IOR/R/15/2/120

This file contains correspondence between Captain Charles Geoffrey Prior, British Political Agent at Bahrain; Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Vincent Biscoe, British Political Resident in the Persian Gulf at Bushire; Lieutenant Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson, British Political Agent at Kuwait; the British High Commissioner of Iraq; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the British Agent at Jeddah; P F Fullard, Squadron Leader, Air Force, Iraq; Ira Mortimer Morris, Chief Pilot, Hijaz Air Force; Abdul Aziz al-Qusaybi & Co., Bahrain.

The correspondence concerns the decision of ‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd (Ibn Sa‘ūd) to have a base for the Hejaz Air Force on the Persian Gulf on Darin [Dārīn] island (also known as Tarout [Tārūt] island) near al-Qaṭīf. Details included within the correspondence are: the establishment of an aerodrome and the purchase of planes; details of the British pilots and their duties; arms purchased by Ibn Saud (ff. 17-18); wireless radio facilities (ff. 24-34); complaints made by officers of the Hejaz Air Force regarding their living conditions, safety and pay (ff. 38-44, 58-60); incidents of illness and injury (ff. 91 and 111); incidents of misconduct (ff. 44-45, 92-95, 98, 114); contracts for a senior pilot, chief mechanic and other personnel, signed by ‘Abdullāh Sulaymān, Ibn Sa‘ūd's Minister of Finance, and Fū’ād Hamzah (ff. 52-55, 69-72, 102).