Talk:No. 123 Signals Unit RAF

Military history: Aviation / British / European

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WikiProject Military history/Assessment/Tag & Assess 2008[edit]

Article reassessed and graded as start class. --dashiellx (talk) 18:31, 25 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sources[edit]

Rafhabbaniya; is the TNA source available online? Does it explicitly state they did not operate there? Would you consider the Aldrich cite reliable - I don't know if it is? Thanks. The joy of all things (talk) 17:17, 9 February 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry it has taken so long to reply. The reference to 123 Signals (ref TNA AIR/3027) is available to view at the National Archives in Kew, it has not yet been digitised. Aldrich is mistaken. 276 Signals Unit was the intelligence gathering unit at Habbaniya (1947-1958). 123 Signals Unit was a mobile fighter direction radar unit stationed on the plateau airfield at RAF Habbaniya. I have many photographs showing only such short range radar directing equipment (and the convoy down to the main base when it was evacusted after the 1958 Revolution) and in an enclosure on the plateau, nowhere else and nothing suitable for intelligence gathering. Also have had many first hand accounts from personnel operating it.

In addition, the location Jabal-az-Zaban is not recognised by me, nor present on any maps of the area that I have seen. The location was Habbaniya Plateau (RAF Habbaniya plateau airfield is now the site of Al Taqqudum air base) and 123 Signals was located there, only 1.4 miles from the main base, not 4 miles as quoted.

In conclusion; The list of equipment clearly indicates only a short range fighter control radar unit. It had no aircraft or equipment capable of intelligence gathering. The unit which did what Aldrich claims, SIGINT, was solely 276 Signals Unit and which in any case long predated 123 Signals Unit (again a mistaken claim or quote of Aldrich).

I stand by my edit of 9 February 2022 and would feel justified in re-instating it. Rafhabbaniya (talk) 09:18, 19 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]