Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee Father of the Indian Air Force 🇮🇳

Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee can be rightly called the 'Father of the Indian Air Force.' He was in the first batch of six Indian pilots that went to RAF Flying College, Cranwell in 1930. They were commissioned on 8 October 1932 and joined the newly formed No.1 Squadron of the Indian Air Force in April 1933. He was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Indian Air Force. He was awarded several honours during the course of a three-decade-long career, ended by his untimely demise in 1960.

Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee was born on 5 March 1911 in Calcutta into a prominent Bengali Brahmo family. His father, Satish Chandra Mukherjee, was an Indian Civil Service officer, while his mother, Charulata Mukherjee, was a social worker. His family had a strong legacy in education, social reform and public service.

After the loss of Singh brothers (Amrajit Singh and Bhupinder Singh) in an accident and with Pilot Officer H C Sircar having to leave service, Mukerjee and Awan were the only Indian pilots left in the IAF. An offer was made to them for their absorption in the prestigious Indian Civil Service (ICS) provided they resigned from the IAF; Mukerjee promptly rejected the offer. Its acceptance would have sounded the death knell for the young and fledgling service.

Mukerjee saw service in NWFP in various ranks commencing from Pilot Officer to Squadron Leader in which rank he took over the command of No.1 Squadron on 16 March 1939. In August 1940, Mukerjee led a two Hart aircraft formation in support of an Army post in the NWFP which was under intense attack by Frontier tribesmen. The post was running out of ammunition while attempting to defend the post and repulsing the attack. Mukerjee's formation strafed and repulsed the attack. The troops knew that if they were not reinforced and resupplied soon, they would be overrun, with disastrous consequences. They indicated their plight to the aircraft with the help of cloth panels. Mukerjee realizing their predicament found an 'out-of-the-box' solution. He instructed his air gunner to remove his socks, stuff them with the ammunition from the aircraft machine guns and drop the stuffed socks over the post. These 800 rounds went on to save the situation. Mukerjee was Mentioned in Despatches for this action.

After his command tenure, he served on the staff of 221 Group which was overseeing operations in Burma. Thereafter, he took over Air Force Station Kohat thus becoming the first Indian to command a flight, a squadron and a station.

He headed the Air Force Sub-Committee of the Armed Forces Reconstitution Committee to oversee the distribution of assets of the IAF between India and Pakistan. It was his firm stand that ensured that Pakistan did not get more than their due share of squadrons as intended for them by the British.

After Independence, he served as Air Officer Administration (AOA) before being promoted Air Vice Marshal in which rank he served as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) and Deputy Commander of the RIAF. 1 April 1954 was a 'red letter day' for the IAF when 43-year old Air Marshal Mukerjee took over as the first Indian to head the IAF. His main task was to reequip and restructure the IAF into a modern and potent air force. He worked hard and in his usual persuasive style he succeeded in making the government agree to his various proposals. The IAF became the first air arm in Asia to acquire jet aircraft when Vampires were inducted into the service followed soon after by Toofanis. Thereafter, state-of-the-art aircraft such as Dassault Mystere IVAS, Hawker Hunters, English Electric Canberras and Folland Gnats were acquired. These were commendable achievements, and thus was laid the foundation of a modern air force.

08 November 1960 was a tragic day for India and the Air Force when Mukherjee, who was dining at a restaurant in Tokyo, choked on his food which blocked his air passage and died before any medical help could reach him.

Air Marshal Mukerjee was one of the most prominent Indian air warriors of all time and has left a blue print for the bright future of the IAF.