IOR/R/15/2/266

The volume’s correspondence and other papers relate to the construction of air facilities along the Arab coast of the Gulf, and as such is a continuation of volumes IOR/R/15/2/263-265. The principal correspondents in the volume are the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven Fowle, the Political Agent at Bahrain, Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch, and his deputy, Captain Tom Hickinbotham, Husain bin Hasan ‘Amad, in charge of the duties of the Residency Agent at Sharjah until May 1936, and his successor as Residency Agent, Sayid ‘Abd al-Razzaq.

The volume’s correspondence deals with a number of proposals for facilities (including landing strips, wireless stations, accommodation, petrol stores, beacons), in particular an aerodrome at Kalba, but also extended aerodrome facilities at Sharjah, a renewal of the lease for the petrol storage facility at Ra’s al Khaymah, a seaplane anchorage for Imperial Airways in the lagoon at Umm al-Qaywayn, and a seaplane anchorage at Dubai creek. The correspondence chiefly concerns the negotiations between the Residency Agent and the various shaikhs of the region, on permission for the British to install facilities along the coast as part of the improved air route to India. Correspondence also documents arrangements for the survey of potential sites, and the construction of facilities. The proposal for a landing strip at Kalba occupies the largest proportion of the file; a result of the shaikh of Kalba’s initial resistance to the proposal, and questions over the extent of his independence from the authority of the shaikh of Sharjah, and British recognition of this independence.