The big little war - james dunford wood

Based on newly discovered war diaries, this is the incredible story of how a handful of RAF trainees and their instructors fought overwhelming odds to save Britains Middle East empire - and why they were excised from history.

In early 1941 RAF Habbaniya in Iraq was a quiet flying school far from the front line.

This all changed when, following a German supported Iraqi coup, 9000 Iraqi troops marched on the camp to demand its surrender.

Habbaniya was virtually defenceless, with reinforcements weeks away across the desert.

Left to fend for themselves and faced with the imminent arrival of the Luftwaffe, the camp commandant ordered a pre-emptive strike in their ancient biplanes.

Of all the battles of WW2, there has never been a more underreported campaign with such strategic significance.

Had the school failed, Britains power in the Middle East would be crippled, the oil fields lost to the Germans, and the course of the war very different.