‘World War II was the foundational event for Indian aviation’: Aashique Ahmed Iqbal

Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (third from right, front row) with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Minister for Education (fourth from right, front row), among others at Delhi's Palam Airport on July 19, 1951. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

The Aeroplane and the Making of Modern India, Aashique Ahmed Iqbal’s sweeping study of the forces that shaped Indian civil and military aviation, is leavened with lovely and, perhaps, telling anecdotes. In 1953, the government passed the Air Corporations Act, which nationalised all air transport in the country, and birthed Air India International and Indian Airlines. “At a large ceremony attended by the minister of communications and a large number of members of parliament, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was to press an electronic switch that would unveil a curtain on a former Indian National Airways Dakota aeroplane. Behind the curtain were the words ‘Indian Airlines’,” writes Iqbal.

“When Nehru pressed the button, however, there was no parting of the curtains. It took some time for the realisation that the button was not, in fact, connected with electricity. With this mistake rectified, Nehru officially completed the ceremony that would make aviation into a state monopoly for the next four decades.” Iqbal, who teaches history at the Krea University, in Andhra Pradesh, and whose research interests include aviation and military history, says, the story of international aviation has usually been focused on a handful of mostly Western states which have a bulk of the world's aeroplanes. “What this misses, then, is the story of most countries in the decolonising world who have had to make do with a small number of aeroplanes.” In this interview, the author talks about the culture and politics of colonial aviation, of princes and planes, and how World War II fundamentally reshaped Indian aviation. Edited excerpts:

Author Aashique Ahmed Iqbal.

What was the most surprising discovery you made while researching for your book?

There were a number of them, actually. For example, I found out that the mascot of Air India, whom we have referred to for close to a century as the Maharaja was not, in fact, initially conceived as a king but rather as a more generic representative of Indian hospitality. I was also surprised to find out that the Indian Air Force went, within the span of a decade between 1940 and 1950, from flying rickety biplanes such as the Westland Wapiti to operating state-of-the-art jet aircraft such as the De Havilland Vampire. Perhaps, the most surprising overall discovery however is that the story of Indian aviation has a great many similarities with aviation history in other developing countries like Egypt and Peru.

How did World War II leave its mark on Indian aviation?

WWII was the foundational event for Indian aviation. The war saw the rapid construction of aerodromes numbering in the hundreds as well as the tenfold expansion of the tiny Indian Air Force, which had been raised in 1933. Though civil aviation initially suffered at the end of the war, cheap transport aircraft and demobilising air and ground crews were available to help establish a larger civil aviation sector. Older airlines such as Indian National Airways and Air India could expand their fleets and routes. Several new airlines also joined the fray, such as Bharat Airways established by the Birlas and Kalinga Airlines established by Biju Patnaik.

How much of an impact did the princely states’ engagement with aviation have on Indian aviation as a whole?

The princely states were absolutely critical to Indian aviation at a time when most subjects of British India had limited freedom to pursue aviation. The governments of states such as Hyderabad, Mysore, Jodhpur, Bhopal and Kashmir established aerodromes, purchased aircraft and helped the air war effort during WWII. They hoped that investments in aviation would endear them to the British and, perhaps, even enable them to aspire to autonomy once colonialism ended. Many of the key centres of aviation in India today such as Bengaluru and Jodhpur are a legacy of princely India.

The Aeroplane and the Making of Modern India, by Aashique Ahmed Iqbal.

China makes its own fighter jets; its homegrown commercial aircraft debuted recently. What stops India from doing so? 

Aircraft indigenisation is an incredibly difficult technical feat that is second perhaps only to rocket science! It is extremely difficult to manufacture aircraft and attempts by countries like India, Argentina and Egypt to do so have met with failure. Consequently many developing countries have opted instead to import aircraft and to enter into deals with aircraft manufacturers to produce certain parts domestically. For India to manufacture indigenous aircraft would take a massive, potentially decades-long, technical effort.