The Imperial Airways Empire Route was originally established in 1927, linking Croydon in London to Cape Town in South Africa and Sydney in Australia. It originally traversed the Northern Shore of the
Persian Gulf, with Imperial Airways seaplanes landing off
Hengam Island, but the agreement to use the route made with the Persian Government lapsed in 1932 when the Persian Government attempted to use the continuation of rights to the facility as leverage to gain British recognition for the Persian claim to the
Tunbs Islands - a claim the British refused to countenance. Sharjah's Ruler,
Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi, agreed in a letter to the
British Resident in the Persian Gulf, Hugh Biscoe - with reservations - to host the airfield. However, Biscoe was later to find Sultan bin Saqr had changed his mind and no longer supported the proposal. Arriving in Sharjah on 3 May 1932, Biscoe found Sultan bin Saqr absolutely opposed to signing any such agreement. Facing staunch opposition from members of the ruling family to any move that would establish a direct British presence in Sharjah, Sultan bin Saqr was bolstered by his forceful father in law, Abdulrahman Al Shamsi, and by Biscoe calling in a flight of Westland Wapitis to demonstrate British might. The negotiations between the British and Sultan bin Saqr were briefly interrupted when Biscoe suffered a heart attack and died at sea en route to Sharjah. Negotiations were recommenced by
Harold Dickson, who had left Kuwait (where he was British Political Agent) to accompany Biscoe as an Arabic-speaking colleague. Dickson recounts at times having to be rude during drawn out and exhaustive negotiations, noting he had "told the Sheikh quite openly that it was impossible for me to continue business in an atmosphere which resembled that of chattering women, rather than the deliberations of serious men." Sultan bin Saqr agreed to build a rest-house for crew and passengers which was fortified against "possible but unlikely raids by bedouin" according to the 1937 documentary film
Air Outpost, which featured Sharjah's airport. The ruler also supplied a number of armed men as guards. The rest house would remain the property of the Ruler, but would be leased to Imperial Airways. It would be used to house company staff and passengers who would not, without the Sheikh's permission, be allowed to visit the town of Sharjah. The Ruler would allow the import of fuel and other resources free of taxation and would provide thirty-five guards and two head guards to provide protection ‘as far as possible for marauders from outside my jurisdiction’. Sultan bin Saqr would receive monthly payments of twenty rupees per guard and forty rupees for the head guards, 800 rupees for the air station (commencing from first landing) and 300 rupees for the rest house. The funds for the construction work would be advanced to Sultan bin Saqr and these would be offset by rental income. In addition, Sultan bin Saqr was to be granted a personal subsidy of 500 rupees per month and a landing fee of five rupees for each commercial aeroplane landing. RAF aeroplanes were to be exempt from this charge. The company was only to deal with the Sheikh through the Residency Agent (Isa bin Abdullatif Al Serkal was a co-signatory to the agreement) and the renewable agreement was for a duration of eleven years. The route was originally flown by
Handley Page HP42s, with two weekly flights landing in Sharjah on Sunday and Wednesday evenings on the outbound flight and Wednesday and Saturday evenings on the return flight. A backup landing strip was established in
Kalba in August 1936, resulting in Said Bin Hamad Al Qasimi being recognised by the British as a Trucial Ruler. By 1938, Sharjah was no longer an overnight stop on the route although the Imperial Airways flying boat service from Sydney to London included an overnight stop in
Dubai, following the establishment of Civil Air Agreements with Dubai's ruler. The airport was used extensively during
World War II by the
RAF, and a new agreement was made with the Ruler of Sharjah establishing an RAF base, which remained in use through to British withdrawal from the UAE in 1971. The airstrip remained in constant use until the development of the current
Sharjah International Airport in 1977. The fort building became the Seaface Hotel, then from 1973 was used as a police station, before falling into disrepair. It was restored in the late 1990s to open as a museum in 2000. == 1937 Film:
Air Outpost ==