IOR/R/15/2/119

This file contains correspondence between British officials at Bushire, Bahrain, Kuwait and Muscat; officials in the India Office and the Government of India; the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies; officials of the Air Ministry, London; Charles Dalrymple Belgrave, the Adviser to the Bahrain Government; RAF (Royal Air Force) officials at the Iraq Command; the High Commissioner of Iraq at Baghdad; the Senior Naval Officer in the Persian Gulf; and members of No. 203 Squadron RAF.

The correspondence concerns the establishment of an air route along the Arabian littoral of the Persian Gulf; seaplane reconnaisance missions in the Persian Gulf carried out by No. 203 Squadron RAF; the construction of landing grounds, seaplane anchorages and refuelling stations at various locations along the Arabian littoral of the Persian Gulf, including Kuwait, al-Ḥasā’, Bahrain, Qatar, Ṣīr Banī Yās, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Umm al-Quwayn, Ra's al-Khaymah, Muscat and Maṣīrah island.

Also included within these papers are:

• Sketch map of northern Bahrain depicting Manamah and Sitrah Island (f. 85);
• Notes by the Air Staff on the Regulations of Air Control in Undeveloped Countries, dated 21 November 1928 (f. 65);
• Plan Showing Landing Ground in Bahrein (f. 108B);
• Details of Air Chief Marshal Sir William Geoffrey Hanson Salmond's 1929 air journey to India;
• Details of Under-Secretary of State for Air Sir Philip Sassoon's 1931-32 air journey to India.