IOR/L/PS/12/1963

The file contains correspondence, and related India Office notes, regarding the establishment of an emergency landing ground and facilities at Kalba for the use of Imperial Airways (later the British Overseas Airways Corporation - BOAC). This includes material related to negotiations between Tom Hickinbotham, the Political Agent at Bahrain, and the Shaikh of Kalba (Shaikh Said bin Hamad) in August 1936: a copy of the agreement reached can be found on folios 63-64. In addition, the file contains correspondence discussing the terms that the British Government are prepared to accept for the use of Kalba. It therefore covers the following: the facilities required, the amount of rent to be paid, the provision of a gift of rifles and ammunition, the necessity of offering the Shaikh of Kalba some level of British protection, and the desirability of formally recognising his independence via the grant of a personal three gun salute. A discussion over the appropriateness of using force following the Shaikh's initial refusal in 1932 is recorded in some detail, as is the consideration of alternatives; this includes a proposal for the establishment of an alternative site at Shinas in 1933.

The file also briefly covers a request from Trans American Airlines in 1946 to fly over the territory of the Sultan of Muscat, and a request that they may be permitted to use the emergency landing ground at Shinas.

The main correspondents are as follows: the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf (Trenchard Craven William Fowle and William Rupert Hay), the Political Agent at Bahrain, and the Political Agent and Consul at Muscat (Ralph Ingham Hallows). The file also contains correspondence between officials of the Admiralty, the Air Ministry, the Foreign Office, the India Office, and personnel stationed at RAF Hinaidi (Iraq).

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