Page 755 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

arrived at about the time she was expected and made quite a good landing. We all went & had a look at
her. The pilot, a man called Horsey, was the one who came down with me & Air Commodore Fletcher from
Basrah & the machine was the same one that I travelled home in so I knew the men on board. There were
five passengers on board, all men and I had a talk to them; one of them, an Indian Cavalry Officer, had been
told to look out for me by a man who used to be Levy Corps officer in Muscat, a very nice fellow. After
about an hour they had finished refuelling and started off again but then the trouble started, the huge
wheels of the machine sunk into the ground and she couldnt get off. She looked like a great wounded bird
trying to fly. Every time she moved the wheels seemed to sink deeper. We got men and ropes and all my
police helping & tried to get her off but it was no use. After waiting about till nearly three oclock I
suggested that the passengers should come down to my house & have lunch and a rest so they got into
carts and came along, the English steward brought a lot of tinned stuff which eked out my meal, which was
not intended for more than one & eventually about eight extra people turned up. In quite a short time the
staff, helped by the steward, put up a very good cold lunch. Then Mrs Russell & other people arrived with
news that it was too late for the machine to go on so we divided up the passengers among the different
people here for the night, I had two & the rest went to other houses. In the afternoon we went back to the
aerodrome where a great crowd had collected & watched the efforts to move the machine. They had
several hundred men tugging at ropes, like a tug of war, which constantly broke so that all the men fell over
eachother onto the ground. Then I took Hill for a drive & in the evening de Grenier & the pilot came in to
dinner, but they all went to bed early as they were very tired. It was quite an historical day for Bahrain &
wont be forgotten in a hurry.

Friday 7th October 1932
My guests left early soon after dawn as the machine at last managed to rise & flew over to Muharraq island
where she landed without any trouble. The passengers & all their baggage went across by motor launch &
got off alright en route for London. Later I went across myself to see the other plane arrive which she did
with no trouble and left about an hour later. There were not many people there but Shaikh Abdulla came
along in his car & some of his sons. Armstrong, the I Airways man who had been staying with me decided to
remain on another week but he went to stay with the Russells, for which I was rather thankful as I wanted
to get the house painted & tidied up. Spent a lazy afternoon mostly in the garden.

Saturday 8th [October]

Court. In the afternoon an RAF flying boat arrived with Selous and Welsh and Air Commodore Courtenay
who is acting as O.C Air Force Iraq. I had met him before on my way home in the hotel at Rhodes where he
was having a very lively holiday. His wife is rather a notorious lady who was presented at Court last year by
Lady Salman & next day the presentation was annulled by notice in the papers from the Lord Chamberlain.
Selous arrived first & we went round to see D.G. who had collected some carpets which S wanted to buy.
He is a nice person. Later on Welsh & Courtenay came & Armstrong called to see them & we talked
business till dinner time. I argued about the Agreement between this Government & Airways & stuck out
for various demands, they, as usual, tried to beat me down.