Military aviation is demanding and inherently more dangerous than many other pursuits as the aircrew are required to operate their machines up to their limits and sometimes even beyond what the manufacturers had envisaged. In addition, in conflict situations, there is the enemy to be confronted both in the air and from the ground. Under these circumstances there are bound to be accidents and unfortunate fatalities. The accident rates due to technical failures as well as pilot errors have come down considerably with time but the very nature of military aviation cannot preclude fatalities. This is a fact of life.
In the armed forces around the world, not much time is allowed to grieve over the loss of one’s friends and colleagues as the exigencies of service demand that the life must continue unhindered by feelings of remorse and without any interruption. It is more so in case of the air forces. The commanders around the world encourage their aircrew to get airborne almost immediately after an unfortunate event. Whilst in periods of wars and conflicts, this is an operational necessity; the probable rationale in peacetime for such an action is to avoid any adverse psychological impact of the tragedy on individuals. Normal life continues, as it should, and though the departed colleague is missed but he/she goes into the background and soon becomes a mere memory. I have no qualms about this practice as this is the way the air forces around the world operate and behave. I, however, have always felt that there is a need to remember these departed souls in some form or the other and pay our tribute to them every once-in-a-while. This could be in the form of a memorial either at a central location or at each of our flying stations where on one day in the year, say Air Force Day, we remember these colleagues who passed away often in the prime of their youth. There are some air forces which have memorials with the names of the aircrew colleagues who made the supreme sacrifice both in peace time accidents and during conflict situations. There are a few stations in the Indian Air Force that have memorials for those who laid down their lives during various wars and conflicts. Unfortunately, the contributions of those who died in peacetime accidents is less recognized and there is not even a single memorial for those lost during peace time in various accidents.
When one visits a flying unit, one normally notices two prominent displays either in the office of the commanding officer or in the air crew room and sometimes in the squadron museum; firstly, list of commanding officers and, secondly, names of those who have been conferred various honours and awards. The names of those lost in aircraft accidents while serving in that unit do not find any place! Should these colleagues be forgotten or should they be remembered in some form? Do we want these aircrew to remain unknown and unsung and should we wipe them off our memory? I strongly feel that their contribution to the service, whatsoever be the extent, should not be forgotten. We must respect their memory.
While one can debate how these departed air warriors should be remembered, the first step is to collate data and identify those that were lost in aircraft accidents. Preferably the list should begin right from the inception of the Service. This work is the first such humble attempt.
I have been mooting the idea of compiling such a data bank for more than 30 years and though the proposal was accepted in principle but the project failed to get off the ground for one reason or the other. Let me narrate the story of how this project finally fructified.
It was in 2007 that Directorate of Flight Safety agreed to let me have the data of accidents. But what I got was the statistical data from 1971 to 2007. I was told that the records for the period prior to 1971 were either not available or were incomplete. This was rather discouraging news but all the same I decided to follow other research methods. One of these was “crowd sourcing” wherein I expected individuals to recall various accidents involving their course and squadron mates. This method had some inherent lacunas but I was convinced that I would be able to find out about most of the accidents at least post 1960 and fewer prior to that era. I also thought of going through squadron diaries of every unit in the air force – a time consuming and costly process but the biggest hindrance was their non-availability as some of these had been lost and some units had been number plated or did not exist anymore. I had not contemplated the problems that I was going to face regarding the data prior to independence as I was more than sure that I would be able to get the requisite information from the British Museum which is the repository of all British WWII records. The project, however, went into limbo as I got involved in researching for my other books.
Eight years later, i.e., late 2015, when I was deciding on my next project, a number of events occurred almost simultaneously. I discovered that Air HQ did have the data about accidents from 1947 onwards and that I could have access to the same. At about the same time, Lieutenant General PK Singh, Director, United Service Institute of India asked me if I could take on such a project. (Flight Lieutenant Shailendra Kumar Singh, his brother and a winner of the President’s Plaque of Honour, the Dasgupta Trophy for being Best in Transport Flying and the Chief of Air Staff Medal was lost in an accident in 1973). Around the same time, a new chair was established in the USI Center of Excellence and funded by Colonel PS Gill in memory of his son, Flying Officer Amandeep Singh Gill, who was killed in a MiG-21 in 2001. The project was to be sponsored by this Center. There was no way I could turn down the request.
Every journey in life is not smooth sailing and there are many hurdles to be crossed. This project was going to be no different. The first hurdle that I faced was the realization that there were anomalies in the data on accidents furnished by Air Headquarters in that there were either accidents which had not been included or there were no fatalities in some of the accidents that figured in the list. I went through operational record books (Form 1500s) of all the units for that period and was able to correct some of the anomalies. However, to my disappointment, I found that the data in some of these operational record books was not complete and I found entries like “there was an accident this month in which all onboard were killed” – no names or details of the accident were recorded. There were also instances where the entire crew composition or full particular of the crew members were not mentioned. The unit diaries did not prove to be very helpful either. I then went in for crowd sourcing and many veterans narrated various accidents but did not have exact dates or full crew details. These inputs had to be corroborated and further authenticated. This finished work is the result of that effort though it is quite possible that I have missed out an odd fatal accident or name of an individual.
The next problem was getting the data about the accidents during the pre-independence period. I tapped three sources to get this data. Firstly, “The Memorial Book” – an Air HQ publication – that has the names of all IAF personnel buried in various cemeteries around the world. Secondly, various publications that dealt with the role of IAF/RIAF and the units during WWII. Thirdly, and most importantly, the contribution of my friend, an IAF history enthusiast and a well-known author – Jagan Mohan Pillarisetti. Notwithstanding extensive research, there is a possibility that I have missed out one odd accident but this deficiency should be accepted and I am open to any correction in this regard.
The Chronicle includes names of all the aircrews who were killed in IAF aircraft during the period from 1st April, 1932 when the first flight of No.1 Squadron was formed till 31st March, 2012 – a total span of the first 80 years of the Indian Air Force. It has personnel from the Indian Army and the Indian Navy as well as foreigners while serving with the IAF, those IAF personnel on Deputation to the Hindustan Aerodynamics Limited and the Aviation Research Center as well as erstwhile Helicopter Corporation of India (now Pawan Hans). An American test pilot serving with the HAL and a civilian instructor also figures in the book. Air Observation Post units were part of the IAF till 1987 and the names of the Indian Army aircrew who lost their lives in AOP aircraft have been also included. The Chronicle also lists those Indian aircrew who were killed while serving with the Royal Air Force or when they were doing some course abroad.
This Chronicle includes only those who were on board the aircraft as aircrew, including supernumerary aircrew, but does not include the ones flying as passengers. For example, the name of legendry Commanding Officer of No I Squadron, Squadron Leader Henry Runganathan, does not figure in my list as in October 1942, the Lockheed Hudson in which he was travelling as a passenger was hit in the tail by an escorting Hurricane of his Squadron. On the other hand, I have supernumerary aircrew like Group Captain JB Lal, then posted as Air II at HQ Western Air Command and who was killed in an An-12 aircraft in August 1971. The crew were involved in night bombing trials at armament range near Pune airfield when the aircraft hit a hillock killing all personnel on board.
As far as possible, I have tried to include the full complement of aircrew in transport aircraft and helicopters including warrant officers and SNCOs. Regretfully there were many cases where their names were missing from records and thus could not been included in this work.
In the data that I got from various sources, I found that the service numbers of individuals were missing in some cases. The best source of finding the service numbers are the Air Force Lists of the years gone by. Unfortunately, the old Air Force Lists for the first five decades, barring for three or four years, were not available even with Air HQ. The alternative was to go through the Gazette of India as well as London Gazette and see various notifications that promulgated the commissioning of the aircrew. Prior to independence, the commissioning notifications used to be promulgated in London Gazette and thereafter were reproduced in the Gazette of India. However, these notifications did not have the service numbers of the individuals but just the names – the same procedure was followed in case of personnel from the Royal Air Force. I noticed that in some cases, the service numbers of RAF personnel appeared in London Gazette when the notifications for their promotions and grant of awards were published. However, such entries did not appear both in the London Gazette and the Gazette of India in respect of the Indians. There must have been some other document to which I am not privy to where the promotion and postings of the IAF personnel were notified.
I was lucky to lay my hands on some Air Force lists for the period between 1941 and 1949 viz. 1941, 1942, 1944, 1947 and 1949. The Air Force lists of 1941 and 1942 did not have the service number of individuals. However, in the Air Force Lists of 1944 onwards, the service numbers did appear in the index. Apparently, the practice of allotting service numbers to the Indian Air Force personnel was started sometimes in 1941-42. Personnel recruited into the IAF during 1941-42 must have been allotted service numbers but these are not available in the records which I could access. I could not find any notification for those who were commissioned into the IAF Reserve list.
This practice of not including service numbers in the Gazette notifications continued to be followed till 1949 after which these formed an integral part of any notification both for grant of commission and for promotion and retirement etc.
Because of above mentioned problems, there are a few individuals, mostly those who died between 1941 and 1943 in respect of whom I could not ascertain their service numbers and their names thus appear without the same.
In most service documents, only the surname of the individual is mentioned and in some cases initials are also included. How does one ascertain which individual one is referring to when names like B Singh appear – are we referring to Bhagwan Singh, Balwant Singh or Balwinder Singh and so on? Hence, the necessity of including full name of every individual. In this work, as far as possible, full names of individuals have been included though there are very few exceptions where these could not be ascertained. My main sources for full names were Gazette notifications. Unfortunately, there were no documents in respect of airmen where their full names were available and thus in these cases only their initials have been given and not the full names.
I expanded my area of research to include photographs of the individuals. It is well-nigh impossible to get the photographs of individuals over the entire period of 80 years. Air Headquarters were kind enough to provide quite a few of them from the service records. I wrote to the next of kin of the individuals at their last recorded addresses but with the passage of time, most individuals had either passed on or had moved away and I got the response only from about 5% of the families. I was not very sure of the reaction of the families to my request for the photographs but I found that in each and every case, the families were more than happy and went out of their way to find suitable photographs and send them to me. “Crowd sourcing” proved extremely beneficial as most officers willingly gave me photographs form their individual collections. Quite a few individuals had photographs from their course mates either at the time of joining the IAF or institutions like CTU and JTW. With memories fading with age, it was not easy to identify various individuals but I have reproduced whatever I was able to obtain. There are some photographs of less than desirable quality but there was no alternative other than including the same.
Most units had their unit albums which I thought of for sourcing the photographs. The main problem I faced was that of identification as the normal practice in vogue was that no names were annotated in the squadron albums in most cases. National Defence Academy has photograph of every individual who joined it from 1955 onwards. I managed to obtain photographs of some ex-NDA officers. Unfortunately, none of the training institutions of the IAF follow this practice and were not able to provide me with a single photograph. Air HQ needs to look at this aspect and should seriously consider preserving photographs of every individual as and when he/she joins any training institution. The case of SNCOs/WOs was even more difficult as AFRO used to destroy all records in respect of individuals 25 years after their discharge. In any case, the procedure did not call for inclusion of photographs of the individual in the service records. Army Headquarters were also requested to provide photographs of the concerned Army officers but for reasons not known to the author, there was just no response. Naval Headquarters could locate and provide just two photographs. Those photographs of Army and Naval officers included in the book have been obtained from ‘other sources.’
One question that many of my friends have asked me is why did I stop at 2012 and did not continue right into 2016. The decision to have the data for the first 80 years was taken as soon as I embarked on the project and hopefully somebody would update this data when the IAF celebrates its centennial anniversary. Air HQ has already ruled that henceforth all court of inquiries into fatal aircraft accidents would have photograph of all fatalities.
I have included silhouettes of all aircraft that figure in this work. These are included inside the cover pages.
I feel privileged and blessed that Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh has written the “Message” for the book in his own hand. I could not have asked for anything more.
My thanks to Air Marshal Sumit Mukerji for composing on my request “A Verse to Fallen Air Warriors.” Group Captain Deb Gohain’s paintings adore various institutions in the IAF including Air Headquarters. He was very kind with his offer to paint a scene depicting “Missing Man Formation” which is at the cover of this work. To the uninitiated, the missing man formation shows three aircraft flying with one slot for the fallen aircrew being left vacant. Traditionally, this formation is flown at the time of the funeral of an aircrew.
I would be failing in my duty if I did not acknowledge all the individuals who were kind enough to let me have photographs for this work. It is not possible for me to mention all of them individually. However, I must thank three individuals: Air Marshal Subhash Bhojwani and Jagan Mohan Pillarisetti for helping me get a large number of photographs. Flying Officer Nando Kumar Mukerjee served with 6 Squadron from 1943-1947. His son was kind enough to let me have three valuable photographs of that era.
A work of this nature is not possible without extensive support form Air HQ. My special thanks to Air Marshal S Neelakantan for providing constant support. I also thank other officers from Air HQ (especially Wing Commander PS Gujral), who were kind enough to provide the necessary inputs for this work.
Finally, my thanks to the United Service Institute for their support.
This work is my humble tribute to all the aircrews listed in this work and who made the supreme sacrifice often in the prime of their youth. I respect their memory. May their souls rest in peace and may their memory spur the future generations to do better and help make the IAF the best Air Force in the world.
