Michael Quentin Morton

Michael Quentin Morton grew up in Qatar, Bahrain, and Abu Dhabi in the 1950s and 1960s. A barrister, he has written a number of books about the history of the Middle East, including Empires and Anarchies: A History of Oil in the Middle East (Reaktion Books, 2017).

For her 1937 flight, Amelia Earhart (shown in 1936) had to get permission from the Sultan of Oman to fly over his territory. The British interfered, but finally relented.

They Couldn’t Stop Amelia Earhart

The famous American’s attempt to fly around the world was nearly thwarted by British officialdom.

In 1930 from a Junkers F.13 leased by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (a forerunner of BP), the site of the first oil strike in the Middle East (1908), looks deserted. Today, its wells produce 5,000 barrels a day.

In the 1930s Middle East, Airplanes Helped Open the Oil Fields

Pilots flying for the Anglo-Persian Oil Company faced long distances, primitive airfields, sandstorms, breakdowns, and a hostile population.

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