Commodore Y.N.Singh, the pioneer aviator of the Indian Navy, who retired from service in 1969 as a Commodore, was in his twenty first year when he was commissioned in the Royal Indian Navy on May 1, 1943 as an Acting Sub-Lieutenant. He had already completed his training as a direct entry Cadet and Midshipman at Dartmouth and had served on board a Royal Navy cruiser, the Enterprise. Even before he was commissioned, he had applied for becoming an aviator but his application was turned down as the RIN authorities did not at that time contemplate setting up an aviation wing. His knowledge of naval aviation was thus restricted to the short air course undertaken as a part of the Sub-Lieutenants' courses conducted at Lee-on-Solent.
