Gulf Flug '65

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Let's take a look at the Gulf in the early 1960s...




We will travel in this cute Gulf Aviation DC-3. This is a repaint for the default DC-3/C47 by Muhammad Al-Khalifa.

Starting in Dharan, Saudi Arabia (OEDR) which is now the King Abdulaziz Air Base, still only has uninteresting default scenery 50 years ago, so let's get outa there!



Leaving the Arabian coast behind we fly east over the Gulf*. Incidentally the long causeway wasn't there in the '60s (not opened till the early 1980s and named after one of the Saudi kings. I would much rather go in a Gooneybird than drive over that!).

Our first target ahead:



Bahrain. It's roughly the shape of an (American) football, or rugby ball, and the airport's at the northern top near the capital, Manama.

We fly right round the island then approach from the other side.



Plenty of tankers and sailing yachts to be seen. (You use the tanker to take your oil somewhere, sell the oil and buy a yacht. Then you'll be rich & happy.)



Came in too fast and slightly overshot the runway, but luckily it was hard, flat and empty (like most of this region), so we live to fly another day, turn round and go back to the airport (OBBI, now called Bahrain International). This is where the new California Classic Trucial States 1961 scenery will start to kick in...

* There is still some fuss about what to call this significant body of water. In the 19th Century it was known in English as the Arabian Gulf. You will soon see that my 1966 atlas calls it the Persian Gulf. Both of these terms are thought to imply ownership, so modern maps do just call it 'The Gulf'. That enables my very silly, but mildly thought-provoking palindrome Gulf Flug (though the German for Gulf is in fact Golf). Hope that makes some sort of sense.

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Here is the 1966 map showing forthcoming flights:



Apologies if it's a bit out-of-focus: big atlas, small scanner. Note somewhat vague borders and the coast below Qatar being labelled Trucial Oman. The Trucial States are now the U.A.E., United Arab Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In the early 1960s the British were still administering (and as we shall see, defending) this whole coastline.

The Royal Navy first sailed into the Gulf in the 1850s and found a lot of pesky Arab pirates and a flourishing slave trade going on. Didn't like that, so put a stop to it. There are people who say (here on the Internet!) that the local people were really nice and civilized and the British made up those stories about pirates & slaves as an excuse for IMPERIALISM... What do you think?

Anyway, it was ingenious arms length imperialism, making alliances with established Emirs, telling them not to be pirates and keep fighting each other, and making sure the region was peaceful and traded properly in nice things like camels & spices. Oh yes, and didn't let the Iranians (or worse, the Russians) take over. This arrangement worked well - and still does in the 21st Century - with the added, rather more lucrative trade commodity of oil.

A look at Bahrain Airport in the early '60s:



Can't remember if this VT-DGS is us parked or an AI Gulf Aviation DC-3, but there it is in front of the main terminal building.

A pretty Gulf Aviation DH 114 Heron:



Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any flyable version of this, though the AI one goes around nicely.



You'd really feel the heat walking out to it. [EDIT: This is a Kuwaiti one, actually seen later at Doha, sorry!]



What is that beauty between the Heron and the Dakota?



Yes, another De Havilland, probably my all-time favourite: an MEA Comet from the Lebanon.



Unfortunately she is due to be blown up at home in Beirut by Israeli commandos in December 1968, but let us gaze upon her pulchritude while we may...

[Ralf Roggeveen]

This picture of the Heron leaving Bahrain is quite useful for getting an idea of what the whole island looks like:



Along with the civil airport in the early 1960s there was also...



One of several RAF bases in the Gulf, the largest of which was further up the coast at Sharjah near Dubai.

The political problem with Bahrain is that the ruling family are Sunni Muslims, the majority of the population Shia. This is roughly equivalent to an old Roman Catholic family ruling over a lot of Presbyterians - a situation which Mary Queen of Scots would have empathised with. The other problem is that the island was once briefly controlled by Shia Iran, the huge, powerful non-Arab mischief-maker of the region. During the so-called 'Arab Spring' there was a certain amount of rioting against the Sultan which some news media reported as the 'people' demanding 'democracy'. It was, however, much more likely to represent the Iranians trying to get a foothold and cause trouble on the other side of the Gulf.

In the '60s of course Iran was run by the pro-western Shah who was yet to make the fatal, greedy mistake of holding the World to ransom with oil prices after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War. The British were busy training these Gulf/Trucial states to look after their own defence when the bases were handed over to local forces in 1971 as the U.A.E. was established.

RAF Hawker Hunters still patrol our virtual skies:



Nice pair in formation and here's a shot of one of them:



If large AI formations can ever be persuaded to fly around in FS9, it would be great to see some sort of 1956 Suez Crisis scenario, if anyone's up for it?

There was also a mysterious, unmarked, apparently civil DC-3 on Bahrain:



I always suspect Merc Air whenever these pop up.



Cal Classic Trucial scenery is by Juan Antonio Martinez C. and Julius Czarnecki, and it's the Dave Garwood Hunters.

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Next leg will be Bahrain to Doha in Qatar, OBBI - OTBD (I strongly suspect the 'T' in that code as being left over from 'Trucial', Qs are too easily confused with letter 'O', already the Mid East regional code, and zeros!)

Map showing the entire Gulf:



Close-up of the flight from Bahrain island to Doha (Ad Dawhah in Arabic) on the Qatar peninsular:



Before we leave, a quick look at this Viscount that was there:



Stretching the 'European' in BEA a bit, so deep into Asia...



After we'd taken off and circled round, this shot of the airport where you can clearly see the separate civil and military areas:



Obviously these flights are very short, ideal for DC-3 hopping practice. Gulf Aviation allowed 45 minutes for their DC-3s and Herons in Flight GF7, just 35 minutes for the DC-6 (GF3). In fact you can do it in less than half an hour with a Dakota on the flight simulator.



My landings were still a little too fast, despite full flaps. Must throttle down earlier!



It was another overshoot and long trail back to the terminal.

Elegant Speedbird visiting:



Maybe on her way to India and Hong Kong?



The airport was still quite small in those days, but I do like the new tower building opposite.

Will it let me post nine images?

[AndyG43]

If large AI formations can ever be persuaded to fly around in FS9, it would be great to see some sort of 1956 Suez Crisis scenario, if anyone's up for it?

Definitely on my long term "To Do" list Ralf, main sticking point is the lack of suitable aircraft carriers; that's something I've been trying to remedy for a while, but a couple of major PC crashes and 'real life' keep getting in the way - not beaten yet though. :-)

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Thanks Andy! We did discuss this a while back, glad you're still tinkering with it. I have managed some rather unrealistic A/C carriers (Italian?) pretending to be French and sent a few helicopters (Sycamores) in from merchant ships near the canal entrance. Did quite a lot round Port Said. The big problem is getting large formations of things like Canberras up & running, but I'm a complete amateur who likes to leave these things to you experts. One day it will be very beautiful.

Have checked the BEA, BOAC and MEA routes of the '60s over at Timetable Images. The MEA Comets did Beirut - Dahran - Doha and Bahrain. It took over 4 hours to overfly Syria and Iraq, which makes you think. Might set this up in fs9 later and see what it looks like.

In 1961 BEA did indeed get as far as Bahrain and Doha, also Kuwait.

My wife recently watched the 1956 version of Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much with James Stewart and Doris Day. No, she didn't watch it with them, they're in the film. ANYWAY, to get to the point, they flew from Morocco to London, arriving in a BEA Pionair. I found that suspicious and checked with Timetable Images. They would have had to catch BEA at Gibraltar, getting there on the very short hop from Tangier (Air Gibraltar DC-3).



Tippi Hedron she ain't, but DD is quite sexy in a sort of teacher/aunt/librarian kind of a way.



The main problem is that, for the purposes of the plot, she has to sing Que Sera, Sera VERY LOUD, which is fairly excruciating and might make a good torture at Guantanamo Bay if anyone's looking for new ones... Is this going a bit OT?

By 1961 BEA did go to Tangier. As far south into Africa as Casablanca by '67.

BOAC Comets reached Dahran, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait and even Abadan (for obvious oil-related reasons) in the early '60s. In 1962 you could fly London - Frankfurt - Rome - Athens - Beirut - Damascus - Bahrain as part of BA900 which was their 'Round-the-World Service'.

May have shown this round here before, but it's always worth an airing: My Best Postcard Ever:



...and the perfect message:



Coming soon: Doha to Abu Dhabi.

[Ralf Roggeveen]

GF7 was the DC3 doing a shuttle Bahrain to Doha to Abu Dhabi to Dubai five days a week including Sunday.



Leaving Doha at 15.10 in the afternoon.

Some interesting AI aircraft there:



A Syrian Viscount - I mean DC4...



Now you think that's a view of the Syrian from behind a BOAC Speedbird, BUT...



...at the time G-APDN was being leased to Kuwait Airways. This dates our flight very precisely, as she was only in that livery from November '65 to February '66. Tragically this aeroplane (built in 1957) crashed near Barcelona on 3rd July 1970, while flying for Dan-Air, with the loss of 105 passengers and 7 crew.



After takeoff we circle round during our climb and get this good view of the rather rudimentary airport the Qataris still had 50 years ago.



Leaving the Qatar peninsula behind and heading towards the Trucial coast (now the U.A.E. of course).



I think this might be Das Island which has an interesting little airfield, perhaps for use by the oil industry?



You can see the coast opposite almost immediately, it's only about half an hour in a Dakota. Of course you would spot Dubai and the huge Burj Al Arab tower sticking up over there today, but it was still all pretty rudimentary in the early '60s as we shall see...

[NOSNILMOT]

This thread is particularly interesting to me as I grew up in the Gulf at this time. A few routings courtesy of my Junior Jet Club log - BOAC Britannia 102's flew Kuwait - Damascus - Rome - Heathrow in the very early 60's - my first trip was Jan 1960. I recall flying on a Comet 4 following a similar route in summer 1964, and the following year on a Kuwait Airways Comet 4c, this time Kuwait - Geneva - Heathrow.

BOAC VC10s dominated thereafter until I left finally on 24 August 1970. VC10's could do Kuwait in one go, but I recall London bound flights via Abadan or Beirut, and Kuwait bound flights via Frankfurt, or Cairo. After the 6 day war some of VC10s had to fly down through Egypt to Luxor before heading East across the Saudi desert to Kuwait. After Kuwait, Bahrain, Doha and Dubai were the usual next stops, usually ending up in Karachi.

Other odd bits of info, in the late 60s an RAF Argosy from Muharraq flew over most Fridays loaded (so the story goes) with diplomatic beer for the Embassy - scope for an Arabian "Whisky Galore" - then there was the alleged smuggling using a Kuwait Oil Twin Pioneer - and finally the demise of Trident 9K-ACG a month or so after delivery. I can still remember going out with my father to see the wreckage - posted some of the photos on CBFS a few years ago.

Enough rambling - back to FS2004 !

[Ralf Roggeveen]

Most interesting Nosnilmot (Tom?), glad it's bringing back such memories and hope that the general atmosphere of this early '60s scenery and the aircraft seem realistic. The flights you recall are certainly worth further investigation.



ATC referred to someone as 'Biplane' (better than 'Experimental') so I used Traffic Explorer to investigate and saw this:



Pretty red Waco. The pilot seems to have abandoned it and gone off by the time I spotted it at Abu Dhabi, which is where we're heading.



Another spot of one of our sister DC3s. You can see that in those days rather more had been invested in refineries than in airport facilities...



Gulf Aviation DC3 VT-DGS disappeared completely in a flight from Doha to Sharjah on 10 July 1960 with the loss of 13 passengers and 3 crew - their worst accident.



We fly into a little cloud over the coast, but it's certainly nothing to worry about.



And there's OMAD ahead, the airport perched on its own little peninsula just beyond the town.

[Ralf Roggeveen]

I note that VT-DGS, the one that was lost in 1960, is the AI Gulf Aviation DC-3's registration. VT was, in fact, the 'British India' reg, and the Indian Rupee went on being used as the currency of the Gulf states right up until the 1960s.



Overshot the runway AGAIN and had to turn round and go a long way back, though luckily in those days there was plenty of hard, flat ground before trees and buildings started getting in the way.



Went and parked near one of those unmarked MercAir DC-3s that was being unloaded by some suspicious-looking locals.



They were shoving what seemed to be heavy wooden boxes into a red Land Rover. I caught the letters S.M.L.E. on one of the boxes, whatever that stands for.



Having been reminded of Middle East Airways and De Havilland Comets, thought it might be fun to try Beirut to Bahrain in the golden (well, silver) 'plane of the Golden Age.



Here she is at her home airport OLBA:



Glad to report that this is OD-ADT a Comet 4C delivered to MEA in March 1961. She was the only survivor out of their four Comets in the Israeli Commando attack on 28 December 1968. Stayed with MEA till March 1973 and ended up providing spares for Dan-Air before final scrapping at Lasham in June 1974.



Pan Am! I've got Mary Hopkins' Those Were the Days going round in my head now.



Managed to get it up there alright, but you can see that this is an OVERSPEED which you will get in Comets above about 330 kias. A sort of horrid doorbell sound goes off to warn you. By careful throttle control it can be got to cruise very smoothly at somewhere between Mach .06 and .07.