ARMY AVIATION IN INDIA RAJIV GHOSE

This air power prophet had remarked, “Whoever will be the master of the sky, will be the master of the world.”10 Focussing on the heritage of India’s army aviation, the most technical arm of the British Army at that time was the Corps of Royal Engineers. [...] The War Office and Admiralty were unable to agree on a common policy for the development of aviation, which could meet the requirements of the two forces and by July 1914, the de facto split was acknowledged by the independent formation of the Royal Naval Air Service on July 1, 1914.16 The Royal Flying Corps became the army’s air branch and was no longer part of the joint Service organisation for. [...] superiority to maintain dominance in the air space over the battlefield.18 This was the beginning of the concept of a dedicated air force to create and maintain total dominance of the air while the surface forces were to battle it out with the aid and support of this force. [...] 3 MONSOON 2008 (July-September) ARMY AVIATION IN INDIA guns in the background and the side face of the mythical lion, “Chinthe.” After successful participation in the Burma campaign, the squadron returned first to Madras and was subsequently assigned for the liberation of Malaya.35 The initial training for the squadron was done with the “Tigermoth,” and later it was equipped with the “Auster.” Cap. [...] Mehta who, with the generosity of Air Marshal (Retd) Harjinder Singh, in his capacity as the aeronautical adviser to the Government of Punjab, was able to get the Pushpak aircraft of the Flying Clubs of Punjab, though further work had to be done to get this through and out of the doors of the ministry, Service Headquarters and Directorate General of Civil Aviation.