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lnaueurarion uf the East India Fund Flight: lrom theorocaeds ol a fund opened in Calculta " by loyaliitizens o[ everv racc and creed " a fighter flighl of LhcRoval Air Forae ha< been built and equipped. Thcairitaft arc seen warming-up for the ' fly-pa\t '

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THE INDIAN AIR FORCEAt a time when flyingassociated with bombers'planes, it is not easy toairmindedness is actually dueinstance to civil aviation,It dawned upon India in r92o with theexhibitjon flights and pleasure trips givenby the newly-formed Handley-Page Indo-Burmese Transport ComFany, and in theAviation Academv established in the sameyear by H.H. the Maharaja of Bharatpur.In r9z9 Imperial Airways-the modern linkbetween Europe and India-landed mailsfrom London at Karachi in under a v'eek,and had made the Persian Gulf the SuezCanal of the air, A year later the three

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4Men of the Indjan Air Force ofl paradeAt lhe Riqalpur Training School. rhe principle* ol. flightare explained with lhe aid of a Blenheim modelA group of Indian Air Force pilots

Cup made successful flights between Indiaand England, and Indian airmindednesshad been given its start.The records and achievements ofthc manyflying clubs in India to-day bear sitnessto the enthusiasm and enterprisc of theirmembeis, These amateu$ of the air havetrained most of the pilots emplol'ed by the

six air transport companies which operatein the country and are predominantlyIndiaa. In all, the flying clubs havetrained a thousand airmen, and by theirinitiative have done most to build up thatreserve of aviators upon which the IndianAir Force depend:. This reserve is repre-scnred by about 5oo activc pilots) ndvigdLors,engineers and othe$ ll,'ith technical qualili-cations.ndians competing for H.H. the Aga Khan's

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The Indian Air Forcc, which is quiteseparate from the Royal Air Force, wasformed in t93z after the first Indian cadetshad been given R.A.F. training at Cran'!'ell.Y/ith thc exception of somc of its technicalstafi', its composition is cntirely Indian.In 1938-39 it consisted of a squadron ofHeadquarters and two flights with a strengthof 16 officers, r5z air ratings, and 243 otherranks.The duties laid dcwn for the I.A.F. areto combhe with the R.A.F. in operationson lhe North Wcst Frontier, and to a'si:tthe field Army and the Navy in the eventofinvasion. Before the qutbreak ofwar rvithGermanv the I.A.F. had \ecn active \erviceconditions on the Frontier, which is one ofthe most difficult flying areas in the world.

Schemes for expansion were put into forcedirectly war began. Wirhin a short timcpilots and air crews weie training at Risalpurand mechanics at Ambala, and arrangcmentswere made for systematic recruiting andtraining to meet growing requirements. AVolunteer Air Force reserve, which wasoverwhelmed with volunteers in the samev/ay as the army recruiting centles, wasformed for defence duties, mainly coastal.The first squadron is now fully equipped'a second is being formed, and more regularsquadrons will follow. For this futureexpansion thele is to be a reserve of trainedpilots and mechanics.To mcet this increase the decision wasmade to establish various selYice schoolsimmediately, and Great Britain is supplyinga large number ofservice aircraft for trainingpurposes. These establishments are forboth flying and technical training' Theschool for officers, recently opened, pro-vides training for 5o officers at a time. OneAir Force technical school has beenexpanded to train 35o lndian airmen.Civilian flying clubs, whose help has beenso valuable in the past, will be relied on forthe preliminary training of candidates. Thefirst step in the creation of this new reserveentails the training of 3oo more pilots andz,ooo mechanics. It is confidently hoped

that the available supply of essentialtechnicians q'ill be incrcased to a consider-able extent by the Commander-in-Chief 'sappeal to cmployers to spare as many skilledmen as possible for the Indian Air Force.As Sir Robert Casseis, the Ccmmander-in-Chief, has explained, expansion of thcLA.F. meets rvith no difficulty as regardspilots and observers, who are available inionsidcrable numbcrs and can be trainedfairly quickly, but the provision of adequatenumbers of skilled mechanics is a graveproblem, and modern machines are highlycomplicated. Indians make good mechan-ics, but they have to be madc, which is amattcr of time' and there is, moreovcr, littlesurplus of skilled labour in the country.

The immediate aim, rvhich is the firststage in long-term planning, was describedby the Commander-in-Chief in his broad-cast on May 3rst as a fourfold expansion ofIndia's Regular Air Force, apart from theincrease in the auxiliary forces. Aerodromes

Prithipal Singh, an Indian oncer inAir Force, wears thc Sikh turban inblue material, with the R.A.F. badgethe RovalAir Force

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