Shaibah Air Base
It was established by the Royal Air Force in 1920 as RAF Station Shaibah, a small and primitive airfield in the desert with a harsh hot and humid climate.[8] The airfield was bombed by a flight of four Mk.82-equipped McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs as part of the Operation Revenge launched by Iranian Air Force two hours after the Iraqi invasion of Iran in 1980.[11] Just after dark, the order "Let the bird fly" was given, signalling Susanna to take off and conduct a sortie over the Persian Gulf as part of the Tanker War.[11] At 4:05AM on 17 January 1991, a mixed formation of four A-6E TRAM Intruders from VA-115 Eagles and VA-185 Nighthawks from the USS Midway attacked the airfield at 350 feet (110 m) above the ground.The aircraft encountered heavier anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) defences than the other Intruder formation from Midway attacking Ahmad al-Jaber Airfield.The strike force encountered light AAA with the aircraft bombing the hangars and ammunition storage facilities on the base.It was captured by Coalition forces during the Iraq War of 2003 and it became the site of a British Military Hospital and the Shaibah Logistics Base (SLB), but the original RAF buildings remain.In effect, the hospital was based on the front line of the British area of responsibility and was the furthest forward medical unit in recent history.