Coll 5/5 ‘Arabia: Hejaz Air Force; Recruitment of personnel by HMG; Instruction of Hejazi pilots’ [‎304r] (609/703)

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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

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