the costal defence flights during WW2

No.1 Coastal Defence Flight
Also requisitioned and impressed into service was the Armstrong Whitworth Atlanta G-ABTL from the Imperial Airways. The Atlanta "Astrea" was numbered DG450 and saw service with the No.1 Indian Coastal Defence Flight. This crashed on 22 Aug 1942 killing Fg Offr Patwardhan and two others.
No.2 Coastal Defence Flight, Santa Cruz
	No.2 CDF's Westland Wapitis K-1394, K-1403 and K-2290 seen at Juhu Aerodrome in 1940. The Last aircraft crashed at Bangalore on 15 July 42.
Wapiti formation of No.2 CDF over Bombay.  Photo courtesy : Wg Cdr M M Russell
No.3 Coastal Defence Flight, Bassien
	Ground Crew work on a Blienheim of No.3 Coastal Defence Flight. One of the three Blienheims in this flight was lost in a Japanese air raid.
Also requisitioned and impressed into service was the Armstrong Whitworth Atlanta G-ABTL from the Imperial Airways. The Atlanta "Aurora" was numbered DG454 with 3 CDF. It crashed in the Sunderbans on 6 Apr 42.
No.3 Coastal Defence Flight, Bassien
Wapitis K-1271 and K-1266 during their time with No.60 RAF Squadron. These aircraft subsequently went to No.4 CDF.
No.5 Coastal Defence Flight, Cochin
	An RAF and an Indian Pilot with a DH-86 HX-789 (formerly VT-AKM) which was taken on charge by No.5 CD Flight , IAFVR.  This aircraft was involved in a landing accident on 15.09.42 and was written off.
The same DH-86 HX-789 (formerly VT-AKM) of 5CDF as seen at Cochin.
No.6 Coastal Defence Flight, Karachi
	Wapiti K-2294 of 6CDF undergoes testing of its engine. Note the aircrew hanging on to the tail to keep the aircraft from nosing over at full power. .Photo courtesy : Air Force History Cell
Flt Lt Rupchand (2nd from Right) with Plt Offrs KL Sondhi (2nd from Left) PC Lal (first from right) before a sortie at Karachi.
	Flt Lt Rupchand (2nd fro Left) finishing the pre-flight briefings before a Wapiti Sortie.
A Hawker Audax of a CDF, Possibly the 6th
	Westland Wapiti J9496 after a ground collission with Audax “K556?".This sad picture shows the fate of Wapiti II J9496 of No.1 Anti Aircraft Cooperation Flight of the IAFVR at Drigh Road, Karachi. On 20th May 1942, the Wapiti , while taxying downwind in strong wind collided with a stationary Audax K5569 of No.6 Coastal Defence Flight, IAFVR. Both aircraft were struck off charge.
RAF 27 Squadron at St Thomas Mount.
	A Blenheim of 60 RAF Squadron seen with Wapitis of No.27 RAF Squadron at St Thomas Mount in Madras.
Bristol Blenheim I L-8382 at St Thomas Mount in Madras., showing the 'AD' squadron codes.
	Coolie power is employed to drag a bogged down Blenheim at St Thomas Mount airfield at Madras.
Blenheim L-4916 in July 1940 at Dum Dum airfield

Training At Cranwell

The first five Indian Pilots commissioned into the Indian Air Force were H C Sircar, Subroto Mukerjee, Bhupendra Singh, A B Awan and Amarjeet Singh. A sixth officer, J N Tandon had to revert to the Equipment stream as he was too short! All of them were commissioned as Pilot Officers in 1933. Bhupendra Singh and Amarjeet Singh died in an air accident in Sept 33. HC Sircar left the IAF after a couple of years. He was dismissed from service following an unfortunate accident that claimed the lives of soldiers on the ground. Jagat Tandon died during World War Two. A B Awan left the IAF in 1945 as a Wing Commander. It was Subroto Mukerjee, the lone remnant of the batch and the senior most Indian Officer in the RIAF at the time of independence, who went on to become the first Indian Chief of Air Staff in 1954.

The first and second batch of Indian pilots at RAF Cranwell in 1931. From L to R : Unidentified (Either Sircar or Awan), Bhupendra Singh, RAF Instructor, Aspy Engineer (from 2nd Batch), Amarjeet Singh (Circled), Jagat Tandon and Subroto Mukerjee (Circled).

Bhupendra Singh with one of the Avro training biplanes at Cranwell in 1931. Sadly he would die in an aircrash in 1933 along with Amarjeet Singh

A B Awan and Mukerjee standing in the last row at RAF Cranwell 1931 

Aspy Merwan Engineer followed the following year as the lone Indian entrant to Cranwell. During his time at Cranwell, he won the prestigous R.M.Groves flying prize whilst flying the Hawker Hart. He was finished his training in July 1933, almost exactly one year after the first batch, he reached No.1 Squadron in January 1934.

Engineer was followed by three more stalwarts from the third batch that entered Cranwell. They were K K "Jumbo" Majumdar, Narendra and Daljit Singh. Daljit Singh did not survive long, he fell out with the commanding officer of the Base and resigned his commission soon after.

The third batch of Indian Pilots in Cranwell consisted of Narendra, Daljit Singh and K K 'Jumbo' Majumdar. Seen here in the group photo in 1933. Daljit Singh was wrongly identified as RHD Singh in the original book.

Some of the entrants to Cranwell were officers seconded from the Indian Army. RN Batra and M K Khanna were a few who got trained under this route. But neither of them were commissioned into the IAF, both withdrawing from Cranwell.

Another batch of four cadets went thru Cranwell between Aug 31, 1933 to Jul 26, 1935, however, only two, Habib Ullah Khan and Ravindra Hari Darshan Singh finished training and joined the Squadron.

Pilots who graduated out of RAF Cranwell were commissioned by the 'Emperor of India' under the seal of the Governor General and a Commission certificate issued. Seen here is the scroll of R H D Singh (Later Air Cmde), who was the eight pilot to be trained at Cranwell and commissioned in 1935.

The 1936 batch consisted of SN Goyal and BK Nanda. This was the last batch that did its 'full' course of two years at Cranwell. Nanda had to be grounded after an automobile accident and was commissioned into the Equipment branch, the second such officer after JN Tandon. Goyal was commissioned into the Flying branch and joined No.1 Squadron in Jan 1939.

The final batch of three trainees to Cranwell joined in Sept 1938. They were K M Bahl, Prithipal Singh and Arjan Singh. While Bahl did not complete the training, Prithipal and Arjan were commissioned in December 1939, two months into the Second World War. This batch was done on an accelerated basis, the result being the training lasted only one year, instead of the customary two years.

Prithipal was to lose his life in a tragic crash. It is the latter, Arjan Singh, who would rise to the exalted rank of the Marshal of the Air Force at the end of the century.

Flight Cadet Arjan Singh (circled in white) in his 'B' Squadron photograph from Cranwell in 1938.

Field Marshal Lord Viscount Gort, speaks to Flight Cadet Prithipal Singh during an inspection at Cranwell in 1939


The Final List:

From 1930 till 1939, a total of 23 Indian Officers were admitted into RAF Cranwell for training. While four of these did not complete training, two of the remaining Seventeen were killed in a crash. One was cashiered out of service after a tragic accident, one left the service on his own accord, leaving just fourteen.

History of the IAF

Introduction

The Indian Air Force was officially established on 8 October 1932.Its first ac flight came into being on 01 Apr 1933.  It possessed a strength of six RAF-trained officers and 19 Havai Sepoys (literally, air soldiers).   The aircraft inventory comprised of four Westland Wapiti IIA army co-operation biplanes at Drigh Road as the "A" Flight nucleus of the planned No.1 (Army Co- operation) Squadron.


Cutting its teeth

Four-and-a-half years later, "A" Flight was in action for the first time from Miranshah, in North Waziristan, to support Indian Army operations against insurgent Bhittani tribesmen. Meanwhile, in April 1936, a "B" Flight had also been formed on the vintage Wapiti.  But, it was not until June 1938 that a "C" Flight was raised to bring No. 1 Squadron ostensibly to full strength, and this remained the sole IAF formation when World War II began, although personnel strength had by now risen to 16 officers and 662 men.

Problems concerning the defence of India were reassessed in 1939 by the Chatfield Committee.  It proposed the re-equipment of RAF  (Royal Air Force) squadrons based in lndia but did not make any suggestions for the accelerating the then painfully slow growth of IAF except for a scheme to raise five flights on a voluntary basis to assist in the defence of the principal ports. An IAF Volunteer Reserve was thus authorised, although equipping of the proposed Coastal Defence Flights (CDFs) was somewhat inhibited by aircraft availability. Nevertheless, five such flights were established with No. 1 at Madras, No. 2 at Bombay, No. 3 at Calcutta, No. 4 at Karachi and No. 5 at Cochin. No. 6 was later formed at Vizagapatanam. Built up around a nucleus of regular IAF and RAF personnel, these flights were issued with both ex-RAF Wapitis and those relinquished by No. 1 Squadron IAF after its conversion to the Hawker Hart. In the event, within a year, the squadron was to revert back to the Wapiti because of  spares shortages, the aged Westland biplanes being supplemented by a flight of Audaxes.

At the end of March 1941, Nos. 1 and 3 CDFs gave up their Wapitis which were requisitioned to equip No. 2 Squadron raised at Peshawar in the following month, and were instead issued  with Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta transports, used to patrol the Sunderbans delta area south of Calcutta.   No. 2 CDF had meanwhile received requisitioned D.H. 89 Dragon Rapides for convoy and coastal patrol, while No. 5 CDF took on strength a single D.H. 86 which it used to patrol the west of Cape Camorin and the Malabar Coast.

Meanwhile the creation of a training structure in India became imperative and RAF flying instructors were assigned to flying clubs to instruct IAF Volunteer Reserve cadets on Tiger Moths.364 pupils were to receive elementary flying training at seven clubs in British India and two in various princely States by the end of 1941. Some comparative modernity was infused in August 1941, when No. 1 Squadron began conversion to the Westland Lysander at Drigh Road, the Unit being presented with a full establishment of 12 Lysanders at Peshawar by the Bombay War Gifts Fund in the following November. No. 2 Squadron had converted from the Wapiti to the Audax in September 1941 and, on 1 October No. 3 Squadron, similarly Audax-equipped, was raised at Peshawar.



The IAF VR was now inducted into the regular IAF, the individual flights initially retaining their coastal defence status, but with Japan's entry into the war in December, No. 4 Flight, with four Wapitis and two Audaxes, was despatched to Burma to operate from Moulmein. Unfortunately, four of the flight's six aircraft were promptly lost to Japanese bombing and, late in January 1942, No. 4 Flight gave place in Moulmein to No. 3 Flight which had meanwhile re-equipped with four ex-RAF Blenheim ls. For a month, these Blenheims were to provide almost the sole air cover for ships arriving at Rangoon harbour