Indian Air Force Day: Here's A Little 'Inner Gen' About The IAF

The Indian Air Force celebrates Air Force Day on 8th October every year. That¡¯s because the IAF was established on that date in 1932.

But there¡¯s more to it.

As an ex IAF pilot, I¡¯ll tell you a little more - the ¡®inner gen¡¯ - which is the IAF slang for insider information.

For starters, do you know that the IAF earlier celebrated the Air Force Day on another date? Don¡¯t go searching! You won¡¯t easily find that info online.

That¡¯s what I mean by ¡®inner gen!¡¯ I¡¯ll tell you by the end of this post. But there are clues before. See if you can figure it out.

Since the First War of Independence in 1857, which they called the ¡®Sepoy Revolt,¡¯ the British had been wary of Indian soldiers. But the Great War (1914-1918) forced them to recruit more and more Indians into the Army and Navy. (Only after World War II began did the Great War come to be known as World War I.)

The British had a policy that British troops would not serve under Indians, hence Indians, however qualified, could not become officers in the armed forces.

The Royal Air Force was in its infancy at the beginning of the Great War and was called the Royal Flying Corps. The average life expectancy of a fighter pilot on active duty in those days was barely 6 weeks, and they desperately needed pilots.

Still, when the first Indian, Hardit Singh Malik, volunteered to join, his request was denied. On the second attempt, after some powerful people intervened, they granted him a ¡®temporary¡¯ and ¡®honorary¡¯ commission.

A few more Indians followed and served with distinction, and yet, flying a plane and maintaining it, was - unofficially - considered too complex for the ¡®natives.¡¯ Therefore, the British were not keen to train Indians to fly and fight in the air, and no further progress happened after 1918.

But under growing pressure from nationalistic Indians, the British rulers were forced to consider ¡®Indianisation¡¯ of the officer corps of the armed forces. So, a committee was formed under the chairmanship of Lieutenant General Sir Andrew Skeen, in August 1925.

One of the gentlemen interviewed by the Committee was Hardit Singh Malik, who was the only surviving Indian pilot among those who had flown with the Royal Flying Corps in the Great War.

On 1st April 1927, the Skeen Committee submitted its report. Among other things, it recommended sending selected Indians to Royal Air Force College at Cranwell to be trained as officers of the future Indian Air Force, manned and managed by Indians.

The first six Indian officer cadets began their training at RAF Cranwell in September, 1930. They were Subroto Mukerjee, HC Sirkar, Bhupendra Singh, Aizad Awan, Amarjeet Singh and JN Tandon.

To those who complain about the slow pace of governmental projects, here¡¯s proof that even the British rulers in India worked at the pace of a tortoise! They took five and half years before the Governor General, Lord Willingdon, granted his assent and the Indian Air Force Act was promulgated on Saturday, the 8th October 1932.

That, when they worked six days a week!

One of the six cadets, nicknamed ¡®Titch¡¯ Tandon, was declared medically unsuitable, because at 4 feet and 10 inches, he was too short to fly.

If you¡¯re wondering how his height mattered and are about to shout, ¡°Discrimination!¡± let me tell you, it matters a lot in an aircraft cockpit. They didn¡¯t have ¡®adjustable¡¯ seats those days, and one had to push the rudders with the feet while operating the joystick and the throttle with two hands, simultaneously and continuously.

I had a friend nicknamed ¡®Lamboo¡¯ - no prizes for guessing why - who was too tall for many a cockpit and, therefore, flew helicopters. Since the Air Force always works at high-speed and is quick to act, nobody wastes time on long names, hence everyone has a nick-name. And the individual is never given a choice in choosing it. I know another 6-foot-4 gent, who was called ¡®Tiny!¡¯

But since Tandon was obviously well qualified, they made him an Equipment Officer, which is equally important, because as Napoleon has said, ¡°Army marches on its stomach.¡± Which means an Army - as well as Navy and Air Force - must be well fed and equipped to march, sail or fly into battles and win them.

The remaining five cadets graduated as fighter pilots and were commissioned on 8th October 1932.

Bharat Rakshak

The first flight, ¡®A¡¯ Flight of the No.1 Squadron Indian Air Force was formed on 1st April 1933, with 4 Wapiti biplanes, 6 pilots (5 Indians and 1 British, till another Indian, Aspy Engineer, joined the Squadron a few months later) and 19 Indian technicians. These technicians were recruited from the railways because of their basic mechanical skills. The pilots were all officers - as they still are - and the technicians were called ¡®Hawai Sepoys.¡¯

Bharat Rakshak

Their Commanding Officer and a few NCOs were still British though, because the young Indians had to work their way up the chain of command, after gaining experience in flying, maintenance and administration.

The initial pace of build-up of the IAF was painfully slow. The second flight, ¡®B¡¯ Flight, was created in April 1936 and ¡®C¡¯ Flight in June 1938. Only then did No. 1 Squadron have its full complement of men and materiel. It was no fault of the Squadron itself, as the delays were mainly bureaucratic.

Our pioneers often faced ridicule and discrimination, but soon proved themselves and continued with their hard work to earn many battle honours.

After its stellar performance in World War II, the British crown granted recognition to the IAF, after which it was called RIAF, or Royal Indian Air Force.

In the Wodehousean language of the British upper crust in those days, it was like saying, ¡°I say, well done chaps, good show, what? You¡¯re¡­ ah¡­ almost as good as the RAF. Well, thank you!¡±

After India became a republic on 26th January 1950, it was our turn to say, ¡°Thank you¡± and drop the prefix ¡®Royal.¡¯

On 1st April 1954, Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, one of the original five, having gained sufficient age and experience, took over from the British commander and became the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force. That¡¯s when the ¡®I¡¯ in the IAF became truly Indian.

Economic Times

Much later, when I was on deputation to undergo Staff College in Bangladesh, my local course-mate jokingly told me, ¡°In 1947, the Pakis changed from IAF to PAF by adding a semi-circle at the top of ¡®I¡¯. In 1971, we changed from PAF to BAF by adding another semi-circle below that!¡±

In a way, we are siblings, but of course, they celebrate their Air Force days on different dates. The PAF celebrates on 7th September, ostensibly because they gained credibility on that day in 1965. (As per Wikipedia, because the PAF¡¯s official website didn¡¯t open despite repeated attempts.) BAF celebrates the day it was born at Dimapur in India, on 28th September 1971, just prior to their Liberation War.

So, any guesses about our earlier Air Force Day date?

It was 1st April, for that was when No. 1 Squadron was established.

In 1976, the IAF changed it to 8th October, reasoning that this was the date the IAF, as a whole, came into existence.

And no, the change had nothing to do with April Fools¡¯ Day!

Old timers tell me that one of the reasons was also the Delhi weather in April, that often interfered with the parade and the fly-past.

And so, on the occasion of the Air Force Day, let¡¯s salute the ¡®Air Warriors¡¯ of the IAF.

The writer is a former fighter pilot of the IAF and now a commercial airline pilot. He is the author of two books and many blog posts, available at www.avinashchikte.com