Father of indian airforce

#Father_of_the_Indian_Air_Force’,

Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee

Known as the ‘Father of the Indian Air Force’, India’s first Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee was one of Indian Air Force’s first recruits and went on to win numerous awards throughout his illustrious career. He was born on 5 March 1911, Kolkata.

On 8 October 1932, the Indian Air Force came into being and on 1st April 1954 Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, one of the founding members of the Air Force took over as the first Indian Chief of Air Staff.

He was commissioned in the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a pilot in October 1932 and became chief of air staff in April 1954.

The legend

Subroto Mukerjee was the first Indian to command a flight, a squadron, a station and finally the service.

He was made an officer of the Order of the Marshal British Empire in 1945.

#Operations on the North West Frontier

In the autumn of 1936 a serious rebellion broke out in North Waziristan. The famous 'Faqir of Ipi' raised the standard of revolt against the government, and the Pukhtoon tribes of the North West Frontier responded in time honoured fashion. This entailed large-scale operations by the Army and the Air Force and at one time as many as 50,000 troops were engaged in this remote border uprising.

The Frontier District is a wild and mountainous country. Inhabited by the fiery Pathan tribes whose names have passed into history - the Wazirs, the Mahsuds and the Afridis - it covered the whole length of the Indo-Afghan frontier.

The tribesmen were a hardy lot, who unable to till the land in these arid mountains, subsisted by plundering and robbing the fertile valleys. To make things more difficult, they retired over the Frontier into Afghanistan after carrying out their raids in the valleys below. The task of maintaining law and order in these remote mountain ranges involved a vast expenditure of military energy before the advent of Air Power. By bombing the villages of hostile tribesmen, after a warning had been given, a step forward was taken in the pacification of this area. Now it was the turn of Indias own Air Force to shoulder the responsibility of policing this turbulent frontier and ensuring peace and prosperity for the peasants in the rich valleys. This was the first example of Air Power, being used for policing duties.

It was here that 'A' flight of the IAF gained its baptism by fire in the time honoured tradition of India's North West Frontier.

On 1st October 1937, it flew into Miranshah - a fort situated deep in the valley of the Tochi River in the interior of Waziristan. The fort was surrounded by the ranges and precipices of Wazirstan. A single road connected it with Bannu and convoys bringing supplies and mail moved up this road twice a week under heavy escort.

It was unsafe to walk outside the walls in daytime for fear of sharp shooting Pathans, and even the aircraft were kept within the fort walls. When a flight took place, the doors of the fort were opened and the aircraft wheeled out on to the aerodrome. The aircraft took off, carried out their missions, landed and taxied into the protective walls of the outpost. Once again the aerodrome and the valley in which they were nestled were empty. At night it was not uncommon for bullets from Waziri snipers to ping against the roof of the barracks.

All flying crew were given protection certificates in Pushtu and Urdu informing captors that if the bearer was brought back safely after a forced landing or a crash they would be suitably rewarded. Flying conditions were difficult and landing and take off from aerodromes as high as 7000 feet was not easy in the rarified air.

At this time Flight Lieutenant Haynes, RAF, commanded the Flight and the four Indian Officers who went with him were Flying Officers Mukerjee, Awan, Engineer and Narendra.

'A' Flight flew hard and dug their teeth into their first operational work. In a month it was common for the four pilots to average 370 hours of flying, which in peacetime was then considered a good monthly average for a whole squadron. Led by Subroto, the senior-most Indian pilot, these four young men made an indelible mark on the collective mindset of the British military establishment, and forever silenced the critics and sceptics in the British ranks.

After that, the IAF grew at a slow but steady pace. By July 1938, No. 1 Squadron consisted of three Flights. The Flight Commanders were Flying Officers Mukerjee, Engineer and Majumdar. The outbreak of the second world war saw the formation of the Coastal Defence Flights (CDFs) of the Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve. While the CDFs took on the task of patrolling the Sea-Lanes and thousands of miles of India's coastline, the responsibility of policing the North West Frontier increasingly passed to the regular Squadron of the Indian Air Force. In 1939, Subroto Mukerjee was promoted to Squadron Leader and took over command of No 1 Squadron, IAF.

In the course of the development of the IAF, Subroto was a man with innumerable 'Firsts' to his credit. He became the first Indian to command a Flight, a Squadron, a Station (Kohat), and finally, the Service itself.

On another occasion, he also had the unique distinction of being the first IAF pilot to carry out an airdrop over a beleaguered army picket. In the spring of 1941 the Faqir of Ipi again became active and the IAF renewed their acquaintance with this wild man of the mountains. Operations started quietly towards the end of 1940 when Subroto was in command of Miranshah. Except for a minor battle in the Tappi hill area, the big stuff was reserved for the coming spring.

7th August 1940, 'B' Flight of No 1 Squadron of IAF, based at Miranshah, was operating in the Daur valley in support of the land forces and in the face of intense and hostile ground fire. While on a sortie with Hawai Sepoy (later Wing Commander) Kartar Singh Taunque as his Air Gunner, Squadron Leader Subroto Mukerjee observed one of the army picquets being overwhelmed by hostiles. The besieged troops indicated that their ammunition was nearly exhausted. As he flew over the post, he realised their desperate plight. At once he instructed his air gunner to remove the spare ammunition from the magazine of the rear cockpit mounted Lewis machine gun. Then putting the ammunition in their stockings, they successfully dropped it to the troops in a low pass while the hostiles concentrated their fire on the aircraft.

The ammunition helped the troops to hold out till another aircraft came and dropped 800 more rounds of ammunition and saved the situation. This was Air Maintenance in its incipient form. More than that, it is indicative of the spirited response of our intrepid fliers to the kind of situations which had no copy-book solutions. Over 26 years later, the first Squadron Commander of No 1 Squadron of the Indian Air Force, Air Vice Marshal (then Flight Lieutenant) Sir Cecil Bouchier KCBE, CB, DFC, RAF, was to recall in September 1959 when he met the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee.

with my hand on my heart, I can say I do not think I ever put so much heart into, or tried so hard to make a success of anything throughout my whole service life as I strove to make a success of the Indian Air Force at its birth. Few people except perhaps Air Marshal Mukerjee, know of the battles I fought, and the midnight oil I burnt. However, the Indian Air Force is what it is today because of one thing only - the imagination, the courage, and the great loyalty of the first little pioneer band of Indian officers and men, for they were the salt of the earth; they have built up a great fighting Service, and I am proud to have been associated in this wonderful achievement, if only for a little while ..."

By the time World War II started in 1939, Mukerjee was the senior-most officer in the IAF and as such the responsibility weighed heavily on him. He was known to be a good, sound and a steady pilot and was known not to take unnecessary risks in flying. He met with no accidents except for a forced landing when caught up in a fierce storm of long duration. For his participation in the North West Frontier operations in 1942, he was Mentioned-in-Despatches. He became the first Indian to take over an RAF Station, when he commanded RAF Station Kohat from August 1943 till December 1944. In June 1945 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (Military Division).

Subroto's even natured temperament helped defuse tensions and avoid unnecessary confrontation. As the senior-most officer, he was ideally suited to act as a buffer between the Royal Air Force from whose control the IAF was trying to extricate itself, and the young Indian officers and men who often chafed at the manner in which some members of the RAF treated IAF personnel. He would mollify such situations and further strengthen their resolve to work for higher aims and greater achievements. He defused such volatile situations and infused the spirit of integration among all the ranks of the IAF. "Are we pilots risking our neck and self respect for the pay we get - or the airmen sweating it out for the petty pay of Rs 45 per month (that was the pay of Hawai Sepoys in 1930s) ? We must work for a cause, otherwise there will never be an Indian Air Force."

His touching and inspiring talks always had the desired effect, goading officers and men to work with devotion. This role paid rich dividends in the long run.

After independence

After long years of struggle, Indian Independence became a reality on the 15th of August 1947. However, freedom came at a cost and the partition of India into the dominions of India and Pakistan was part of the price that the people of the long-suffering sub-continent had to pay. Along with the Army and the Navy, the assets of the Indian Air Force were also divided between the two new countries.

A heavy burden of responsibility descended upon the shoulders of young officers like Subroto Mukerjee, who suddenly were faced with the enormous task of reconstruction in the face of the sudden vacuum created by the departure of the British.

However, to Subrotos great credit, in all the decisions to be made, the interests of the country and the service were ever uppermost with him. When the Governor General, Lord Louis Mountbatten asked Mukerjee, the senior-most officer in the IAF, as to how long British officers should remain with the IAF, Mukerjee replied, For five to seven years. Though this was a decision which delayed his own promotion by a good seven years it showed how genuine in conviction and action were the thoughts and deeds of the man,

Air Marshals Sir Thomas Elmhirst KBEThe first three Air Chiefs of independent India, Air Marshals Sir Thomas Elmhirst KBE, CB, AFC, Sir Ronald Ivelaw Chapman, KBE, CBE, DFC, AFC, and Sir Gerald Ernest Gibbs, KBE, CIE, MC, were from the RAF. The IAF was lucky to have as Chiefs of Air Staff, men of such calibre, integrity and experience. Sir Thomas Elmhirst guided the IAF through the stormy days of independence, partition and reconstruction. He made it abundantly clear at the very beginning, that as the Air Force of an independent country, the Indian Air Force was to be an independent service and not merely an adjunct of the Indian Army, as it had been during the days of the Raj. It fell to his lot to organise the truncated IAF into a viable fighting force. In this task he was ably assisted by Subroto who tried to utilise these years by gaining worthwhile experience in the appointment of Deputy Chief. He held this appointment under the two subsequent British Air Chiefs as well. In December 1952 he proceeded to England to undergo a course at the Imperial Defence College, London to further equip him to take over the top appointment.

On his return to India in 1954, Subroto took over as the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Air Force on 01 April 1954, in the rank of Air Marshal, with the passing of the Change in Designation Act, 1955, the title of "Commander-in-Chief" was dropped, and from 01 April 1955, it came to be known as the "Chief of the Air Staff".