Harish Chander Sircar was the first & senior-most officer commissioned in the IAF on 8 Oct 1932. More dubiously, he also holds the record for the first to be dismissed from service in March 1935. The intervening period is a story of many firsts. (1/15)
Harish Sircar hailed from a cultured & aristocratic Bengali family. Imbued with a passion for flying from an early age, he joined the IAF with alacrity when the opportunity arose. Intelligent with an
athletic frame, he made a tremendous impression on his colleagues. 2/
In Sep 1930, he was chosen to be amongst the first 6 to be trained as pilots at RAF Cranwell. The training incl flying on ac like the Avro Lynx, Armstrong Whitworth Atlas & the AW Siskin. Btwn the flying & classroom training, Sircar took to sports & was the Hockey team captain.3/
He had flown about 130 hours by July 1932 & graduated from Cranwell with four Indians. He was the best and was placed first, receiving his commission. With IAF yet to be formed, he proceeded to Army co-operation Course for the next few months. 4/
At the end of the Course, he was placed fifth, the four above him being British officers. He, along with the other Indians, was then posted to 16 Sqn, RAF, to fly with the unit and be ready to move to India. A move that transpired in early March 1933. 5/
No. 1 Sqn, IAF thrived despite much British resistance due to the support of its CO, Boy Bouchier. Sircar – earned two more firsts in May 1933 – the first to fly an IAF aircraft and the first to go solo on an IAF Aircraft. 6/
Sircar was considered so good that soon he was part of the IAF formation flight with Bouchier and the Flt Cdr, Peter Broad, as the other members. When the King’s birthday came, he was the only Indian to participate in the flypast – The first Indian again! 7/
Over the next year, the only IAF flight was put through its paces. Sircar was Bouchier’s favorite. Within a few months, he was doing photography, front attacks, bombing, puff shots, close recce, and cooperation exercises with the Balooch apart from formation flying. 8/
Bouchier, though was a lone man standing in support of the IAF. Skepticism among the brits was rife if IAF would be a still-born experiment. He faced several challenges – Two of the first five pilots had crashed and died, and airmen had mutineer due to poor wages. 9/
Life was going to be harder for him. On a dearly and cold winter morning of 8 January 1935, a Wapiti, piloted by Sircar crashed into 4/10 Baluch Troops, killing more than 15 of them, though Sircar and the Gunner Abdul Salaam survived with injuries. IAF’s survival was at risk. 10/
On that day, three Wapiti’s had taken off. Bouchier had given up the idea of formation due to strong winds. The mission was to carry out low attacks on a battalion, 4/10th Baluch Regiment. An hour later, Bouchier landed with news – “Sircar has crashed on top of the Troops”.11/
It transpired that Sircar came downwind & was caught in the slipstream of Bouchier & Philip. He tried to pull up but to no use. The aircraft caught fire and was burnt. Sircar was court-martialed and dismissed, though his sentence of Rigorous imprisonment was squashed. 12/
Many tried to help Sircar. CTO, Sqn Ldr Norton argued with the court on the effects of wind currents on aerofoils.He believed that a strong gale had caused a loss of lift to the aerofoil when downwind. The stick could not pull the aeroplane out of a partial stall. 13/
Bouchier was so disappointed that he did not speak to the boys for a month. He kept thinking more could have been done to save Sircar. Awan and Mukerjee bid a tearful farewell to Sircar, now the only two remaining pilots from the initial five. 14/
Sircar seems to have joined Civil aviation later. He died in 1977. In 2019, Sircar’s son met us and handed over his logbooks, which were subsequently given to the IAF museum. Sircar’s career promised a lot but met a tragic end, much to the loss of IAF and India. 15/15
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