SHARJAH // As the door on the airplane with two giant propellers slammed shut, Juma bin Humaid closed his eyes and started to pray.
The 42-year-old was about to fly for the first time, travelling to Bahrain with his mother on the first leg of their Haj.
Their starting point, in 1968, was the UAE's first airport.
With eight other passengers, they boarded a white and blue Gulf Aviation plane at Sharjah's old airport, known as Al Mahatta, or The Station.
"We were scared as the plane was small, very loud and shook a lot," recalls Mr Juma, 84. "The seats were narrow and there were no meals, no drinks, no real services provided on the plane. But I didn't really care. I just wanted the trip to be over and for us to land safely."
From Bahrain, he and his mother boarded an Indian ship for the six-hour trip to Dhahran, in Saudi Arabia. From there, they took a Russian bus along with 160 other people, taking several days to reach Mecca.
"Everything was harder then, and deciding on a trip to Mecca always had to be taken with the possibility of never returning back home," said Mr Juma, a father of six.
The runway was a thin strip of Tarmac in the middle of the desert in southeastern Sharjah.
Next to it was one of the areas most visible landmarks, a three-story white control tower that stands to this day.
Inside the terminal, it was hot, as puny electric fans struggled to cope with the scorching sun. "It was a very basic airport," Mr Juma said.
The story of the airport can be traced to Britain's search, starting in the late 1920s, for an alternative route for the section of its England to India service between Basra in Iraq and Karachi, in modern-day Pakistan.
The complication was that these flights depended on the Persian government granting Imperial Airways - the forerunner of British Airways - permission to use a coastal route along the eastern shore of the Gulf.
After Britain failed to reach a deal with the sheikhs of Ras al Khaimah and Dubai, the Ruler of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qassimi, offered some land for an airport to the south-east of the city.
In July 1932, Britain agreed. It would pay a monthly rent of 800 rupees, plus a landing charge of five rupees per flight. For many years this was paid in silver coinage, as the sheikh mistrusted paper money.
On October 5, at 4pm, the first aircraft landed at Sharjah. Hanno, a British-made, four-propeller Handley Page HP42 biplane, was on its way to India, with four passengers.
"Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qassimi came with his brothers, followed by a crowd of residents from Sharjah to witness [the landing] and admire it," wrote the current Ruler, Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed, in a book published last year.
"Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qassimi was extremely happy over his direct association with British interests and the economic boom on Sharjah and its people as a consequence of this venture."
A fort and a complex of offices and housing for passengers and crew were built by the Ruler.
Imperial Airways landed in Sharjah once a week. In 1934, it extended its route to Australia. With the onset of World War II, the British army built the three-storey white control tower and used the airport.
After the war, the fort was used as the headquarters of the Trucial Oman Scouts. In the 1960s the runway was paved and a new terminal added.
The death knell came in January 1977, with the opening of Sharjah International Airport, 10km to the east. It could handle hundreds of planes - eclipsing the old airport, which was abandoned.
For more than two decades, the old airport's buildings fell into disuse, used mainly to store scrap metal and old cars. The runway disappeared beneath King Abdul Aziz Road.
Then, in 2000, it reopened as a museum. "Older generations like to come here and see the old planes they used to fly in," said Mohammed al Naibari, who works at Al Mahatta Museum.
The museum now houses four airplanes, including a 17-seater 1950s DH-114 Heron that was dubbed Um Ahmed.
"A Bahraini woman gave birth to a boy inside this kind of plane as it was landing in Sharjah," said Mr al Naibari. "She named the baby Ahmed, and ever since then, locals have been calling this plane the Um Ahmed."
Despite the airport's contribution to history, Mr Juma says he prefers modern airports.
"I am just glad my children never had to fly using any of the old airports," he said. "They didn't miss out on much."
@Email:rghazal@thenational.ae
Video: When Imperial Airways flew the flag at Sharjah, a film from the 1930s about a day in the life of Sharjah airport when aircraft flew in from Britain on their way to India.
How to vote in the UAE
1) Download your ballot https://www.fvap.gov/
2) Take it to the US Embassy
3) Deadline is October 15
4) The embassy will ensure all ballots reach the US in time for the November 3 poll
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Key facilities
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- Premier League-standard football pitch
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- 600-seat auditorium
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Day 2, Abu Dhabi Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Dinesh Chandimal has inherited a challenging job, after being made Sri Lanka’s Test captain. He responded in perfect fashion, with an easy-natured century against Pakistan. He brought up three figures with a majestic cover drive, which he just stood and admired.
Stat of the day – 33 It took 33 balls for Dilruwan Perera to get off the mark. His time on zero was eventful enough. The Sri Lankan No 7 was given out LBW twice, but managed to have both decisions overturned on review. The TV replays showed both times that he had inside edged the ball onto his pad.
The verdict In the two previous times these two sides have met in Abu Dhabi, the Tests have been drawn. The docile nature of proceedings so far makes that the likely outcome again this time, but both sides will be harbouring thoughts that they can force their way into a winning position.
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- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
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The five pillars of Islam
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Abu Dhabi GP schedule
Friday: First practice - 1pm; Second practice - 5pm
Saturday: Final practice - 2pm; Qualifying - 5pm
Sunday: Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (55 laps) - 5.10pm
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Women's Prize for Fiction shortlist
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Milkman by Anna Burns
Ordinary People by Diana Evans
An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Circe by Madeline Miller
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
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Manchester United v Manchester City, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE)
Match is on BeIN Sports
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