Sharjah Aviation (1937) - British Air Outpost Handley Page H.P.42 Hanno at Al Mahatta old airport

[@davehardie4991]

Did a B747 type rating at Sharjah at the start of last year. The sim instructor was the grandson of one of the HP-42 pioneer pilots who had flown to Sharjah. The fort is now a museum but you can still look inside the rooms seen in this film, a visit looking back in time. Nowadays the runway is the King Abdul Aziz Road and the fort is surrounded by high rise buildings.

[@NickRatnieks]

An incredible film capturing a a world that was shortly going to be blown away forever but completely unsuspected at the time this film was shot.

[@jckirby7994]

What?

[@jamesmiller4184]

What a wonderful glimpse into an exotic aerial past now-long-gone! The ritual seen here, that of taking great care of incoming/outgoing HANNO is a scene most impressive, all attending to their tasks being most serious and dedicated. "Four-hundred and fifty miles of empty desert" as a consideration surely would have given their great care shown special import. Thanks very much @S.M.C. for this very special look-back to ancienne gloire du vol aérien !!

[@JohnSmith-us2jx]

Brings back memories. I was CFI of the Trucial States (later the UAE) Flying Cub at Sharjah airport nearly 50-years ago, flying small Piper singles. Good way to lose weight - there was always a pool of water around your feet after a sortie. The only place that had AC in those days was the Carlton Hotel in Dubai - our watering hole after a days flying.

[@sarahsea7471]

How interesting, you saw a very different UAE! John, I wonder if you can help... I came across this video as I am researching the history of cinema in the UAE and the first screen was at Al Mahatta Fort / Airport. I wonder, did you watch films there, can you tell me anything about it and know any body who might have images of the 'cinema'?

[@EdOeuna]

You should write a book about your exploits.

[@spikeyflo]

Loved it. So pleased someone thought to film it all those years ago AND that it has survived all these years too!

[@josephcjoseph683]

Thanks a lot to the person posted the video. As a person who visited this old airport and museum multiple times, this video add much value to me.

[@helios1912]

Artist Lounge--thanks for this golden days post. The film is so sharp and clear. I looked up the wiki page on the HP 42--cruise speed of 87 knots. Hey, no jet lag on these flights.

[@stylophobia]

Was here 13 years ago...part of Abu Dhabi. The building has become an aviation museum.

[@Man_from_UNCLE]

Nothing to do with Abu Dhabi - it is a separate Emirate the 3rd biggest after Dubai (20kms south) and Abu Dhabi 200kms south). When I first went there in 1994, the old buildings were not renovated, all were rather dilapidated and in fact there were 2 or 3 derelict light aircraft lying around tangled up in the Ghat bushes.

[@georgeadams4054]

I flew biz jets around Arabia in the 70s and 80s and thought that was pretty cool but what you did was something else. Well done

[@philipcongdon494]

A beautiful landing. I was there in the 70s and so different now again.

[@timothydavy968]

Flying in those days seems to have been an extremely labour intensive and costly business, must have been a wonderful experience flying to the far east in one of these machines I have unforgettable memories of flying in DC 3 aircraft around India in the nineteen fifties as a child,, a number of flights in cargo planes leaving at 4 am.from DumDum Calcutta to Upper Assam being one of the highlite of my childhood experiences

[@dreadnaught3894]

Great viewing - thanks so much.

[@برد-و3ح]

Really very nice video

[@Xboomer1]

Nice little time capsule...

[@vipinsumi7343]

Rare Footage Very much informative

[@bboucharde]

Terrific upload! Thank you so much!

[@ArtistLoungeArena]

Most welcome!

[@49walker44]

I love your videos, anything to do with those huge multiengine airliners especially some of the Russian planes with naval guns.

[@Extommy1]

The airport locations were handy for when the R.A.F. decided to bomb hostile tribes. But what a splendid old creature the Hanno was!

[@sydyidanton5873]

No wonder it cost so much to fly back then, paying for all those staff to largely sit on their backsides all day and only look after ONE flight. The same scenario repeated at several other stations. Necessary but immensely inefficient. Some UK to Australia passengers still stop in the UAE, although not Shajar any longer, it is either that wretched dump Dubai on their equally wretched airline, or better via the capital - Abu Dhabi with their far superior airline Etihad. The old four stop routes of the B747-200s BA used stop in beautiful Muscat with the friendly hospitable Omanis , while Qantas stopped at Bahrain. Interesting that there’s always been that connection in some way or another.

[@johnclarke5459]

Methinks thIs Handley Page would have been right at home during World War 1.

[@johnclayden1670]

A fascinating video. I was in Sharjah a few weeks ago. Did those little overnight rooms have air conditioning? Jeeez, to spend the night in such a place. Hardy people for sure.

[@wayinfront1]

No such thing as air con in the Empire those days. Fans did the job.

[@Man_from_UNCLE]

@@wayinfront1 In Hindi language 'Banka' hence the man who pulled the rope to operate the fan was a Banka-Wallah

[@wayinfront1]

@@Man_from_UNCLE. Yes....but the fans in an Imperial Airways staging post accommodation block like this would have been electrically operated. Ditto the fans in the Delhi government offices. But many places still had Banka-Wallahs, for sure. There's a character in the sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum who is a Banka-Wallah.

[@Davyfb75]

Just before Empire Flying Boats took over I suppose.

[@rockabyebaby6111]

new rule for emirates pilots....5 minutes late... an eye .....10 minutes.... an arm...or a leg, to run concurrently LOL !!

[@jamesmiller4184]

Indeed! They took very good care of their H.P. 42s, for after all flying machine H-O-R-S-A did appear on Egypt's multifariously denominated bi-color stamp issue, back in good old '33 !! Most are unaware that it was HE that actually did !! 'Twas Sir Miles "... LEAVE that boy to ME !! " referring to Boy King Farouk of course Lampson, British High Commissioner in Egypt, who had dedicated H-O-R-S-A to mail service there. It is so and is so-pictured within Flight Magazine of that time. Might there be any other incidence of an Imperial Airways H.P. 42, featuring on a postage stamp? I for one believe not. (Discounting the next same-image issue of four, of course.) -- Collect the Air Post stamps of Egypt ... AND of all the world! -- . : .

[@pumpkinworm3548]

All these countries used to live in peace, until the fire nation attacked.

[@ArtistLoungeArena]

True!

[@Man_from_UNCLE]

Rather an exaggeration to describe them as countries. They were known as the Trucial States.

[@thetoynbeeconvector]

Thanks, but why is the first part of the voiceover missing? What else has been left out? There is another version of this film on KZbin, lower resolution, but at least complete.

[@mikecollett9152]

another interesting video about travel before 2 world war ,

[@jerryumfress8340]

Excellent video

[@ArtistLoungeArena]

Thank you!

[@hardyboy1959]

@ 9:30 "If anything should happen to the airliner, each man is liable to be punished in Arab fashion by the loss of eye or limb" ...sounds fair

[@darrellborland119]

LOL

[@hardeepsinghbehniwal3033]

They are speaking Hindi in Sharjah?? Wandering the workers are migrated from India

[@howtoshortsweb]

Stereotyping

[@Man_from_UNCLE]

And still the majority of the population speak Hindi in Sharjah today - probably more speak malayalam, but they all use Hindi with the Pakistani, Bengali and Nepali communities.

[@patriley9449]

That plane looks like a kite.

[@kurthaupt3616]

Eighty years later the planes are better. Everything else not so much.

[@sammysouth8372]

You're dumber than you look if you really think that and that possibility boggles the mind.

[@yahatinda]

AT this time Douglas was coming out with theDC-3 ...lol

[@timbailye9367]

They may have not looked like much but those were incredibly reliable planes.

[@NickRatnieks]

And Short Bros was equipping Imperial Airways with the four engine C Class Empire flying boat which replaced these HP 42 biplanes as this film was being made. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Empire

[@TheDemon190]

Not one hp42 was ever lost unlike the dc3

[@yahatinda]

@@TheDemon190 DC-3 flew in WAR not in desert sunshine at twice as fast.

[@jcwiggens]

I like how the narrator casually mentions that the locals will loose an eye or a limb if the plane is damaged. Nice ole British Empire. LOL

[@HighFlight]

"Punished in Arab fashion by the loss of eye or limb", is nothing to do with the British Empire . It was the rule of local Sharia Law at that time in Sharjah, which was then a British Protectorate by treaty but still ruled and governed by its own Sheikh Sultan.

[@TheDemon190]

As mentioned nothing to do with the British empire it's the law of the locals

[@johnyted]

Waow I

[@salhauddinahmed5723]

OMG!

[@granskare]

did Britain build on the south coast of the sea of Marmara in Turkey?

[@ArtistLoungeArena]

I have no idea! Regards,

[@xetalq]

As I understand the Empire Air Mail Routes, I don't think so. What makes you suspect differently? Do you know of a facility there which you feel might have been built by Britain?

[@granskare]

some say the Brits built in Turkey. I am trying to learn who actually built the air stripes there... thanks, chuck maki (I was at Det 1 & 3 in the late 1950's)

[@fardellp]

I would worry about sand gettting into those engines and the control linkages...

[@ArtistLoungeArena]

Absolutely right!

[@darrellborland119]

Filters? What filters....

[@lesliesmith9155]

Yes we did it then (Bristol) Handley page wireless d f finding octane boosting tetrlead all gone but did not like the way we treated the (not so well off) ❤😊

[@ashishrajbhandari7823]

b

[@antonioservin2028]

Parece que todos en este video están muertos