Officials, Commercial Interests, and Civil Aviation Policy Initiatives in Inter-War British West Africa

Abstract

Relying on previously unexploited archival material, this article examines civil aviation policy initiatives and debates among various stakeholders in London and West Africa—the Colonial Office, the Air Ministry, colonial governments, and civil aviation stakeholders, notably, Sir Alan Cobham and Sir Sefton Brancker, in the inter-war period. The study is situated in the interwoven contexts of the change in use of aircraft from combat to recreation and commerce, inter-departmental rivalry in the colonies, inter-war economic vicissitudes, Anglo-French aviation rivalry in West Africa (the “Second Scramble”) and the administrative interface between London and the colonies. This essay extends the literature on civil aviation in British colonial Africa beyond the settler colonies of Kenya, Rhodesia, and South Africa. It also focuses on the neglected early beginnings of civil aviation development in inter-war West Africa. Ultimately, financial considerations stymied colonial aviation projects till after World War II.