WW2 Home Page
The First Burma Campaign
Training and Expansion
No.1 Sqn's second tour
No.6 Sqn in the Arakan
Vengeance Divebombers
Indian Pilots and Aircrew
Hurricanes in the IAF
The Supermarine Spitfire
No account of the operations are complete without
mentioning the names of the pilots and aircrew who led the missions against the enemy in
the Second World War.
Indian Pilots started seeing action simultaneously in
Burma as well as England towards the end of 1941. 24 Pilots served with the RAF's Fighter,
Bomber and Coastal Command in 1942, Eight of them being killed in operations.
More pilots served in far-away sectors like North Africa,
Australia, Ceylon and the Middle East.
From a force of 160 Officers and men before the
commencement of the War, the IAF grew to more than 22000 personnel. In the course of
action in various sectors, 50 pilots and aircrew lost thier lives in action. More
than 700 other personnel were killed in Operational Accidents during and immediately after
the war.
The IAF in recognition of its services recieved 1 DSO, 23
DFCs, 2 AFCs, 2 OBEs, 13 MBEs and 2 BEMs.
The Men who led the IAF in WW2 were the same officers who
led the IAF in the subsequent conflicts after Independence. Names like Mehar Singh,
Arjan Singh, Aspy Engineer , P C Lal, Moolgavkar,who made a mark flying missions
on the Burma Front bought with them the expertise and knowledge when leading the
Airforce during peace and war after India's Independence.
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The Pilots of
the Second World War |
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| Subroto Mukerjee as a Group Captain at
the end of the Second World War. Mukerjee was the senior most Indian pilot serving with
the IAF . He was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services. He went on
to become the first Indian Chief of Air Staff. |
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Legends Are Us - A
Unique photograph taken during the IAF Squadron Commander's conference in 1944.
Standing (L to R): Flt. Lt. Kipps, Wg. Cdr.
Fish, Sqn. Ldr. Arjan Singh, Sqn. Ldr. Upton, Sqn. Ldr. Haider, Gp. Capt.
HJC Proud, Sqn. Ldr. Prithpal Singh, Wg. Cdr. Subroto Mukherjee, Sqn.
Ldr. Majithia, Sqn. Ldr. Niranjan Prasad and Wg. Cdr. Coot Robinson.
Sitting (L to R): 'Jumbo' Majumdar,
Mehar Singh and Hem Chaudhuri. |
| Legends Both of em :
'Baba' Mehar Singh with Subroto . Mehar Singh recieved the Maha Vir Chakra during the 1948
Kashmir Operations. |
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Field Marshal
Wavell reviews the 10th Anniversary
parade of the Indian Air Force on 1st April 1943 at SFTS Ambala.
Note the Tigermoth flying past at low level before the inspecting
officer.  |
| Field Marshal
Wavell reviews the 10th Anniversary
parade of the Indian Air Force on 1st April 1943 at SFTS Ambala. |
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Squadron Leader
Mehar Singh stands in front of a Lysander during the 10th
Anniversary Parade of the Indian Air Force in 1943. The different
types of the IAF illustrated by the Hurricane, Audax and Lysander
on display here. |
| The IAF Colors
are paraded during the 10th Anniversary of the IAF on 1st April
1943. |
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Sqn Ldr Pratap Chandra Lal in the
cockpit of a Vultee Vengeance bomber. Lal too became the Chief of Air Staff later on. He
led the IAF in combat during the 1971 India Pakistan War. |
| Sqn Ldr K K Majumdar DFC in the cockpit
of an Hawker Typhoon fighter bomber during his tenure with an RAF Reconnaisance Squadron
during the D-Day Operations in Europe. Note the 'INDIA' shoulderflashes. Commonwealth
aircrew in Europe wore a shoulderflash identifying the country they came from. Jumbo
recieved a Bar to his DFC during this period |
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The IAF had a
Display Flight that toured the country to generate awareness on
the IAF and also to promote recruitment. For a short period till
his death, Jumbo Majumdar commanded the flight. Wg Cdr Arjan
Singh, took over as CO of the IAFDF afterwards. He is seen here
along with Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck and the other
members of the team. [Via Sree Kumar] |
| Sqn Ldr Hem Chaudary commanded
No.3 CDF during the first Burma Campaign. Here he is seen with one of the Bristol
Blienhiem bombers that was used by both RAF and the IAF Flights during that time. |
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| Sqn ldr Aspy Merwan
Engineer receives his DFC from the 'Auk' (Field Marshal Claude Auchinleck.) |
Wing Commander Narendra,
another Hurricane pilot who made his name on the Burma Front. He
rose upto the rank of Air Commodore in the 1950s. |
Flt Lt Sukhtankar Ray is
the only Indian aircrew to be awarded the DFC while being with Bomber Command in the
bombing of Germany in the European Sector. He was a Navigator with a Stirling Squadron. |
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