Royal Indian Air Force - Pre 1947

[BRICS]

Establishment of the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF)
The first five pilots commissioned into the RIAF were Harish Chandra Sircar, Subroto Mukerjee, Bhupendra Singh, Aizad Baksh 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 1932 from RAF Cranwell.

Wing. Cmdr. Aizad_Bakhsh_Awan
First Muslim Pilot of the Sub-Continent.

Six Squadron Leaders of IAF with the Duke of Gloucester at Risalpur, July 1942. Mehar Singh, Mukerjee, Habeeb, Duke, Runganadan, Awan and Majumdar.

No. 1 Squadron Royal Indian Air Force- Drigh Road Sind 1936-37

‘A’ Flight No. 1 Sgdn R.I.A.F. Drigh Road - January 1934

R.I.A.F Cadets

Inspection of RIAF by Sir Philip Chetwoode 1934

LINK: Flickr: Asad Awan's Photostream

 

[BRICS]

First Five of the RIAF
On April 1, 1933, the RIAF commissioned its first squadron, No.1 Squadron, with four Westland Wapiti biplanes and five Indian pilots. Aizad Bakhsh Awan (sitting left ) was amongst these first five pilots.

R.I.A.F. Wapitis in open formation over Bombay and Gateway of India, on return from Poona to Ambala, March 1939. Flown by F/lt Awan, F/o Majumdar (right) and F/o H.U. Khan (left). Photo by F/o Ravi Singh from a fourth Wapiti.

 

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[Last Hope]

Lets not forget 'Ata Rabbani' in the list

 

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There are a lot more pictures follow this link...

Royal Indian Air Force in WW2 - Lots of Rare Pics