IOR/L/PS/12/1951

The file is concerned with the establishment of facilities along the southern coast of Oman for a proposed Muscat-Aden air route. It predominantly consists of reports on expeditions to establish (or repair) landing grounds and petrol storage facilities at the following locations: Masirah Island, Khor Jarama [Khawr al Jarāmah], Khor Gharum, and Shuwamiya [Ra’s ash Shuwāmīyah]. These reports are authored by either the Muscat Political Agent (Trenchard Craven William Fowle, Claude Edward Urquhart Bremner, and Ralph Ponsonby Watts), or the commanding officer of the deployed Royal Navy vessel: HMS Bideford or HMS Deptford. It also contains reconnaissance reports from surveys undertaken to identify suitable landing sites for the proposed air route. These reports include information on the personnel involved, progress made, incidents during the course of the expedition, navigational data, and sometimes details on eating and sleeping arrangements. It also contains a number of extracts from relevant — mainly Muscat — intelligence summaries.

The file includes copies of three agreements made with local Shaikhs: two agreements (folios 50-1) with Shaikh Said bin Sultan of Mahut for Shuwamiya and Khor Gharum; and an agreement (folio 24) with Muhammed bin Suwaillim, Shaikh of Batahrah, as a result of his disputing the former’s authority over Shuwamiya. It also contains a couple of sketch maps of the coast of Oman showing the locations surveyed, and the locations where air facilities have been established; these can be found on folios 31 and 88.

A report (folios 131-42), dated 29 March 1932, of a joint action between British forces and the Sultan of Muscat, Sa‘īd ibn Taymūr Āl Bū Sa‘īd, against Shaikh Ali bin Abdullah al Hamudah of the Beni Bu Ali [Banī Bū ‘Alī] at Sur has also been included. The purpose of this action being to enforce the Sultan's authority by establishing a customs house at Aiqa.

The main correspondents are as follows: the Persian Gulf Political Resident, the Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, officials of the Admiralty, officials of the Air Ministry, and officials of the India Office.

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.