Coll 5/25 ‘Air Route to India (Arab Coast): Landing ground at Bahrain; Bahrain Civil Air Agreement’ [‎38r] (75/1088)

CIVIL ;,IKFORTS IN IRAQ.
■APEEKDIX CL
At Baghdad ,
1# Although the main runway is in course of-extension to 2,175 y&rds,
( 2,000 metres ) there is considerable doubt as to whether the method
of construction of the extension and indeed of the runway itself is
sufficiently robust to stand up satisfactorily to future British civil
operations with York and Tudor aircraft for instance. There is a
short secondary runway of similar construction to the main runway and
approximately at right angles to it; it is very seldom used however*
2* Besides the terminal building there is one hangar about the size
of a Bellman* The apron in front of this building gets so soft and
sticky in the heat of the day that only the lightest types of transport
aircraft are likely to be able to use it without making serious ruts.
5. In the light of the foregoing it appears that the question of
Baghdad's airport development will have to be tackled in two stages.
4* In the first place the engineering problem of improving the
bearing capacity of the existing runways and apron must be fully
investigated and then solved at the earliest possible moment. To this >
end, arrangements have been made for the Chief Engineer, Iraq and Persia
Command, H.A.F. to visit the airport, inspect the paved areas and arrange
for appropriate tests to be carried out on the surfacing material and
the sub-soil. This action which was initiated as long ago as 20th March
1945 has since been followed up by a signal from Home. The steps taken
have the full concurrence of Akram Mustaq, the Director of Civil
Aviation, Iraq.
5. Secondly there is the question of how the future development of
Baghdad West site is to be planned. Various possibilities were disoussed
on the spot with the Iraq State Railway Engineers and Architects, as
well as with the D.C.A. The advice verbally tendered was to the effect
that a new main runway should be laid parallel to the existing one and
on the side of it remote from the city. A new secondary runway v/as
also advocated although its orientation was left undecided pending the
analysis by D.M.O. London of the local surface wind records.
6 . To implement some such plan, does not appear likely to present a
difficult problem or to prove a very expensive matter. There should be
no difficulty in assuring that the flight-ways are unobstructed and so
far as preparation of the surface is concerned, it will not bo necessary
to do much levelling or grading, except in connection with the filling
in of a disused canal and generally with the drainage of the areas. An
engineer’s report on this latter question is desirable, as there is
reason to suppose that the land is subject to flooding.
Conclusion and Recommendation .
7* Provided that the engineering report when received states that the
sub-soil is capable of taking the loads that will be imposed on runways
constructed for use by the heaviest aircraft of the future, it is
considered that a Class I International Airport can readily be developed
in the immediate vicinity of the existing airport. It is however
understood that Mr. G-umbley (D.C.A. Palestine) has advocated development
of an entirely different site on the far side of the city, near Hinaidi
Military airfield. This scheme is not however regarded with favour by
the Iraq State Railway Authorities, who were in fact careful not to
mention it to the U.K. Mission. Although this alternative site was not
inspected, it is considered that it would prove extremely difficult to
make a prima facie case for developing it, rather than Baghdad West,
seeing that the latter is so close to the town centre and so conveniently
situated with respect to the site proposed for the new main railway
G .108092 terminus.
/a