The Quintessential Aviator
Celebrating the Century of Dalip Singh Majithia
On 27 July 2020, Dalip Singh Majithia turned 100 years of age, the eldest, veteran IAF officer of the sub-continent extant. Editors of Vayu are privileged to know Dalip Singh Majithia, that epitome of a gentlemen aviator whose total recall of seminal events in the last century is not only remarkable but a blessing for aviation historians in India – and the world!
The Editors of Vayu are privileged to know Dalip Singh Majithia, that epitome of a gentlemen aviator whose total recall of seminal events in the last century is not only remarkable but a blessing for aviation historians in India – and the world! His personal flying log books have been generously handed over by him to the IAF Museum at Delhi which, one hopes, will be preserved not only for posterity but serve as an inspiration for today’s and tomorrow’s aviators.
This article is based on many years of knowing Dalip Singh Majithia as also viewing some of his interviews – and blurred reproduction of his precious log books, the originals now closeted with the Indian Air Force.
On 27 July 2020, Dalip Singh Majithia turned 100 years of age, the eldest, veteran Indian Air Force officer of the sub-continent extant. His is a story of faith, courage and adventure, joining the Indian Air Force in 1940 even as the Second World War was raging in Europe and the infant air arm was striving to expand.
After getting his wings, he flew a variety of obsolescent biplanes with which the Indian Air Force was then equipped, including the Wapiti, Hart and Audax, thereafter multi- engined Atlantas on maritime patrol in the Bay of Bengal, finally Hurricane fighter bombers, with which he went into action on the Burma front and later on watch and ward duties along the North West Frontier. After the Second World War was over, and serving in various staff duties, Dalip left the Air Force in August 1947 to join the family business – but continued his passion for flying! The saga of his continued romance with aviation is exemplified by his pioneering flight to the Himalayan Kingdom of Nepal, landing at Kathmandu’s parade ground on 23 April 1949 (see Vayu Issue III/2010).
Early Years
Dalip Singh Majithia was born at Simla on 27th July 1920 in a highly regarded family of the erstwhile undivided Punjab.
His grandfather was the venerable Sardar Bahadur Sardar Sir Sundar Singh Majithia who had schooled at the Aitchison College and Government College, both at Lahore.
Sardar Sundar Singh later became Honorary Secretary of the ‘ Chief Khalsa Diwan’ on its formation in 1902 and remained so till 1920. In 1926 he was knighted and was thereafter appointed as Revenue Member with the Governor’s Executive Council of the Punjab, playing a leading part in forming of the conservative Khalsa Nationalist Party. From April 1937 he was Revenue Member of the Punjab Executive Council in Sir Sikandar Hayat Khan’s cabinet of undivided Punjab.
Dalip Singh’s mother was from the Patiala Royal family and they also had a home in Simla, ‘Skiplin Villa’, near the Christ Church, where he was born. He did his early schooling at Khalsa College, Amritsar before moving to the Government College at Lahore where he completed his BA, just a year after Arjan Singh (later Marshal of the Air Force) had gone on to train at RAF Cranwell along with Prithipal Singh, the last cadets to join as regular commissioned officers in the IAF. Meanwhile, Dalip’s uncle Surjit Singh Majithia had been commissioned as a pilot officer in the Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve (IAFVR) on 8 November 1939, just months after start of the Second World War, doing his flying training at RAF Habbaniya (Iraq). Young Dalip Singh was enthused to do the same.
Actually he had originally wanted to join the Cavalry, but was ‘persuaded’ to opt for the Air Force instead. After a few ‘introductions’, Dalip was interviewed by Gp Capt Bussell of the RAF and following medical tests, received a letter accepting him for service with the IAFVR. He proceeded for preliminary flying at the Karachi Flying Club and well recalls that massive tower at Drigh Road originally built for docking of the airship R.101. Also with him at the Karachi Flying Club was Lt Diwan Mishri Chand who had volunteered for a flying career before going to the Initial Flying Training School at Lahore (Walton).
The Pioneers
Increasing numbers of young Indians were now joining the IAFVR, all assembling at the Air Cadet Training School at Lahore (Walton). Amongst those commissioned on 1 August 1940, along with Dalip Singh Majithia were Minoo Engineer, Anantha Ananthanarayanan, Vasudeo Bhide, Vernon Shib Bonaijee, Arthur Chako, HN Chatterjee, Yeshwant Malse, Chaman Lal Mehta, Pirojsha Reporter, Surinder Singh, Harbans Singh Thapar, Victor Srihari and Teja Singh Virk who were followed in November 1940 by Om Parkash Mehra ( later Chief of the Air Staff), Rajendra
Singh, Paljor Namgyal (of Sikkim), Jagdish Chandra Verma, Ganamuthu Daniel, David Bhore, Krishna Agerwala, Keki Motishaw, Arvind Moolgavkar (later Chief of the Air Staff), Jagjit Singh, Mohammed Asghar Khan (seconded from the Army, and later Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force).
These magnificent men were followed some months later by Padam Singh Gill, Gyan Dev Datta, Mohd.Mukhtan Ahmed Cheema, Mohan Suri, Piyara Singh, Murat Singh Aulakh, Rafiq Bukhari, Malik Nur Khan (later CAS, Pakistan Air Force) and Kartar Singh Saund. Two months later came Codanda Cariappa, Narendra Lali, Cowas Lichmore, Murkot Ramunny, Sahebjada Imtiaz Khan, Samuel Bobb, Venkat Reddy, Dinshaw Eduijee, Pritipal Singh, Iqbal Singh, Krishna Wagle, Chinglepet Amarendra, S. Bambawale, Cherala Rao, Vicoo Billimoria, Guru Charan Singh Babra, and the last to be commissioned in the flying branch on 11 March 1941, Maurice Barker. Many of these pioneers were later to reach very senior ranks in the Indian (and also Pakistan) Air Forces.
But we go back to Dalip’s first service training flight which was on 5 August 1940 in a Tiger Moth at Walton airfield in Lahore with Sgt Hart and later Flt Lt Frogly from the Royal Air Force as his pilot instructors, leading to his first solo on 22 August after 15 hours of instruction. Flying training at this former Boy Scouts Camp continued steadily, including formation flying, cross country sorties. Dalip Singh Majithia’s flying skills were quickly recognised, being
awarded the ‘Best Pilot of the Course Prize’ by Sir Henry Craig, the Governor of the Punjab, in July 1940.
Soon thereafter, twenty four of the batch were selected to form the IAFVR ‘ X’ Squad, proceeding by ship to the UK for conversion training on fighters, bombers and coastal patrol aircraft with the Royal Air Force. These included ‘Chacha’ Manmohan Singh and Hari Dewan, Mohindar Singh Pujji, Shivdev Singh, Kali Chaudhary, Mian Mohammad Latif, Tarlochan Singh, Rustam Dastur, Ali Raza Khan Pasha, Erlic Pinto, Satyapal Shahi, Ranjan Dutt and others ( seen in historic photograph). Dalip Singh was also selected but gallantly stood down for another officer who had requested such posting for family reasons. Dalip clearly recalls that at this stage those proceeding to the UK wore blue uniforms while the others remaining in India, continued in khaki dress.
It was now time for operational flying training and in December 1940 young Dalip moved to No. 1 Flying Training School at Ambala for advanced flying on the Westland Wapiti IIA, logging many hours including night flying, thereafter on the Hawker Audax and Hart with which the IAF’s sole squadron (No.1) was then equipped.
There were to be many cross country flights including those from Ambala to Delhi and back and soon enough, dive
bombing and low level bombing practice with the Hawker Hart. On 11 April 1941 young Dalip had his first professional interaction with the legendry Sqn Ldr Meher Singh ( popularly ‘ Meher Baba’) while ferrying a four- engined Atlanta from Drigh Road (Karachi). However, he continued to log hours mostly on the Wapiti and Hart.
Gaining proficiency, Dalip then undertook his first long distance flight to the deep south of India, in Hart (K2103) which he flew from Ambala, with refueling stops at Jhansi, Kamptee, Secunderabad and then finally reaching Madras, which station he was to return to for operations during war. On the return flight, he flew back to Secunderabad, on to Poona, to Juhu (Bombay), to Ahmedabad to Bhuj and finally Karachi, where he had first learnt to fly. A true sub-continental odyssey!
Coastal Defence Flights
As the war in Europe grew ever more grim, the specifically appointed Chatfield Committee recommended that in addition to the regular air forces for the defence of India, Volunteer Flights were to be entrusted for coastal defence and maritime patrol. There were to be six Coastal Defence Flights, all stationed at major ports along the Peninsula. Dalip was posted to No.1 Coastal Defence Flight (CDF) at Madras in July 1941 flying the Atlanta on maritime patrols over the Bay of Bengal, alternating with the Hart for more ‘warlike’ purposes including dive bombing. Dalip converted to fly the Atlanta four-engined monoplane which he soon grew very fond of. This first British four-engined cantilever monoplane, had entered service in 1932 with Imperial
Airways, being chiefly employed on long routes from Britain to Africa as also to and within India. The Atalanta carried 17 passengers with a crew of three and was powered by four 340 h.p Armstrong Siddeley Serval III engines, flying regular domestic services from Karachi to Calcutta.
Two Atalantas (VT-AEF and VT-AEG), then serving with Indian Transcontinental Airways were requisitioned by the
Government in the emergency. Armed with one moveable machine gun, the Atalantas were operated for routine maritime patrol in the Bay of Bengal, also exercising with the Navy and on convoy escort duties. On 1 January 1942, Dalip logged his longest endurance sortie in Atlanta (DG 452) over the sea but to also keep his proficiency in more aggressive manner, he practiced low level attacks on ships flying Hart (K2131).
With the relentless Japanese advancing in South East Asia and having overrun Burma, the war was getting very close to India and flying increased in March-April 1942, maritime patrols continuously carried out by the Atlantas of No.1 CDF including search for Japanese warships that were now roving the Bay of Bengal. By this time, the Atlantas had been modified to carry bombs as well and on 21 January 1942, along with Pilot Officer Cariappa, Dalip scored direct hits on a target at sea.
Great expansion of the IAF
However, by mid-1942, the end was nigh for the Coastal Defence Flights which had, for two years, fulfilled their desperate tasks with stout heart but little hardware, covering large geographical areas of the Indian peninsula, flying thousands of hours of escort and patrol. The IAFVR was then at its peak strength in personnel (and aircraft) but in June 1942 the CDFs were renumbered as Flights: No.101 at St. Thomas Mount with the Atalanta and Hart, No.102 at Juhu with the Dragon-Rapide and Wapiti, No.104 at Vizakhapatnam with Wapiti IIAs, while No.103 Flight (ex-3 CDF) was equipped with Hudsons and moved to Cuttack.
The new AOC-in-C India, Air Marshal Sir Richard Pierce had reviewed the war situation and made plans for the Indian Air Force more suited to their flair and abilities, promising the young Service “the best single engined aircraft which the Command could then provide”, which were to be Hawker Hurricane fighters and Vultee Vengeance dive- bombers. However, the biggest change of all: the new IAF squadrons were to be all-Indian, commanded by the young officers who had done so well with No.1 Squadron in the first Burma Campaign, flying obsolescent Lysanders in the face of superior Japanese fighters.
A signal from Air Headquarters India Command on 11 November 1942 notified AHQ Bengal, the various Groups and Squadrons that the Coastal Defence Flights were to be disbanded on 30 November 1942. The IAFVR personnel were posted out to form the new IAF squadrons then being equipped with more modern combat aircraft for the imminent campaigns in Eastern India and Burma.
Three new squadrons of the Indian Air Force, including No.6, were formed on 1 December 1942, under Air HQ formation order 268 of 18 November 1942, their pilots and airmen weaned from the Coastal Defence Flights which were disbanded a day earlier, on 30 November.
No. 6 Squadron was established at Trichinopoly under the command of Sqn Ldr Mehar Singh and with personnel and assets of Nos.1 (Madras) and 2 (Bombay) Coastal Defence Flights plus from No.104 General Reconnaissance Squadron RAF. The Squadron was equipped with the Hawker Hurricane IIB, becoming the third IAF Squadron to get the Hurricane after Nos.1 and 2 had been so-equipped. It was assigned the role of tactical reconnaissance, message dropping, air-to-ground strafing.
No. 6 Squadron was to have been commanded by Sqn Ldr RHD Singh but he had met with an accident and was thus medically unfit. Sqn Ldr Mehar Singh who then was at the Staff College in Quetta, was given command of No.6 Squadron – and the rest in history! Mehar ‘Baba’ was already a flying legend, an extraordinary aviator, with a natural sense of precise navigation and infinite courage. He commanded enormous respect, even reverence, not only amongst the Indian officers and men but too, with the British personnel who served under him. With Sqn Ldr Mehar Singh were Flt Lt Haider Hussain of ‘A’ Flight and Flt Lt Mansukhani, of ‘B’ Flight, other officers including Flying Officers Dalip Singh Majithia and MM ‘Minoo’ Engineer.
Earlier, Dalip’s last flight with the Atlanta had been in October 1942, thereafter converting back to single-engine aircraft, first on Harvards at No.151 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Risalpur on the NWFP in December 1942 in preparation for conversion to the Hurricane fighter bomber, making his first solo flight on type on 13 January 1943.
Gaining his proficiency, Dalip strenuously trained on the Hurricane for air combat, dog fighting ground attack and formation aerobatics. He took part in formation display at Delhi on 21 March 1943 and thereafter air to ground firing practice from Bhopal. His ‘dream’ posting was in April 1943 to No. 6 Squadron flying the eight-gun Hurricane IIBs and commanded by the legendry Meher Baba, soon being declared ‘fully operational’ on type. ( In his monograph ‘Up in the Air – a celebration of flying’ privately published, Dalip Singh has dedicated the book to Air Commodore Meher Singh DSO who was his mentor and inspiration).
The Hawker Hurricane was one of military aviation’s most outstanding machines, founding a new era in fighter evolution, becoming the first interceptor monoplane of the Royal Air Force. It was the first combat aircraft to exceed 300 mph in level flight and had extraordinary versatility, awesome (for its age) firepower and the superb Rolls Royce Merlin engine. More than 300 Hurricane IIBs, IICs, IVs and XIIs were eventually supplied to the Indian Air Force between 1942 and 1944, this aircraft type becoming backbone of the service in the Assam and Burma campaigns.
After operational training at No.151 OTU Risalpur, No.6 Squadron flew east to Allahabad and thence to Bairagarh (near Bhopal), but of the 15 Hurricanes, six aircraft of ‘B’ Flight had lost their way and force-landed at Biora, some aircraft
being damaged. However, at Bairagarh, the Squadron worked hard, with stress on low level photo reconnaissance and air-toground firing. Intensive training continued in central India, flying from various airfields at Saugor, Bhopal, Jhansi and Bidar, carrying out tac-recces, strafing bombing, before the squadron moved in November 1943 to Chittagong and on to Cox’s Bazar – and the war against Japan.
At War
No.6 Squadron flew their first operational sortie on 30 November 1943. They were to be in the thick of the Second Arakan Campaign continuously for the next six months, achieving great distinction and earning the sobriquet. ‘Eyes of the XIV Army’. The Hurricanes of No.6 Squadron, flying high and low, taking vertical and oblique photos, would fly with two aircraft as a tactical pair, each sortie being a dual affair, the ‘Leader’, who took photos and did the recce work and his No.2, the Weaver’, protecting the leader’s tail. No.6 Squadron’s Hurricanes were to become a familiar sight over the Arakan, soon being known as ‘Eyes of the XIV Army’.
Tac/ Recces were flown all over the battlefront, particularly over Maungdaw, with strafing of enemy rivercraft, even as the Army battled the Japanese as war raged in the Buthidaung – Singhyn and Maungdaw areas. An interesting entry in Dalip’s log book is 12 December 1943 when in Hurricane (HW 428), he flew a low level tactical reconnaissance to determine elephant grazing grounds near Maungdaw! As for his flying assessment, Dalip’s ability was rated as ‘above the average’.
After the intensive operations in war under leadership of Sqn Ldr Meher Singh (awarded the only DSO in the Indian Air Force) No. 6 Squadron moved back to Ranchi for conversion to the four cannon armed Hurricane IIC in 1944 and air to ground firing and dive bombing practice.
Dalip was now posted to another Squadron also flying Hurricane IICs, No.3 Squadron commanded by Sqn Ldr Prithpal Singh, with the responsibility of ‘watch and ward’ duties on the turbulent north west frontier of India.
No.3 Squadron was based at Kohat with a semi- permanent Flight at the advanced landing ground at Miranshah, whose command Dalip recalls with particular nostalgia. At this frontier post the Hurricane IICs were wheeled into the Fort at dusk, out of harm’s way so to speak from snipping tribesmen, and wheeled out at first light. The Hurricanes flew low level patrols over the rugged hills, carrying out reconnaissance as also leaflet dropping to warn dissident tribesmen of retribution which occasionally followed in the form of 250 lb bombs or strafing by 20 mm cannon.
Hurricane detachments also took part in exercises in other parts of India, including ‘White Horse’ in Dehra Dun during the winter of 1944. With him as part of the Miranshah Flight was Flying Officer Asghar Khan who had schooled of the RIMC at Dehra Dun. Both intrepid flyers remained close friends. In early 1947 with the clouds of partition overhanging the sub-continent,
Dalip had prophesised that if there was to be a new country–and a new Air Force–Asghar Khan would definitely become its Chief! They remained good friends even though separated by the Radcliffe Line.
In January 1945 Dalip was posted back to the Burma front, this time with No. 4 Squadron, flying Hurricane IICs from various advanced landing grounds including Bawli Bazar and many airstrips on Ramree Island. The Arakan offensive had now began, the objective being to capture the Maya peninsula and Akyab, contain the Japanese in the Arakan and prevent
them from crossing the Arakan Yoma and interfering with advance of the XIV Army. No.4 Squadron operated in direct support of the land forces and bombed Japanese strong points at Haparabyin and Ratheduang.
As the XIV Army pushed the Japanese forces southwards and moved towards Rangoon, No.4 Squadron also followed suit and kept moving from one advanced landing ground to another. From Cox’s Bazar the Squadron moved to various kutcha airstrips including Hove, Indian Dabiang (satellite of Akyab) and finally Kakpanu on Ramree Island. The airfields were all temporary ones, with some airstrips made of impacted sand. At Cox’s Bazar however, there was a tarmac and runway with dispersals, taxy tracks and parking bays covered with PSP sheets. At Hove, the airstrip was prepared hard ground but the taxy tracks and parking bays were soft sandy ground covered with thick bamboo matting. At Indian Dabiang, the airstrip was actually on the beach, two miles long, accommodation for the officers being in bamboo bashas with deep trench latrines.
Enemy targets were engaged with bombs and strafing by cannon. Operations in the month of February 1945 was particularly concentrated, Dalip flying some 30 operational sorties from the 1st to 24th of that month when he suddenly developed total numbness in his right arm perhaps owing to severe strain. His fellow officer, again Ft Lt Asghar Khan, volunteered to fly Dalip Singh to the Command Hospital in Calcutta in a Harvard two-seater and later, under medical advice was evacuated to England for treatment at a specialist hospital.
Recovery was fast and three months on, Dalip was cleared for flying, returning to India in a Sunderland flying boat in August 1945. This was about the time the Japanese had surrendered. He re-joined No. 4 Squadron at Ranchi and shortly thereafter, alongwith Asghar Khan, flew in Harvard (FE 209) from there to Allahabad on to Lucknow, then Delhi to Lahore, Rawalpindi and finally to Peshawar, where he was posted as Sqn Ldr (Operations), under the AOC Air Commodore Coe. His flying passion unabated, Dalip converted to the Spitfire Mk.VIII at Peshawar on 12 November 1945.
In the following months, No. 4 Squadron was selected to be part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Forces
( BCOF), re- equipped with the Spitfire Mk. XIV and moved to Japan in April 1946 based at Iwaquni, alongside RAF and RAAF fighter squadrons. Dalip was posted to the headquarters BCOF at Melbourne in Australia, getting there in an adventurous flight that took him first to Colombo, thence via Cocos Island to Perth in Australia, onto Sydney and finally Melbourne. It was during his posting at Australia, that Dalip met the lovely Joan Sanders (whose father Colonel William George Sanders was with the British Indian Army) but this romantic story will be recounted elsewhere!
In 1947, Dalip returned to India, got married to Joan on 18 February 1947 at the family home in Gorakhpur, where there were large land holdings and considerable business interests. He was now persuaded to leave the Air Force to look after the family business which he did – but his flying passion remained unabated.
Fortunately, even while he was in the Air Force, Dalip had obtained a private pilots licence which he continued to keep valid. The family land in Sardar Nagar included an air strip with a number of L-4 and L-5 light aircraft purchased after the war from the US Army, to which soon were added two Beechcraft Bonanza V- tailed four- seater cabin monoplanes. It was in one of these that Dalip made that historic flight to Kathmandu on 23 April 1949, in Bonanza (VT-CYQ) which story has been related in detail in Vayu’s Issue III/2010.
Dalip Singh Majithia’s passion for flying continued for the next three decades, making his last recorded flight in command on 16 January 1979, again in a Beechcraft Bonanza which aircraft still remains with the family, frequently flown by his cousin S. Satyajit Singh (son of S. Surjit Singh Majithia) who has carried on the tradition of flying Majithias into the 21st Century.
The ‘Armada’ at the Majithia aerodrome at Gorakhpur (now a major Indian Air Force fighter base) had peaked with some half a dozen aircraft including a Gulfstream G150, Cessna Citation J2+, Beechcraft Super King Air B200C and B200 King Air C90A, B-58 Barons, Bonanzas and the veteran L- 4 and L-5. While Saraya Air Charters are active with the earlier mentioned aircraft, including for medical air evacuation, some of the others are now awaiting their C of A – and a dignified resting place at an appropriate Aviation Museum.
Watch this space!
Reference material from ‘ Himalayan Eagles’: History of the Indian Air Force by Pushpindar Singh.
Pictures sourced from Dalip Singh Majithia and archives of The Society for Aerospace Studies, New Delhi.