IOR/R/15/2/508

The file’s contents concern the implementation of civil air agreements, and the use of air facilities, at Britain’s aerodromes along the Arab coast (chiefly Bahrain (Muharraq), but also at Sharjah, Kuwait, and Qatar) in the period directly following the Second World War. The principal correspondents in the file are the Political Resident (Lieutenant-Colonel William Rupert Hay), and incumbents of the post of Political Agent at Bahrain (Lieutenant-Colonel Arnold Crawshaw Galloway, Captain Hugh Dunstan Rance, and Cornelius James Pelly).

Subjects in the file include:

• Renegotiations between British Government officials (Persian Gulf, Foreign Office, Air Ministry) over the terms of the various air navigation regulations held with the various rulers of the Arab coast of the Gulf;
• Questions of the continued use of the aerodrome at Sharjah by the Royal Air Force [RAF], and the maintenance of British Overseas Airways Corporation [BOAC] staff and radio facilities at Sharjah;
• Renewal of the agreement between the British Government and Sheikh of Dubai over air facilities at Dubai;
• Requests from foreign airlines (France Air, Quantas, Czecho-Slovak Air) to fly over or land at aerodromes administered by the British in the Gulf;
• Hay’s concern of the lack of regulation of civil aviation in the Gulf, in light of the increasing number of flights and operators (both national and local) operating in the region, and in increasing tendency for foreign aircraft to not seek prior permission to land at Bahrain;
• Discussion in 1949 of the concept of ‘pre-packed airports’ being marketed by the likes of Westinghouse Corporation in the United States, with enquiries into their viability for the Gulf, and a lack of interest on the part of British officials at Bahrain (f 193) and Qatar (f 190);
• The installation of new light and radio facilities at Muharraq aerodrome in late 1950, in response to two fatal crashes by Air France aeroplanes that occurred in June 1950.

Items of particular note in the file include:

• A letter from the Secretary of State for India, dated 26 June 1947, detailing the RAF’s long-term commitment at Sharjah, with a list of permanent buildings required at the Sharjah aerodrome (ff 69-71);
• A schedule of fees payable to the Sheikh of Bahrain for 1947, showing flights made into and out of Bahrain (f 63);
• A list of foreign aircraft landing at Bahrain during January to March 1949 (f 150);
• Notes of a meeting held at the Foreign Office on 25 September 1950, intended to address concerns over increasing local competition on air routes in the Gulf (ff 234-244).