While I lived in the United Arab Emirates, I discovered that vestiges of the original Sharjah airport, later RAF Sharjah, still exist.  

 

Sharjah was the first airport in what is now the UAE. In 1932 it was very important for the British, who were developing an air route via the Persian Gulf, to be able to create a staging post in the region, and Sheikh Sultan of Sharjah offered a site just to the southeast of his city. The RAF built a runway on an area of hard, flat sand running northwest to southeast, and Imperial Airways built a resthouse in the form of an open square courtyard with accommodation in the enclosed wings, and a massive fort-like structure in one corner for control of the air traffic and a wireless station. Imperial Airways passengers in their Handley Page HP42s en route between London and India stayed overnight here from October 1932. During World War 2 the RAF made Sharjah into a base (click here to learn more about one man's experiences there), and they continued to use it until the 1970s. It was a major player in the Jebel Akhdar War of the 1950s. A new control tower was built next to the fort and a new terminal followed in 1968. But the rapidly growing town of Sharjah was now too close, and a new airport opened in the desert south of Sharjah in 1977.  The runway at RAF Sharjah become King Abdul Aziz Street, now right in the town centre.

 

The figures below show Sharjah airport in 1976 (adapted from Kay 1995, see reference at end of this page), and a Google Earth image of the same area now. The black and yellow arrows show the museum site. The old borders of the airport are easy to trace, and the runway is visible as  King Abdul Aziz Street.

 

 

 

The resthouse area today, via Google Earth. The control tower is in the southwest corner, with the new  Al Mahatta Museum hall (see below) to its north. To its east is the open square of the resthouse with a garden in the centre. (See photographs of control tower and resthouse, below)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I made two visits in 2004 to see what was left, as I knew that the old resthouse had just been developed as an aviation museum, under the guidance of Captain David Mackenzie, who ran the Ruler's Flight in Sharjah, and that some old aircraft were on view. I was very pleased to find the collection at what is now called the Al Mahatta Museum. After walking southeast from the new King Faisal mosque, I found the control tower and, alongside it, the entrance to the museum via the old gateway through the fort-like wall of the resthouse. Four aircraft were on display in an impeccable hangar-like hall right next to the control tower. They purported to be four of Gulf Aviation's original aircraft, according to the accompanying notices. At first glance a DC3, a Dove and a Heron, indeed, could have been genuine, but an Anson labelled as a Mark I, but obviously a much newer one, was suspicious.        

I am grateful to David Mackenzie for interesting subsequent correspondence, and to Taj and Mahesh for letting me into the planes, except the Dove that is hanging from the ceiling. I examined all the evidence I could find, and took lots of pictures of their identification plates. I was able to confirm the real identities of the four aircraft in the main display area, which purport to be original Gulf Aviation machines, but are not.

   

The Heron "G-ANFE" (left, in front of the DC3) is actually constructor's number 14072, a Heron 2 originally owned in 1955 by West African Airways Corporation, as VR-NAQ. In 1961 it was registered G-ARKU with Overseas Aviation Ltd. The same year it was transferred to the Royal Navy, and converted to a Sea Heron C20 (XR443). Withdrawn from use in 1989 it was sold as G-ODLG. Sold again in 1993 it became VH-NJP with Heron Airlines in Australia.  After storage at Sydney from 1995 it was acquired for the museum and painted to represent G-ANFE in 2003.  There is a constructor's number on a plate just behind the co-pilot's head "14072", and also there is a hand-written "NJP" on the                                                                                                  captain's  roof.

               

                       

         

  

                                                              Inside the Heron

 

 

The DC3 "G-AMZZ" has a tiny label on the roof between the pilots "C-GCXE". Otherwise, I could not find any identification plates. In the undercarriage bays there are "RCAF" labels. The aircraft is actually constructor's number 12254, a C-47A delivered to the USAAF as 42-92452 and almost immediately passed on to the RAF at Montreal as FZ669. It served with the RAF in Canada until 1946 when it was officially passed to the RCAF. Pensioned off 1976, it became C-GCXE with Aero Trades Western. Cancelled from the Canadian register in 1977, it next appeared on the Dominican register as HI-502. Re-registered as N688EA in 1993.

 

The Anson "G-AKVW" is ex TX183, built at Yeadon in 1946. With Bomber Command Communications Flight at Booker (from where I used to fly), then Abingdon (where I lived) Station Flight, before moving on to No.1 ANS at Hullavington. It went later to Shawbury, and A&AEE Boscombe Down where its service career finished in 1968. It was then sold to the Shuttleworth Trust, who were planning on a restoration programme, but that never came to fruition. It was registered as G-BSMF. The flaps are half lowered, so you can see identity plates on both sides. It is quite clearly marked as "Type no 652A" and Mk XXI on one side and Mk 21 on the other! The flaps carry the dates 22/10/48 on one side and 9/1/51 on the other! To find that it is a Mk21 is a surprise as that serial batch is usually quoted as C19s. Maybe the flaps were taken from a Mk 21, and fitted to a C19 airframe. There is, of course, no way it could be a Mark I, which is a completely different aircraft!

Dove 6 "G-AJPR" was built in 1956; its constructor's number is 04469. It was on the Italian register as I-TONY and then became G-ARDE. As it is hanging from the roof there is no easy access to it.

 

For further information:

Kay S, Wings over the Gulf  Motivate Publishing, Dubai 1995

Richardson C, Masirah - Tales from a Desert Island  Scotforth Books, Lancaster 2001

Stanley-Price N, Imperial Outpost in the Gulf. The airfield at Sharjah (UAE) 1932-1952 Book Guild, Brighton 2012

West D, RAF at Sharjah  Combat Report, 1987, 1  2-5