JHC3

"Air Outpost" is a fifteen minute documentary on the operations of Imperial Airways in 1937 in Sharjah, an Arab city on the Persian Gulf that is now located in the United Arab Emirates. It depicts the operations at the small airport and shows the arrival, overnight maintenance, and morning departure of a Handley Page H.P.42 biplane airliner.

Most dialogue is ably provided by the narrator, Stuart Legg, with some voice-over work provided by uncredited actors speaking for on camera figures. It appears that no sound recordings were made at the time the film was made.

The film preserves a nearly forgotten piece of aviation history when Imperial Airways was making great strides opening some of the most remote areas of the world to air travel. With primitive early airliners and fairly rudimentary ground facilities, the company was able to cut travel times to far flung stretches of the British Empire from weeks to mere days.

"Air Outpost" is certainly not for typical film viewers. However, as an historical record, it is of great value. It is well made and well presented. Truly, it is of great interest to aviation enthusiasts.