The site of an air crash in Sharjah that killed three people. The crash took place on February 1, 1943. Courtesy Sharjah Museums Authority
The site of an air crash in Sharjah that killed three people. The crash took place on February 1, 1943. Courtesy Sharjah Museums Authority
The site of an air crash in Sharjah that killed three people. The crash took place on February 1, 1943. Courtesy Sharjah Museums Authority
The site of an air crash in Sharjah that killed three people. The crash took place on February 1, 1943. Courtesy Sharjah Museums Authority

The forgotten story of a fatal Second World War air crash in Sharjah


John Dennehy
  • English
  • Arabic

February, 1943. The world is at war. And its unrelenting tragedy was about to be felt here in the UAE.  
On February 1, a Royal Air Force plane took off from Sharjah headed for Jask, on the modern-day Iranian coast. Shortly into the flight, the port engine of the Bristol Blenheim Mark V failed and the pilot attempted a forced landing. But the aircraft overturned, killing three of the five onboard.

Local tribesmen helped the two who survived and the others were buried next to the crash site among rolling sand dunes, about 56 kilometres north-east of Sharjah.
The story had been lost for decades, buried in dusty archives and known only to the relatives and tribesmen living near the site who had named it "nad al tayyara," or dune of the plane. But the details have been unearthed by researchers here, using newly-digitised sources and an article published last year in Tribulus, the journal of the Emirates Natural History Group, has shed more light on the crash. Plane wreckage believed to be from the crash has also been found in the past few years.

Sharjah, UAE - Mar 19, 2018 - Wreckage found at a World War II era air crash site, now at the Al Mahatta Museum, Sharjah - Navin Khianey for The National
Sharjah, UAE - Mar 19, 2018 - Wreckage found at a World War II era air crash site, now at the Al Mahatta Museum, Sharjah - Navin Khianey for The National

Written by Ali Iqbal, Peter Hellyer and Laurence Garey, the article was the result of years of work.
Mr Iqbal learned about the crash while researching UK archives in 2015 about the impact of the war here. But a few years earlier and unbeknown to him, Emirati historian Dr Saif Al Bedwawi was contacted by a farmer in Sharjah who told him of plane wreckage found on his land. These pieces were brought to the Al Mahatta aviation museum in Sharjah, where the original RAF base was.

Mr Garey, independently from Mr Iqbal's research, was asked to help and he established it was from a Blenheim after consulting with aviation experts. Mr Iqbal then learned of the find and matched GPS coordinates of the plane's crash to the location of where the wreckage was found. It's now thought the debris is from the same plane.
The wreckage includes a Blenheim undercarriage frame, while serial numbers can be seen on some of the pieces. Metal fragments remaining at the crash site are believed to be from the plane. The three dead were pilot, sergeant Anthony Williams, flight sergeant and navigator William Hubbard and first lieutenant Alan Balzano Hailey, officer commanding the detachment of the RAF Levies in Sharjah and Dubai. His father was William Malcolm Hailey, a British peer who was governor of the Punjab from 1924 to 1928 and later in Africa produced the influential African Survey.  
Their bodies have never been found despite extensive searches and appeals from relatives. The wreckage has now been painstakingly restored and plans are being formed to put it on display.
Hazelle Page is the collections manager for Sharjah Museums Authority.
"It's significant because we have a ... story that goes with it," she said. "With all objects, if they have a story, especially if you can relate it to a local place or local person is fantastic. And with all the documentation, it's really interesting."

Hazelle Page, collections manager for Sharjah Museums Authority, Ali Iqbal, a historian, and Dr Saif Al Bedwawi, military historian, discuss the wreckage. Navin Khianey / The National
Hazelle Page, collections manager for Sharjah Museums Authority, Ali Iqbal, a historian, and Dr Saif Al Bedwawi, military historian, discuss the wreckage. Navin Khianey / The National

The discovery of the 1943 crash again alters the perception that nothing happened here during the war. Other papers in Tribulus regarding more crashes reinforce this. The British air base at Sharjah may have been small but it was vital in resupplying Allied lines and countering Axis submarine activity in the Sea of Oman and Arabian Gulf. The Blenheim, also known as a Bisley and prone to breakdowns, was on a non-operational flight to Jask when it crashed but it also conducted these patrols.

Off the coast of Fujairah lies the wreck of Nazi U-boat 533, sunk by a depth charge from an RAF Blenheim in 1943, while an Italian submarine was sunk close to the Strait of Hormuz.

Wreckage, believed to be the frame of a Blenheim's undercarriage, found at a World War II era air crash site in Sharjah, It's now at the Al Mahatta Museum in Sharjah. Navin Khianey / National
Wreckage, believed to be the frame of a Blenheim's undercarriage, found at a World War II era air crash site in Sharjah, It's now at the Al Mahatta Museum in Sharjah. Navin Khianey / National

Crucial to the story is the help given to the two survivors by the Bedouins. The war had led to food shortages across the globe and the Trucial States was no different. Shipping lanes were disrupted, prices soared and the pearl trade, which had sustained generations, had collapsed.

“Life was very difficult during the Second World War, even though there was no direct fighting here,” said Dr Bedwawi. Despite this, Bedouin tribesman Mohammed bin Lahij took the two survivors to his tent where he and his wife gave them food, shelter and patched up their injuries. The weather had turned stormy, but bin Lahij borrowed a camel from another tribesman, Saif bin Qarad, and went to RAF Sharjah to report the crash. Both received a financial reward for their actions and it’s believed the daughter of bin Lahij is still alive.

_______________

Read more: 

Time Frame: The RAF's wartime legacy in Sharjah

A war of words: a look at Britain’s Arabic propaganda during the Second World War

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"You know what the drive is like now and it was a rainy, stormy day so you can imagine the flooding," said Mr Iqbal. "This is one of the reasons I wanted to do this – to show the hospitality of the Emirati population towards the RAF."
Hailey's name has been inscribed on the Brookwood memorial in Britain, while those of Hubbard and Williams are written on a memorial in Al Alamein, Egypt.

"The most exhilarating aspect of this story was how the pieces came together," said Mr Iqbal. "How it crashed; who was on board. Without Hazelle, Peter, Laurence and Dr Saif, it wouldn't have been possible."
It was previously thought only one British and Commonwealth serviceman died in modern-day UAE during the conflict — airman William Donnelly — who died in Fujairah in 1943 and was chronicled on these pages here. Now three more can be added to the list.

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Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

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When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple. 
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950

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Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur

How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993

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Favourite car: Koenigsegg Agera RS or Renault Trezor concept car.

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Biggest inspiration: My husband Nik. He really got me through a lot with his positivity.

Favourite holiday destination: Being at home in Australia, as I travel all over the world for work. It’s great to just hang out with my husband and family.

 

 

'The worst thing you can eat'

Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.

Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines: 

Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.

Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.

Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.

Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.

Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.

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Other ways to buy used products in the UAE

UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.

Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.

Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.

For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.

Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.

At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.

A little about CVRL

Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.

One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases. 

The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.