IOR/L/PS/12/2012

The file documents the replacement of the Hawker Hind aircraft – used by the Afghan Air Force since 1937 – with Avro Ansons in 1948. The selection process being the result of a long search from 1943 to 1946 for a suitable replacement. The file contains correspondence documenting the search for suitable British aircraft – both new and second hand; the search for suitable aircraft was complicated by wartime conditions and the Afghan Government's unusual requirements. Some of the other aircraft considered were as follows:

• the Boulton Paul Defiant
• the de Havilland Dominie, Dove, and Tiger Moth
• the Fairey Swordfish
• the Hawker Audax, Hart, and Hurricane
• the Miles Master
• the Westland Lysander

The correspondence in the file also partly documents the process of ordering the Avro Ansons including: arrangements for payment for the aircraft, arrangements for shipping the aircraft, details respecting the required specification, and the production schedule for the aircraft. The file also includes minutes from inter-departmental meetings held to discuss post-war supply difficulties with the Avro Anson aircraft.

The main correspondents are officials from various government departments as follows: the Air Ministry, the Foreign Office, the India Office (the Commonwealth Relations Office from August 1947), and the Ministry of Supply. Other key correspondents include HM Minister at Kabul (Francis Verner Wylie and Giles Frederick Squire) and officials from the External Affairs Department of the Government of India.

A few cuttings from magazines can be found within the file:

• A page from Flight, 19 July 1945, which inclludes an advertisement for the De Havilland Rapide (folio 261r) and Field Aviation Services (folio 261v).
• The Aeroplane, 24 March 1944, which includes a photograph of a two-seater Hawker Hurricane in Russia (folio 291v).

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.