H-2 Air Base (code-named 202B) is a former Iraqi Air Force base in the Al-Anbar Governorate of Iraq. It was captured by U.S.-led Coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Overview H-2 is located in southern Iraq approximately 350 kilometers (217 mi) west of Baghdad. The airfield is served by two runways 12,600 and 8,800 feet long. H-2 occupies a 41 sq km (15.8 sq mi) site and is protected by 26 km (16.1 mi) of security perimeter. History RAF H2 H-2 was established by the Royal Air Force as a landing ground as "RAF H2" in the 1930s. It was named for the nearby H2 pumping station on the Mosul–Haifa oil pipeline. H2 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, 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