October 8th, 2008
Happy 76th Birthday Indian Air Force
Today, Indian Air Force turned 76.
Back in 1932, it was today that 6 young men (Subroto Mukerjee, HC Sirkar, AB Awan, Bhupendra Singh, Amerjeet Singh, and ‘Tich’ Tandon) were commissioned into the service after having trained at RAF College in Cranwell. With 19 ‘hawai sepoys’ and 4 Westland Wapiti IIA biplanes operating out of Drigh Road in Karachi, they flew on their maiden flight on April 1, 1933 (a day chosen by British to coincide with RAF’s birth).
It is now the fourth largest air force in the world.