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The Indian Air Force was established by the passing
of the Indian Air Force act on 8th October 1932. Accordingly, No.1 Squadron IAF came into
being on 1st April 1933 at Drigh Road, Karachi. There were five pilots commanded by an RAF
officer and the first batch of Hawai Sepoys. The complement of the squadron consisted of
four Westland Wapiti Biplanes comprising 'A' Flight of the squadron.
The first five Indian Pilots commissioned into the
Indian Air Force were H C Sircar, Subroto Mukerjee, Bhupendra Singh, A B Awan and Amarjeet
Singh. A sixth officer, S N Tandon had to revert to Ground duties as he was too short! All
of them were commissioned as Pilot Officers in 1933. Bhupendra Singh and Amarjeet Singh
died in an air accident later towards the end of 1933. Tandon died during World War
Two. A B Awan opted for the Pakistani Air Force and retired as a Wing Commander. Subroto
Mukerjee went on to become the first Indian Chief of Air Staff of the IAF. We would welcom
any information that is available on H C Sircar.
Subsequent batches inducted before WW2 included
stalwarts like Aspy Engineer, K K Majumdar, Narendra, Henry Runganadan, Prithpal Singh,
'Baba' Mehar Singh, R H D Singh and S N Goyal |
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Westland Wapiti IIa army cooperation
plane of No.1 Squadron's 'A' Flight at Drigh Road in 1933. |
| 'A' Flights parade at Drigh Road in
1933. Pilot Officer Subroto Mukerjee (Later Air Marshal, CAS) is in the front of the Rifle
contingent. Hawai Sepoy Harjinder Singh (Later Air Vice Marshal) is on the extreme
left of the picture. |
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Wapiti K-2653 with Fg Off Subroto
Mukerjee in the front. One of the Hawai Sepoys K S Taunque was still alive in 1997 |
| Pilots who graduated out of RAF
Cranwell were commissioned by the 'Emperor of India' under the seal of the Governor
General and a Commission certificate issued. Seen here is the scroll of R H D Singh (Later
Air Cmde), who was the eight pilot to be trained at Cranwell and commissioned in 1935. Pic
Courtesy : Deepak Singh |
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Pilots of 'A' flight of No. 1 Squadron,
IAF. This photograph possibly taken at Drigh Road with one of the Squadron's Wapitis in
the background. Subroto Mukerjee is standing fourth from right and R H D Singh is
standing second from right. Standing right most is Aspy Merwan Engineer. Pic
Courtesy : Deepak Singh |
| Westland Wapiti IIa (K-1263) of No.1
Squadron being fitted with 112lb bombs. |
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Flight Cadet Mehar Singh stands out in
this 1936 picture of the batch passing out of RAF Cranwell. |
| One of No.1 Squadrons Wapitis (K-1280)
seen flying over the Rajpath (Then Kingsway) of Delhi |
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Ground crew working on a Wapiti at a
base. No.1 Squadron was formed from three flights each flying three of these
'What-a-pity's |
 This rare photograph of the pilots of No.1 Squadrons
taken in the late 30s, shows Mehar Singh, R H D Singh, Narendra, Subroto Mukherjee along
with the RAF Commanding officer in front of one of the Wapitis. Note the huge size of the
propellor. Photo courtesy : Air Force History Cell |
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Indian aircrew trying to crank start a Hawker Audax
biplane. The Audax was the sucessor to the Wapiti with No.1 Squadron. Photo courtesy : Air Force History Cell |
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