Time
 

  What is intriguing to try to understand are the records kept of Time. It seems that the origin of Hannibal’s last flight , Karachi, was using a universal India time of GMT +5:30. Today Karachi is in a different country and the time zone is GMT +5:00. Sharjah may have been in GMT +3:00, now GMT +4:00. Yet more confusion can be placed into the mix by the times recorded at Jiwani. It is simple enough to make adjustments to the three different sets of times available. By plotting them on a table a graphic comparison can be made. One set presents a plot that would have been predictable. The other data sets display delays/reversals in the position/time plots for the final flight. Is this due to a 1/2 hour discrepancy in the understanding of the recording time zones or was there another brief stop or diversion? Most plausible is a recording error as Hannibal was adjacent to Jask at the time. The last radio log time is disputed as being 09:10. As against 10:10 above. Yet the 09:21 ETA message would have followed.

Another possibility is that as there were VIP's aboard a tourist diversion was undertaken. Flying at 100ft has been noted in the radio record and has been described as a means to view the sea life along the Marakan coast. (27)  Is it possible that this continued north past Ras-al-Kuh to such a point that the crew then reported, 'Turning west'? Much was made in the newspaper reports at the time of an extensive search on the Iranian coast around Ras-al-Kuh.(34, 40)  Was the last message sent from a point closer to Iran than Oman?  

The 1937 'Air Route Book, Egypt to India' reveals that Sharjah kept time 3 hours and 50 minutes ahead of GMT. Whether or not this practice was still continued in to 1940 has not been confirmed but might cause some confusion.
Each station on the route was accorded it's own Local Standard Time (LST). When this 'standard' switched to a time zone basis is to be determined . However, LST/GMT was in place for the Imperial Airways Summer 1939 timetable.(55)

There is need for analysis of the timings used in various accounts of this event. Seemingly the times used are based on GMT. Britain had changed to War Time or GMT +1 on  February 25, 1940. British Double Summer Time GMT +2 was used  to make more efficient use of daylight, during the subsequent summers for the duration. Other times are based on a letter code ahead of Greenwich, Zulu, 0. Alpha, +1, Bravo, +2. Placing Karachi in E. Thus the last signal is timed at 1451E (27) (note 1/2 hour discrepancy! This discrepancy may be due to India adopting an intermediate time zone of 5:30. When?

Moon conditions and lighting. Affecting decisions to proceed to Bahrain after landing at Sharjah.  Moon rise was at 12:46AM and set at 11:56AM local time (25N 55E) and was in the third quarter on 1 Mar 1940. Ahead, the half moon would have been visible to the crew as they flew between Karachi and Jiwani.  Therefore would not have been available for a night landing at Bahrain. (48)  

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Richard Hobby, 2008. ( This page is a collation of information from various sources, please address any concerns about source and accreditation to page author )