Capot
I flew 152 Sqn Twin Pioneers and Pembrokes into Buraimi airstrip many times over a two year period from 1959 to 1961. At that time Buraimi Fort belonged to the Trucial Oman Scouts and the strip was most definitely inside Trucial Oman States territory. Landing permission would not have been required until 1972.
History
In September 1952 Turki bin Abdulla bin Utaishan took over the village of Hamasa with 40 armed Saudi Wahhabis after an overland drive from Al-Hasa, thus violating Abu Dhabi territory. He claimed the Buraimi Oasis for Saudi Arabia, and the ‘Buraimi Dispute’ made world wide headlines. A joint expedition of Trucial Oman Scouts from Abu Dhabi and the Sultan’s forces from Sohar began to advance on Buraimi but the Saudis withdrew due to international pressure to avert a war, after being blockaded for several months. As a result of arbitration a Saudi police post was permitted to be established in the Oasis in 1954, much to the disappointment of the local inhabitants. In 1955 arbitration broke down. Britain changed its position and encouraged the forces of Abu Dhabi and Oman to expel the Saudi police, which was effected without major incident.
In 1972, after the establishment of the new State of the UAE, the international border was delineated through the Buraimi Oasis, separating Al Ain (UAE) from Buraimi (Oman).