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.