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Coll 5/5 ‘Arabia: Hejaz Air Force; Recruitment of personnel by HMG; Instruction of Hejazi pilots’ [60r] (121/703)
The record is made up of 1 file (350 folios). It was created in 9 Mar 1931-14 Apr 1939. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
\
THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPEI$T¥-©F IIIO^DniTANjnC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
f—~
j 7965 |
! 1957 _J
EASTERN (Arabia).
April 19. 1937.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 2.
[E 2127/244/25] Co Py No '
Sir R. Bullard to Mr. Eden.—(Received April 19.)
(No. 51.)
gj r Jedda, March 30, 1937.
AS I had the honour to inform you in my telegram No. 26^dated the
28th March, on one of the occasions when Ibn Saud discussed with Mr. Rendel
and me his relations with His Majesty’s Government, he said that it was he who
originated the enquiry about assistance in the training of young Saudis in
aviation which I transmitted to you in my telegram No. 118, dated^ the
25th October. This was by no means obvious to me at the time. Sheikh Yusuf
Yasin has more than once tried to induce the Legation to communicate to the
Foreign Office suggestions about Palestine which he could not say Ibn Saud
would approve, so that it is not always certain that he is speaking with his
master’s voice; while for Ibn Saud to apply to His Majesty s Government for
the training of aviators when he had just received a supply of men trained in
Italy would imply, it seemed, so sudden a reversal of policy as to be almost
incredible. In any normal country doubts such as this could be cleared up in
conversation, but for months after the enquiry was received the only Saudi official
I ever saw was Fuad Boy, who never mentioned the subject, and had piobably
been kept in the dark about it. However, the proposal is official enough, and in
my opinion rather embarrassing, and it is not less embarrassing that a proposal
for the training of men for civil and military aviation has grown into a larger
scheme. The Saudi Arab Government now want to be provided, in the hist
place, with ten military aircraft complete with pilots, mechanics, workshops and
everything else necessary for them. The scheme should be capable of expansion.
Sheikh Yusuf Yasin has since told me that what they have in mind is the training
of five to ten fresh pilots every year and, I gather, a corresponding increase in
the number of machines. It is left for the experts of His Majesty’s Government
to decide whether the personnel should be trained abroad or in a school to be
established here, and to say how the scheme can be most quickly carried out, what
it would cost, and what would be the terms of payment. . .
2. I am fully aware that the Foreign Office considered that the original
proposal should receive sympathetic consideration, and strong grounds for this
conclusion were advanced in a letter addressed to the Air Ministry on the
1st December, copies of which were received with Foreign Office printed despatch
No 339, dated the 2nd December. Nevertheless, my fears that the Saudi project
could not succeed are so strong that I venture to recapitulate arguments which
in one form or another I have already communicated to the Foreign Office. These
fears are based on the following considerations :—
(a) It would be difficult to secure suitable candidates.
(b) The aeroplanes would never be properly looked after.
(c) Pilots and mechanics, if trained abroad, would deteriorate rapidly on
return to this country.
(d) The Saudi Government do not possess the administrative experience or
the organisation necessary for the maintenance of an air force.
(e) The Saudi Arab Government have not the money for such a scheme. This
factor, which enters into most of the others, is placed last, because
it would be open to His Majesty’s Government to provide some or all
of the money if thev thought the object of sufficient importance.
These factors will now be considered in detail.
3. It will be remembered that I have reported on several occasions on
information received from various sources, that the young Saudi pilots trained
in Italy were not very efficient. Ibn Saud described them to us, with a gesture
of contempt, as of no use. Now, although the Italians doubtless place
[981 t—2]
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About this item
- Content
The file covers the subject of the development of aviation in Hejaz (Saudi Arabia from 1932), and requests made to the British Government for assistance in the development of an air force.
The earliest papers (1931) deal with a crisis in the Hejaz Air Force, in which the Hejaz Government desired to replace three British subjects — Mr North, Mr Morris, and Mr Lowe — with new British recruits under amended terms and conditions. The file covers some of the consequences resulting from the failure to reach an agreement on this issue.
Much of the rest of the file focuses on various proposals for providing assistance to the Hejaz (later Saudi) Government such as: the provision of a British Air Mission, the appointment of a Muslim Air Adviser (from either Egypt, Iraq, or India), the supply of aircraft and equipment, and various suggestions for training pilots and mechanics at Royal Air Force institutions. These proposals are discussed in terms of their practicality, and their financial and political feasibility.
The file also contains some discussion related to the following: a proposal from Misr Airwork for a demonstration of the Avro 626 to the Hejaz Government; a Turkish military mission in Saudi Arabia; an Italian Air Mission to Saudi Arabia; and a proposal to supply arms and ammunition to Saudi Arabia. It also has extracts from The Times newspaper dated 27 April 1933 (folio 143) and 12 February 1937 (folio 124); The Evening Standard dated 25 November 1931 (folio 207); and an extract from the Umm-al-Qura dated 16 September 1932 (folio 151).
The main correspondents are as follows: HM Minister at Jeddah (Andrew Ryan and Reader William Bullard), HM Chargé d’Affaires at Jeddah (Cecil Gervase Hope-Gill), officials at the Air Ministry, and officials at the Foreign Office. Much of the file consists of correspondence forwarded from the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India, in order to inform India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. officials of developments in Arabia.
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.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (350 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 350; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The file contains the following foliation anomalies: f 1, and f 1A.
An additional foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 5/5 ‘Arabia: Hejaz Air Force; Recruitment of personnel by HMG; Instruction of Hejazi pilots’ [60r] (121/703), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/1950, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100035424170.0x00007c> [accessed 26 March 2025]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/1950
- Title
- Coll 5/5 ‘Arabia: Hejaz Air Force; Recruitment of personnel by HMG; Instruction of Hejazi pilots’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 1ar:1av, 2r:34v, 36r:75v, 77r:123v, 125r:132v, 135r:142v, 144r:152v, 154r:206v, 208r:235v, 239r:256v, 258r:305v, 308r:343v, 345r:350v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence