British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia - Coronation Stamps

It appears that the stamps issue date was not a very important thing for the British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia (BPAEA) , as can be seen on the two covers on the image below.

These are a fairly rare set of covers showing the first day of issue of the exact same stamps, with from Qatar !!!

How is that possible?

Well, we know that the (BPAEA) was responsible for making the f the stamps available for most of the countries in the region (Bahrain, Dubai, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Sharjah and so on). But the two primary centres were Oman (Muscat) and Bahrain.

However, the H.M. Queen Elizabeth II Coronation (2nd of June 1953) stamps issue dates are not as expected:

• Bahrain & Kuwait 3rd of June 1953;
• Oman & Qatar 10th of June 1953 

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Below are the First Day Covers for Muscat and Kuwait showing their respect issue dates.

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End of World War II and the start of Air Mail Services from Qatar.

We tend to take many things in modern life for granted. Amongst these things is aviation, fast mail to receive our eBay, Amazon, Aliexpress, and so on, items fast. But it's not so long when this was not the case. Take the below cover. From Bahrain to California and in the middle of World War II. We know that by WW II, aviation was a key element for just about every thing. Yet, the cover had to travel overland to Basra in Iraq - the centre of the Iraq Petroleum Development Company and therefore a major transportation hub.

In the process, the letter was censored, as can identified by the Censor Cancel on the reverse. From Basra, it was, most likely it was placed in a flight to the USA.

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Most mail out of Qatar, would be addressed to Bahrain where it would then by sent out by Sea Mail.

Aviation in the Middle East began very early on, but regular Airline service did take a bit longer to get established. For Qatar it began in the hands of Mr. Freddie Bosworth and Gulf Aviation. As can be seen in the slide below, by 1950's Doha Airport was up and running, albeit in a very different design to today's modern, and award winning airport.

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Clearly, Mr. Bosworth venture was fruitful, and not long after, Gulf Aviation was taken over by BOAC, which began regular services to the region. This lasted another 20 year or so, until the joint finances of Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and UAE were used to buy out BOAC, thereby creating Gulf Air.

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The stamps on the above cover, were issued just a couple month prior to the mailing date, and were the first Qatar stamps to feature the ruler of Qatar.

Qatar - On His Majesty's Service Cover

Occasionally we find a cover that at first look does not appear to have much significance. However, with a little research there is always something more to be learnt.

This is the case on the below cover sent in 1952 to a Petroleum Development Qatar Employee, soon after the end of World War II. In bold Letters centre top we find "On His Majesty's Service" partially covered by the stamps. This is the first clue. As is still true today, much of the official government covers would have been sent without attached stamps. The stamps are tied to a Bahrain type 21 date cancel.

But the interesting clue is the "Economy - Reuse if Envelopes' cachet on the left of the cover. This practise, of reusing envelopes began towards the end of World War II due to shortage of paper throughout Europe and in particular Great Britain. As such, the government began to actively promote the reuse of envelopes.

One final point was the addressee on the cover is a Mr. W. D. Tonkinson, a known philatelist, but his middle initial on the cover was changed from D to J.

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Qatar Oil Exploration, Umm Said and the start of aviation in Qatar.

The first oil well in Qatar was in Dukhan, a pipeline was laid down to Umm Said terminal port from where the first shipment was made on the 31st of December 1949. With the tanker S.S. President Manny carrying some 80,000 tonnes of oil to Europe.

Umm Said, quickly grew in importance and becoming a major transportation hub as can be seen on the slide below.

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Umm Said, not only received equipment for Qatar's own oil exploration, but also transferred some of this equipment to nearby explorations as in the case of Fahud, Oman.

For this, and for a brief period, a Blackburn Universal aircraft was used. At the time, the aircraft was still undergoing its flight trials prior to being incorporated into the Royal Air Force.

The first production Beverley C.Mk 1 (XB259) made its maiden flight from Brough, England on the 19th of January 1955.

The second Beverley, XB260, designated the Blackburn Universal and awarded a temporary civil registration G-AOEK and during later part of 1955, was flown from Brough to Umm Said via Holme-On-Spalding Moor, Lyneham, Tunis and Beirut.

This was as part of a joint venture by Blackburn and Hunting-Clan Air Transport. Piloted in turn by G/Capt Hockey, DSO, DFC, Blackburn test pilot Dick Chandler and Capt Greensted MBE. Once in Umm Said, XB260 carried a spectacular airlift of heavy oil drilling equipment from Umm Said, Qatar to Fahud, Oman, on behalf of the Iraq Petroleum Company.

With the clam-shell rear doors opened wide, the Blackburn Universal was able to take very heavy loads for airlift,  weighing some 16½ tons (16,765 kg), at Umm Said. The makeshift ramp was fabricated on site from locally available drill pipe; another was constructed and flown to Fahud for unloading.

The Blackburn Universal, was at the time, the world’s largest freighter aircraft.

Once this temporary contract was completed, the aircraft was transferred to the Royal Air Force were it primarily flew to Germany and Aden.

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Qatar - a cover with bisected Great Britain Regional Definitive Stamps

A very interesting and philatelic rarity - bisected stamps. 

Specially as in this case using Regional Definitives out of Qatar. This was mostly likely a cancellation out of favour, and most likely not actually mailed out (there are no cancellations on the reverse side).

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Regional definitives were issued by each of the six regions (some today have become autonomous regions). The stamps were valid for usage throughout Great Britain, and as such they were available for mail purchase. This makes it possible for someone in Qatar to order the stamps via mail.

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To validate the cover with a bisected stamp, it is important to demonstrate that the receiver of the cover was a philatelist. As such the below image contains a number of additional covers to Mr. Stephenson which demonstrate his philately acumen. First Day Covers, opening of the Umm Said Post Office and so on.

Notice that the cover with a bisected stamp is the only one addressed to Mrs. Stephenson - suggesting that perhaps it was actually mailed.

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Qatar Liquified Natural Gas Project in England.

The South Hook terminal, a joint venture with ExxonMobil and France’s Total Group, represents a technological milestone as a part of the Qatargas 2 LNG value chain project that will make additional supplies of cleaner-burning natural gas available to the UK and the rest of Europe.

At the time was Europe’s largest liquefied natural gas import terminal.

As of April 2022, the South Hook LNG Terminal, is Europe’s largest LNG import terminal with a capacity for 21 billion cubic meters.

It is considered the world’s first fully integrated LNG venture chain and is viewed as a new source of energy diversification and export to the United Kingdom.

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