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.

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)

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.

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.:)