H - 1 Air Base H - 1 Air Base ( code - named 202A ) is a former Iraqi Air Force base in the Al - Anbar Governorate of Iraq . It was captured by Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 . History . RAF H1 . H - 1 was established by the Royal Air Force as a landing ground as " RAF H1 " in the 1930s . It was named for the nearby H1 pumping station on the Mosul – Haifa oil pipeline . H1 one of several airfields established as part of the British Mandate of Iraq . Iraq was artificially created at the close of World War I from the former Ottoman Empire as part of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles . It was used until the 1940s by No . 84 Squadron RAF . During the early days World War II , the airfield was abandoned as the RAF moved its units to RAF Habbaniya during the 1941 Iraqi coup d ' état and subsequent Anglo - Iraqi War . It may have been used by some German Luftwaffe units that had moved in from Vichy French controlled Syria , during an attempted coups by German - leaning Iraqi Generals who had engineered a coup in Iraq on 31 March 1941 . However , the British moved in both land reinforcements from British Palestine and flew in some Wellington and Blenheim bombers to RAF Habbaniya . The coup crumbled in disorder , with the pro - Nazi forces in Iraq surrendering on 30 May . The Luftwaffe units stranded in Iraq retreated back to Syria . Outnumbered at least three to one , using outmoded equipment and facing the best of Nazi Germany ' s air power , the British still managed to conquer Iraq in less than four weeks . It was the first time the Luftwaffe had been beaten in World War II . Iraqi Air Force . The airfield remained under British control until 1958 when , as a result of the 14 July 1958 Iraqi Revolution when Hashemite monarchy established by King Faisal I of Iraq in 1921 under the auspices of the British was overthrown . Subsequently , it was turned over to the Iraqi Air Force . During the 1970s , it was one of several Iraqi airfields upgraded under project " Super - Base " in response to the experiences from Arab - Israeli wars in 1967 and 1973 . Companies from Yugoslavia - previously engaged in building bridges in Iraq - became involved in airfield construction . Due to their specific construction of these airfields - which included taxi - ways leading right out of Hardened Aircraft Shelters ( HAS ) and laid diagonally to the runways - they became known as " Trapezoids " or " Yugos " . The facilities were divided into two categories : " surface " and " underground " . The " surface " facilities were actually the " softest " , and included maintenance hangars of metal construction , and HAS of concrete construction . In total , the Yugoslavs have built no less but 200 HAS on different airfields in Iraq during the 1980s . The protection of each HAS consisted of one meter thick concrete shells , reinforced by 30 cm thick steel plates . There was only one entrance and this was covered by sliding doors , made of 50 cm thick steel armoured plate and concrete . The HAS ' were usually built in small groups - seldom more than five , with each group sharing the same water and power supply , besides having own backup gasoline - powered electrical generator , and each HAS being equipped with a semi - automatic aircraft - refuelling system . In addition , underground facilities that could shelter between four and ten aircraft on average were constructed . In order to build these the Yugoslavs used equipment and construction techniques identical to that use in underground oil - storage depots , additionally concealing the extension and the true purpose of the whole project . The underground facilities were all hardened to withstand a direct hit by a tactical nuclear bomb , buried up to 50 meters below the ground and consisted of the main aircraft " hangar " ( consisting of two floors in several cases , connected by 40ts hydraulic lifts ) , connected with operations , maintenance , and logistical facilities via a net of underground corridors . The Iraqi 2d Air Defense Sector , also known as the Western Air Defense Sector , had an IOCs at H - 1 Airfield . 2003 Iraq War . The H - 1 , H - 2 and H - 3 airfields in Western Iraq were used as operating hubs for Iraqi mobile Scud units deployed to bombard Israel during the 1991 Gulf War , and securing the area was seen to be vital to deny Iraq the opportunity to launch WMD loaded Scuds into Israel once the invasion began , while also permitting coalition control of road traffic to and from Syria and Jordan . On G - Day + 5 , 25 March 2003 , the US Army ' s 75th Ranger Regiment airdropped in and took the Base which was then used as a launching pad for more allied Special Operations . The British Special Air Service ( SAS ) and a squadron of Australian Special Air Service Regiment ( SASR ) had sized the nearby Iraqui H - 2 and H - 3 Air Base s on 21 March . Air support for the operation was provided by the 410th Air Expeditionary Wing , which flew primarily A - 10 Thunderbolt II s and Harrier GR . 5 s from Shahid Muafaq Al - Salti Air Base , Jordan , attacking any Iraqi forces that presented themselves . By 29 March , an area some 170 miles east of the Jordanian border was blocked off from Iraqi forces , with the captured air bases serving as forward special operations bases . In the first weeks of the war there were reports of heavy fighting involving the SAS , SASR and US Special Forces ( Green Berets ) versus Iraqi Special Republican Guard and Special Security Services around a nuclear development site near Qaim on the Syrian border . This and other similar reports suggest that the one of the key targets of the special forces were suspected Weapon of mass destruction ( WMD ) production and storage sites . In early 2003 , it was reported that the United States was planning to develop H - 1 as a permanent base in Iraq . Those plans never materialized and today current aerial imagery shows that the operational structures around the airfield appear to have been demolished and removed . Today the concrete runway and series of taxiways remain exposed and deteriorating to the elements , being reclaimed by the desert .