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Coll 5/61 ‘Far East: Proposed extension to Burma-Yunnan frontier of Imperial Airways to link up with Eurasia Corporation’ [‎165r] (328/728)

The record is made up of 1 file (363 folios). It was created in 26 Oct 1934-20 Apr 1939. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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1
SOUTHERN SHAN STATES—AIR ROUTE.
JB. ^ '
4<
" Report on reconnaissance flights by the Director of Civil Aviation in India,
25th126th April 1937.
I. The flights were undertaken in the Government of India Avro X VT-AOT
in extension of an official tour to Burma by the Director of Civil Aviation. The
personnel were,—
Crew.
Pilot.—Flight Lieut. Burbury.
W|T Operator.—Mr. Green.
Engineer.—Mr. Caroll.
Passengers.
Mr. F. Tymms, Director of Civil
Aviation in India.
Mr. A. Croad, Superintending
Engineer, Aviation Circle,
C. P. W. D.
Capt. A. G. Wyatt, Engineer
Officer, Civil Aviation.
The flights covered the Southern Shan States between the Taunggyi-Kengtung
Road on the north and the Siamese border on the south, to within 50 miles of the
Indo-China frontier on the east, i.e., a belt between the parallels 20 ° N. and 21 ° N,
upto 99° E.
II. Earlier developments.
( 1 ) Attention was first drawn to a more direct air route to China by the.
request of the Eurasia Corporation in 1935 for permission to investigate the
route via Yunnan-Fu and Mandalay. An article on this route quoting the views
of Captain Kingdon-Ward had appeared in ‘ ‘ The Whip ” of the 5th November
1934. An air service—particularly foreign—on this route, which would cross
the Wa States, was considered politically undesirable by the Burma Government,
and attention was then drawn by Mr. C. W. Scott, Indian Forest Service, to the
advantages of the Southern Shan States, which offered a topographically more
favourable route direct from Burma to Indo China, thus cutting out both China
and Siam—both a source of political difficulty. The French Minister in
Bangkok had suggested the investigation of this route to the British Charge
d’Affaires at Bangkok, in January 1935.
( 2 ) In March and April 1936, a French expedition under the leadership of
M. Winckler, an Air France pilot, travelled by road and river from Hanoi to
Mandalay, through the Southern Shan States, for the purpose of investigating
the route. A limited number of copies of M. Winckler’s rather depressing report - f
is available.
L
(3) Early in 1936, the Burma Government, at the request of the Govern
ment of India, arranged for reports on possible landing ground sites in the Shan
States to be collected, and for regular observations of cloud height and visibility
to be taken and reported monthly. The information collected is summarised in
paragraph III.
(4) In January 1937, the Air Ministry made proposals to the Government
of India for a systematic investigation of the route by air and ground recon
naissance, with the assistance of Air Ministry personnel.
III. Info r mat ion collected by Burma Government.
(1) Landing ground sites are reported to have been selected at,
Aungban
.. Lat.
20°
40'
N. Long.
96° 39' E
Sinhe (7 miles W. of Taimggyi)
.. Lat.
20°
46'
N. Long.
96° 58' E
Loilom
.. Lat.
20°
55'
N. Long.
97° 34' E
Kengtung
.. Lat
21°
17'
N. Long.
99° 35' E. (approx).
All these He on the Thazi-Kengtung road. [Reference Survev of India llM
aild a( 1 -i acent c °untries) sheet 93 ; or Survey of India 1|250,000 sheets

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Content

The file is concerned with a proposal to link Imperial Airways Services and those of the Eurasia Aviation Corporation and/or China National Airways at the Burma-Chinese frontier, in consideration of establishing a more direct link to Hong Kong. The file therefore contains occasional references to political developments within China, and her diplomatic relations with Japan. The file also includes correspondence regarding an aviation agreement signed between France and Siam [Thailand], and related agreements between the British and Siamese Governments.

More direct routes are also explored in the file, in particular a route via the Southern Shan States and French Indo-China. A report by Frederick Tymms, Director of Civil Aviation in India, on a reconnaissance flight between 25 and 26 April 1937 has been included: see folios 165-168. For the conclusions of the survey: see folios 190-192. An appended report on the landing ground at Loikaw can be found on folios 169-171. Three maps accompany the report: see folios 172-173 and 193.

For further information a copy of a report by Georges Winckler of an exhibition through Laos and Upper Burma between 8 and 17 February 1936 has also been filed: see folios 174-186. The purpose of Winckler's exhibition was to explore the possibilities of a direct route between France and French Indo-China [Vietnam].

An additional sketch map outlining possible overland routes between Burma and Hong Kong can be found on folio 260.

The main correspondents are officials of the Air Ministry, the Foreign Office, and the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. . A significant amount of correspondence with the Government of India – Department of External Affairs and the Department of Industries and Labour – and correspondence with numerous British representatives across Burma, China, and Siam, have also been included.

The French language content consists of a single letter (folios 253-254) from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs dated 10 March 1936.

The file includes three dividers (folios 2, 95, and 131) which gives a list of correspondence references contained in that section of the file by year.

Extent and format
1 file (363 folios)
Arrangement

The file incorporates two files from the Economic and Overseas Department: E&O Coll 2/23 (folios 131-364) and E&O Coll 2/23A (folios 95-130). Material from PZ Coll 5/61 makes up the remainder of the file (folios 2-94). Within each section, the papers are arranged in approximate reverse chronological order.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 364; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 4-94 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 5/61 ‘Far East: Proposed extension to Burma-Yunnan frontier of Imperial Airways to link up with Eurasia Corporation’ [‎165r] (328/728), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2022, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100047412705.0x000083> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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