Pioneer who took to skies

The name of Freddie Bosworth is indelibly associated with Gulf Air, writes Nicholas Stanley-Price. It was he who, in March 1950, registered in London a new company called Gulf Aviation. Bosworth was a pilot, engineer and entrepreneur who saw the scope for a regional airline in the Gulf. He was also a colourful character not afraid to challenge the big airlines of the time.

He started by running charter flights, particularly for oil company personnel travelling between Bahrain and Dhahran. By setting up the company he put his operations on a regular basis. The Bahraini merchants Hussain Yateem and Khalifa Algosaibi provided him with local capital.

Other than Dhahran the first destinations served by Gulf Aviation were Doha and Sharjah. Every Wednesday its Anson Avro would leave Bahrain for Doha, stopover for 30 minutes, and then continue to Sharjah. The first scheduled flight was on Wednesday 5 July 1950.

One of the passengers on it was Harold Dunn, a ‘Marconi man’ or wireless telegraph specialist. Dunn was based in Karachi, working for International Aeradio Limited, but made regular visits to the company’s station in Sharjah. Thirty years later he wrote about his first flight with Gulf Aviation in the company’s staff newsletter, IAL News. This is what it was like to fly with Bosworth:

“I had known Freddie for some time as he had frequently flown Charter Flights into Sharjah, and so, when I turned up as a passenger on his inaugural scheduled flight, he gave me a warm welcome, adding, ‘You are just the man – you are elected’. I looked puzzled until he added, ‘Come up in front with me.’

“This sounded very attractive until after take-off, when I learnt the real meaning of his offer – I was expected to wind up the under-carriage! In the back of my mind I have always thought the aircraft was an Anson, but I definitely remember that the winding process was accomplished by turning a wheel 42 (or was it 45) times. The handle for this was by the side of the pilot’s seat and the lack of purchase obtainable for turning this from the right hand seat made it hard going.

“At that time Doha had no civil airport or even a runway. However, this was no problem for Freddie who devised his own ‘procedures.’ First of all we circled several times low over the town, thereby announcing to the ‘agent’ that we had arrived. We then flew about 10 miles along the coast to a sandy beach where a glance at the sails of the offshore dhows gave Freddie an indication of wind direction etc.

“When only a few feet from actually landing, Freddie jumped the aircraft into the air bringing her down some 30 yards further on, saying: ‘Didn’t you see it? We were just going to land on a glass bottle – wouldn’t have done the tyres much good’.

“Some 10 minutes after landing a cloud of sand dust could be seen in the distant desert. This proved to be from 2 cars from one of which emerged the agent clasping a bathroom scale. The second car contained the passengers. The scales were placed on the beach and the passengers and baggage were duly weighed, enabling the preparation of a ‘load sheet’. Apart from having to wind up that wretched under-cart again, the rest of the flight to Sharjah was uneventful and very pleasant.”

-Copy of his father’s article and the photo kindly supplied by Hedley Dunn.

-Editor’s note: Nicholas Stanley-Price is the author of Imperial Outpost in the Gulf. The airfield at Sharjah (UAE), 1932-1952, Book Guild (Brighton, UK), 2012).