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Aviation History
1951
1951 - 1964.PDF
September 1951 419 PIPELINE AIRLINE Strange Country and Curious "Met" Await the Charter Pilot in the Iraq Oilfields By CAPT. R. C. O. LOVELOCK, D.F.C. THOUGH the scene of the flying activities which CaptainLovelock describes here from first-hand knowledge is Iraq and not Iran, the duties and conditions from the pilot'spoint of view are not dissimilar from those obtaining in the area which has lately figured so largely in the news.This article clearly shows how closely this region of the Middle East has been bound up with British Service andcivil aviation during the past thirty years. THE installations and activities of the Iraq Petroleum andassociated companies, pioneers of the desert pipeline,are centred at Kirkuk in northern Iraq; they extend westwards to the Mediterranean, and south-eastwards to the limits of the Persian Gulf. Oil, the basic product, is disposed of by means of pipelines from the various fields to convenient ports in either of the two seas, but the greater part of the other internal communications, and also overseas communi- cations, are maintained by air. On the internal routes, Doves have now replaced Rapides, whilst, for the services to the United Kingdom, home-based Vikings and Dakotas are chartered. From Kirkuk to the west, the Mediterranean pipelines cross the Tigris and Euphrates in parallel, then bifurcate towards Haifa and Tripolis across the Syrian desert; and it is at the pumping stations on these lines, each one of which is equipped with its own water-plant, radio station, telegraph, and air-conditioned domestic quarters, that landing strips are established, in add-on to those at the oilfields themselves. <• Geological factors have naturally had,the greatest effect upon the ground communications of the oil industry in these parts, because pipelines have" to be routed with as much attention to terrain as any other surface carrier; but aviation, with its eternal preoccupation with climate, is affected in addition by a factor which has influenced the course of Middle East history from earliest times. Near the coast of Syria-Palestine, the pipelines pass through the parallel mountain ranges which carry the basins of the Orontes and Jordan. These mountains create a fertile seaboard by trap- ping winter rains from the moist westerlies off the Mediter- ranean, but they also create a rain-shadow which causes an immediate hinterland of harsh desert extending to the very landward slopes of the inner range. Perhaps there is nowhere in the world where one may find such a ruthless division between the desert and the sown. Had the Crusaders, for instance, been able to capture Aleppo and Damascus at the limit of the fertile land, the advantage of a desert frontier would have obviated the need for those great fortresses—like Krak des Chevaliers in the Tripoli-Horns gap—which mount guard at every pass on the line of the Orontes-Jordan. Since the time when political complications between Israel and the Arab League resulted in the closing of the whole Haifa sector with its enormous refinery, the Tripoli terminal The "desert pipeline" territory, from Mediterranean to Persian Gulf. has increased in importance, and soon, by means of additional piping, the northern lines will be able to absorb the whole of the former Haifa "throughput." The I.P.C.'s base airport, Tripoli (Kleiat), lies in the opening of the Tripoli-Homs gap at the northern extremity of the 10,000ft Lebanon range. This is one of the historical strategic passes through the coastal mountains, and in addition to providing egress to the coast for the road, rail, and pipeline, the gap is much used by aircraft of medium cruising altitudes when bound for Cyprus from Iraq. In the winter it is the scene of some of the worst weather in the Middle East. When he sang "Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone" Solomon was voicing the enviable certainty of one who was living on this coast of predictable summers. The change of season arrives with a sudden onslaught of Nature, and at Tripoli, when the warm evenings and bright moonlight are heavy with the scent of orange blossom, one tends to forget the startling weather phenomena encountered when flying for I.P.C. in the winter, especially when westbound and requiring to land at Kleiat. Towards the north of the Levant coast, the strong winter depressions force their way through the mountains in order to traverse Mesopotamia, and even the Indus basin. In the heights of the Lebanon, such disturbances are compelled to let go great quantities of moisture which falls as heavy rain, hail, or snow. In the gap, wind-speeds up to 100 m.p.h. have been recorded, accompanied by very violent turbulence, while fearful buzzards scourge the summits of the range. Since Early morning at Kleiat Airport. Tripoli: An Air- work Viking, on charter to the I.P.C., about to load passengers and freight for the Persian Gulf. In the distance is the end of the snow- capped Lebanon Range.
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