Born Burmah Shell (1 results)

No Binding. Condition: Good. 2pp signed typescript on 2 leaves of letterheaded cream coloured paper with Colne Valley Parchment (Made at Croxley) watermark, 21x26cm. Good, folded, pinned to the top corner, ms annotated in Gujarati, hole-punched for filing with minimal impact on content, and archival tape repairs to blank versos along the folds. The Dewan Saheb was Prime Minister of the Princely State of Wankaner in Kathiawar (Rajkot District, Gujarat). Apparently written in the third person, H. Born reminds him of their discussion about aviation and building an aerodrome 2 years ago. Born, who is touring Kathiawar in a Bombay Flying Club aircraft, plans to visit Wankaner on 23-24 April, seeking permission to land and help with securing overnight accommodation. Noting that "Burmah-Shell maintains an extensive aviation service in this country and our records of aerodrome information and general flying conditions in this country are probably the most complete in existence", he would like to further discuss cooperation in aviation matters. The annotations are presumably by the Dewan Saheb's office. Burmah-Shell was playing an important role in developing Indian civil aviation. In 1932, JRD Tata established India's first commercial passenger and airmail carrier Tata Air Services (later Air India) and made his first solo flight from Karachi to Bombay: "I was fuelled by Burmah Shell out of 2 gallon tins brought to the airfield in a bullock-cart". Tata was the first to complete training at the Bombay Flying Club, established in 1928. Prior to that in 1924, Burmah-Shell had fuelled part of KLM's first flight from Amsterdam to Batavia via India. (References: Bharat Petroleum website: "From the ground to the sky"; Gulf News "And the sky became the limit for Indians", 15 Sep 2018).