at the RAF College Cranwell, and 32 aircraft mechanics. The original five pilots were Natiq Mohammed Khalil al-Tay, Mohammed Ali Jawad, Hafdhi Aziz, Akrem Mushtaq, and Musa Ali. The RIrAF saw its first combats as early as October 1931, against Kurdish insurgents in the north of the country. It was during operations against the Kurds that the air force suffered its first combat loss, when a DH.60 collided with a mountain near Barzan in April 1932, killing both crew members. That year, the Gipsy Moths were reinforced by three more DH.60Ts and three de Havilland Puss Moths. The next year, eight de Havilland Dragons were delivered, and in 1934, the first out of a total of 34 Hawker Audaxes (named Nisr in Iraqi service) were acquired. In the years following Iraqi independence, the Air Force was still dependent on the Royal Air Force. The Iraqi government allocated the majority of its military expenditure to the Iraqi Army and by 1936 the Royal Iraqi Air Force had only 37 pilots and 55 aircraft. The following year, the Air Force showed some growth, increasing its number of pilots to 127. This enabled it to purchase additional aircraft. In 1937, following high-level visits in Italy and Great Britain, Iraq placed orders for six Savoia-Marchetti SM.79s, 15 Breda Ba.65s, and 15 Gloster Gladiators. In 1939, 15 Northrop 8As were bought. The RIrAF's first combat against another conventional military was in the 1941 Anglo-Iraqi War, when the Iraqi government made a bid for full independence following a coup by Rashid Ali against pro-British Iraqi leaders. The war began in earnest on 2 May, when British aircraft started attacking the Iraqi troops that were encircling RAF Habbaniya. In response, the RIrAF started attacking the airfield, destroying two Hawker Audaxes and one Airspeed Oxford on the ground that day. On 4 May, eight Vickers Wellington and two Bristol Blenheim bombers attacked Rasheed Air Base, the RIrAF's main airfield. However, most Iraqi aircraft had been redeployed to Al-Washash and Baqubah. During the raid, a Wellington that had been hit by anti-aircraft fire was attacked by an Iraqi Gloster Gladiator, and was damaged to the point where it had to land in emergency outside Baghdad. This represented the first aerial victory for the RIrAF. However, on the same day an SM.79 was shot down by Iraqi ground fire over the airfield at Al Diwaniyah. The RAF kept attacking Iraqi