Sharjah & Dubai airports

Reflective opportunity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSjT28v9Z4E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yXy4YGOyvU&feature=share

Sharjah airport 1937 and Dubai airport today

The black-and-white video clip of Sharjah airport, called Air Outpost, filmed in 1937, contained a lot of interesting information. Most of the people in the clip were Arabs, travelling on foot, by donkey and by camel. The city of Sharjah then had a population of 15,000; today it is over half a million. The population then was overwhelmingly Arab, with a sprinkling of Indian and Iranian traders. We saw the daily council at the sheikh’s palace. We also saw footage of the oyster beds, source of the world-famous Gulf pearls. Pearl fishing is mentioned as the main occupation, but reference is made to gun-running and African slaving in the past. The airport, built in the shape of a fort, was operated/supervised by British personnel. The aeroplane which was arriving at the airport, a Hanno H.P.42, built by Handley Page in England for Imperial Airways, was described as being 4 days out of England, bound for India & Australia. The previous 2 stops had been Baghdad & Alexandria. This aeroplane had an amazing safety record, with no fatalities in civilian service. Arab merchants were seen handing over a cargo of pearls which before air travel would have travelled overland or by sea to its Indian destination. We see mechanics working during the night, servicing the plane for its dawn departure on the next 450-mile hop of its onward journey eastwards. We also see a weather balloon being released from the roof of the airport's meteorological station to gather information on wind speeds etc.

The second colour video showed people dancing, more or less spontaneously, in Dubai airport. The contrast between the two airports could not have been more striking. At Dubai airport we could see people from a multitude of countries and cultures. They all seemed happy either to participate in or film the dancing.

317 words