Air Outpost

Air Outpost is a 1937 film produced by documentary maker Paul Rotha focusing on the Imperial Airways 'Empire Route' and highlighting a day at the aerodrome at Sharjah, then one of the Trucial States and now one of the United Arab Emirates.

[1] Rotha's initial 1932 visit was one month after the airway's inauguration and prior to the completion of construction on the Mahatta Fort, forcing him to spend the overnight stop in a tent.

[9] Air Outpost was unusual for Imperial Airways’ documentaries in that it is entirely devoted to a single airfield, and that a remote stop on the London to India route.

[12] The film tells the story of Sharjah Airport, showing preparations for the landing of the Handley Page HP 42 aircraft 'Hanno'.

The station manager, a Scot by the name of Alistair Thomson, inspects the rooms together with his Indian major domo Abbas Khan, ensuring food and supplies of fresh water are available for guests.

The aircraft takes off on its onward journey, flying high above the airport and desert, watched by wondering Bedouin on horseback with falcons on their arms.

[9] Using a 35-millimetre Bell & Howell Eyemo and a British-made Newman Sinclair 35-mm cine camera, Taylor and Keene shot some 3,700 feet of film in all during their time in Sharjah.