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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