Is this cockpit a Mustang Cockpit ?

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By: Snoopy - 12th November 2001 at 11:27

RE: M S Pujji and other Indian aircrew in WW2

Whee!! 🙂 Thanks for that link, Jagan.

The squadron referred to in the article, which Sqn Ldr M S Pujji commanded in the Burma-India theatre, was I think No 4 Squadron RIAF. IIRC they were tasked with low-level Tactical Recce and support operations; and yes, they did suffer particularly heavy casualties (ref his comment that they lost 35 pilots and he didn’t manage to shoot down any Zeros). In common with other Tac R units in the theatre, they would have been under orders *not* to engage in air combat, as it was deemed more important for them to bring the results of their recce missions back, than to shoot down enemy aircraft.

Incidentally, if a mere enthusiast may be permitted to offer a possible correction to a BBC article, the Japanese aircraft that Sqn Ldr Pujji’s squadron was up against in Burma might have been Oscars, not Zeros — the Oscars were the Army version of the Naval Zeros, and AFAIK were more widely deployed in Burma.

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By: Jagan - 9th November 2001 at 17:05

RE: Non-European aircrew in European theatre during WW2

Talk about coincidences….

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_1645000/1645374.stm

an interview with M S Pujji…IMagine my surprise when someone sent me this link

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By: Snoopy - 8th November 2001 at 08:20

RE: Non-European aircrew in European theatre during WW2

Jagan, thanks a million for the post to the site about P/O Mehta.

Interesting that he was with the famous No 43 Squadron — I think Mahinder Singh Pujji also flew with No 43. And didn’t Douglas Bader also fly with that unit?

(At the risk of over-elaborating, a small correction to my earlier post — Mahinder Singh Pujji flew Hurricanes, not Spitfires, during his service in the UK.)

About aircrew of Indian / subcontinental or generally non European origin who spent the entire period of their service in the RAF, I know of none, but I’m no authority. There may well have been a few, possibly Anglo-Indians, some of whom chose to migrate to the UK around the end of WW2, and did not necessarily identify themselves as Indian in official records. But with the huge force reductions immediately following WW2, I think it unlikely any non-Europeans (who would mostly have been non-regulars) would have remained in service.

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By: Jagan - 7th November 2001 at 16:27

RE: Non-European aircrew in European theatre during WW2

I think Mick must be refering to this page

http://www.neeacr.fsnet.co.uk/HurricaneZ3150.htm

about Pt Off H C Mehta who died in a training accident flying a Hurricane.

Very interesting post Snoopy. I would say that most of the pilots who flew in britain and in the RAFVR under different commands finally came back to be a part of the IAF/RIAF by the end of the WW2.

Now the question comes, were there aircrew who were in the RAF of Indian/Subcontinental origin and did not join the IAF by the war’s end? i.e. crew who started thier career in the RAF and served only with the RAF?

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By: Snoopy - 7th November 2001 at 09:50

Non-European aircrew in European theatre during WW2

>
>Sadly ,the history of Indian and other non-white aircrew is not
>terribly well known over here in GB.
>
> …
>
>Any info on Asian or Black crew in the RAF is always
>interesting to hear.
>
>I did recently read a small story on a website of an Indian
>pilot who crashed his Hurricane into a hill in GB. I shall
>have to try and find the story again.
>
>Apart from the Sikh who flew the Mosquito in “633 Squadron”,
>very little is ever shown in books or mags etc, on the huge
>contributions made by our Asian and Black friends in the
>Commonwealth.
>
>Regards
>Mick

Mick:

Nice to read your sentiments. I’d be *most* interested in the story of the Indian Hurricane pilot you mention, if you manage to dig it out.

People like Jagan (and Pushpindar Singh, the doyen of Indian aviation historians) will have far more; but in response to your comment that info on Asian and Black aircrew in the RAF is always interesting to hear, here are a few rambling snippets(from an enthusiast, not an expert!):

As you probably know, there were ten RIAF squadrons in the Burma-India theatre which were crewed entirely by Indians, and earned over 25 DFCs between them. But being part of the forgotten theatre, they are often overlooked in European and American histories. More visibly in the UK, there were some Indians (not sure of numbers; but perhaps in the region of 50 to 100?) who volunteered for service as aircrew with the RAFVR after WW2 broke out. By the time they had been shipped to the UK for training the BoB was over, so AFAIK none of them flew in the BoB. However, most went on to serve in other campaigns, and some did fly in the European theatre. Among them, and far from exhaustively:

Shivdev Singh (later Air Marshal and Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force) flew Stirlings with RAF Bomber Command over Germany;

Manmohan Singh (killed in action helping to evacuate Dutch civilians from advancing Japanese in SE Asia) flew Sunderlands, I think with RAF Coastal Command;

Ranjan Dutt (later Air Vice-Marshal, and boss of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) flew fighters in the European and in the Burma-India theatres (pretty much unrelated, but perhaps of passing interest, his daughter Ayesha Dutt became a film actress!); and

Mahender Singh Pujji (still living in the UK, I think) flew Spitfires in the UK, P-40s in North Africa and later served in the Burma-India theatre, was awarded a DFC, and features in both Chris Somerville’s book “Our War”, as well as in a MoD insert in the education resource pack “Together” on the contribution of non-whites to the war effort. (I found a copy of this pack at the Imperial War Museum shop.)

K K Majumdar, the picture of whom started this thread, was different from all these, in that he was a regular RIAF officer rather than RAFVR; and only came to the European theatre after a distinguished tour in the Burma-India theatre (where he received his first DFC).

There were also a number of black aircrew from the Caribbean who flew Spitfires and Hurricanes, or served as bomber crews, in Europe — some of them are also featured in Chris Somerville’s “Our War” and the “Together” pack. There was an interesting picture on the UK MoD website some months ago, of a black sergeant-pilot together with the great “Sailor” Malan, at Biggin Hill. Given Sailor Malan’s nationality, I sometimes wonder what some of his pre-Mandela countrymen would have made of this picture! Incidentally, the black sergeant-pilot’s name is given as Bunting — any relation of the Bunting who founded the Jamaican merchant bank of that name, I wonder?

Hope this is of interest to you (and perhaps to some of your compatriots). Regards,

Snoopy

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