‘File 13/15 Air base at Dhahran’

Title:

‘File 13/15 Air base at Dhahran’

Date:

1944/1947

Description:

Abstract: The file contains correspondence relating to the construction by the United States of an airfield at Dhahran in Saudi Arabia. The majority of the correspondence in the file was received by rather than sent from the Political Agency in Bahrain. Correspondence comes from the Political Residency, officials at the India and Foreign Offices, the Secretary of State for India, and the British Legation at Jedda.Correspondence from mid-1944 to mid-1945 documents the United States Air Force’s desire to construct an airfield capable of accommodating ‘very heavy bombers’ at Dhahran, in order to maintain military supply lines to the Far East theatre of war. This is in response to Britain’s airfield at Muharraq in Bahrain being inadequate for the use of larger aircraft, to the concern of British officials. Details of the extent of the American airfield, construction of which began in August 1945, are given in correspondence from the Political Agent to the Political Resident (ff 14-15). A confidential telegram from the British Legation at Jedda confirms an agreement reached between the United States Army Air Force and the Saudi Government for the construction of the airfield (f 18).Post-war correspondence, covering the period late-1945 to 1947 documents the use of the Dhahran airfield for civil aviation purposes. This includes British Overseas Airways Corporation’s (BOAC) negotiations with the United States to use Dhahran for their Avro 688 Tudor II aircraft, being introduced on the air route to India, and which are too heavy to land at Muharraq (f 26). Correspondence between Ministry of Civil Aviation and India Office officials in late 1946 discusses the redevelopment of Muharraq to accommodate heavy aircraft, though acknowledging that there would be ‘difficulty in persuading the Treasury’ of such a project (f 31).Physical description: Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover, and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-39; these numbers are also written in pencil, and can be found in the same position as the main sequence, but they are not circled.

Language:

English

Type:

Archival file

Type (Narrower):

Other Texts

Type (Broader):

Text

Subject:

British Overseas Airways Corporation
United States Army Air Forces

Rights:

رخصة حكومة مفتوحة

Identifier:

81055/vdc_100000000241.0x00033a_ar
81055/vdc_100000000241.0x00033a_en
IOR/R/15/2/523
IOR/R/15/2/523

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