The Hindu Business Line : Flying high

The book has gone in detail into the careers of four young Indians who donned the uniform of the Royal Flying Corps of Great Britain in World War I and fought as combat pilots.

The author has very boldly undertaken the onerous task of researching, collecting bits and pieces of information from the UK, US, France, Germany, Canada and even Czechoslovakia.

SKYHAWKS
By Somnath Sapru Publishers: Writers Workshop, Kolkata
Price: Rs 400

The Indian Air Force has completed 60 years of glorious service to the nation as its air arm, and 75 in all as the youngest of the three armed forces. The first 15 years were literally full of growing pains, having to produce good professional flying with the cast-off obsolete aircraft of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and demonstrating to our then rulers that Indians could handle modern technology and use it for combat flying.

It was this very belief that Indians were unfit for higher command and could not equal the British that was overwhelmingly proved wrong by four young Indians hailing from different parts of the country who donned the uniform of the Royal Flying Corps of Great Britain in World War I and fought as combat pilots over the war-torn skies of Europe.

The book Skyhawks by Somnath Sapru, a senior journalist who in a career spanning over three decades covered the subjects of defence and civil aviation, has gone in detail into the careers of these four young pilots during the War. Ninety years ago, Indians were not thought fit to hold a screwdriver or drive a railway engine or a car and when the role of military aviation was in the process of being defined in the overall military tactics and strategy, what these four achieved is remarkable.

The young men — Hardit Singh Malik, an Oxford graduate from Rawalpindi; Indra Lal Roy from Dacca and living in England from the age of two; S.C. Welinkar from Bombay; and Errol Suvo Chunder Sen from Calcutta — were initially denied commissions as until then no Indian could become an officer in the military services. However, exigencies of war forced the authorities to grant them wartime commissions and thereby history was made.

They together created many firsts. Roy in his final phase shot down nine enemy planes in 11 days of operational flying, being the first and the only Indian to earn the title of "ace" and also being the first Indian to be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) before being killed in action. Malik was the first Indian Oxford graduate to become a combat pilot and the first Sikh officer to be permitted to wear a turban as headgear. He was also the first among the four to be commissioned, and served till the end of the war; later, on return to India he joined the ICS. He died in 1985. Sen flew and in a dogfight crashed in enemy territory, was taken prisoner of war and survived. Welinkar was also shot down on the Allied side of the lines and died of his injuries in the field hospital near the front.

What did their service in war contribute to Indian demand for representation in the officer cadre of the forces? Eventually, the demand for a separate Air Force was conceded in principle as a result of the Skeen Committee Report which discussed this issue. Today, it is of historic importance to the Indian Air Force and the country that apart from political leaders like Motilal Nehru who strongly advocated the creation of a new air service, a combat-battle hardened veteran like Malik also testified before the Skeen Committee, being the only Indian with a combat pilot's experience.

Consequently the Indian Air Force Act was passed and became effective from October 8, 1932; the first batch of six officers passed out of the RAF College at Cranwell and formed the first flight of the IAF at Drigh Road, Karachi on April 1, 1933. Among these newly commissioned officers was Subroto Mukerjee, who was I.L. Roy's nephew and whose example he chose to emulate by training to be a pilot.

An enormous amount of research has gone into this book; there was hardly any material or documentation available either in the IAF's archives or the Defence Ministry's records, as this narrative pertains to an era even before the RAF. All that is known is an extract from a newspaper report published in 1919.

The author has very boldly undertaken the onerous task of researching, collecting bits and pieces of information from the UK, US, France, Germany, Canada and even Czechoslovakia. It was, as the author has himself confessed, a frustrating but rewarding labour of love spanning more than two decades of hard work.

In this platinum jubilee year (2007) of the IAF, it will be appropriate if we remember our heroes of the past; as we celebrate, let us spare a thought for those "who have gone before". Such military aviation history is a must for all Indians who have served or are serving or aspiring to become pilots.

Wing Commander S. Kannan (Retd)