Major Holt waits for the plane to land at Baghdad

Nancie mourned the crew of The City of Jerusalem for the rest of her life. She had got to know them on the flight from Gaza to Baghdad, especially when they had lunch together at the re-fuelling stop at Rutbah Wells.
She also realised that it could just as easily have happened to them. Flying over the desert was still a very risky undertaking.
The pilot who lost his life at Jask, Captain Albert E.Woodbridge, was famous for having wounded the German ace, Baron Von Richthoven, better known as The Red Baron, during an aerial battle in the First World War. The Baron received a bullet-wound in the head from which he never fully recovered.
Captain Woodbridge was one of the many surviving British pilots who joined Imperial Airways after the end of the First World War and helped to establish the Postal Route from London to Karachi in the 1920s.
It was a risky job, often involving emergency landings in the desert, brushes with wild tribesmen and dangerous weather conditions like sandstorms. Flying at night was particularly hazardous and if the flight was delayed until darkness fell this meant using flares on landing, both on the ground and on the wings of the plane. The planes were not able to carry enough fuel to get right across the desert to Baghdad, hence the halfway re-fuelling stop.
After a couple of hours at Rutbah Wells, Nancie's plane took off for Baghdad where Major Holt was awaiting their arrival. As they neared the city Mrs Holt pointed out the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and various other landmarks. The plane began to go up and down, rather erratically and the occupants began to be sick It would swoop upwards and then plunge downwards and Nancie missed seeing some of the sights.
Meanwhile Major Holt was watching from Baghdad Airport and thought he was about to lose his entire family as he saw the plane plunge earthwards only to rise again. He was, in fact , ill for some days afterwards, as a result of this experience. Meanwhile, on the plane, Nancie and co were too busy being sick to worry too much. Eventually the crew managed to get the plane safely onto the ground and the weary passengers stepped out into the searing heat of Iraq in the month of June.