Military Digest | Earning ‘Wings’ at the ripe age of 41 years: Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh

Unconventional way of earning flying qualifications

But before we discuss those achievements we must go back to the morning of April 15, 1950, when Harjinder Singh lined along with young officers roughly half his age to receive his ‘Wings’ from the then Commander-in-Chief of the IAF, Air Marshal (later Air Chief Marshal) Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman. The commissioning and wing-presentation parade was held at the No 1 Air Force Academy, which was based at Ambala at the time, when Singh was serving as Commanding Officer of 1 Base Repair Depot in Kanpur.

A statement issued by the government at the time noted, “By earning his “wings” at this comparatively ripe age, Group Captain Harjinder Singh adds yet another record to the many which he has established in the IAF since he started his Service career in the early 1930s in the lowest rank, then known as ‘Hawai Sepoy’. An aeronautical engineer by trade, he recently started teaching himself flying on an aircraft constructed all by himself”.

While commanding one of the most important and largest IAF stations at the time, the 1 Base Repair Depot at Kanpur, where most of the operational and trainer aircraft used by the IAF were maintained, Harjinder Singh devoted every minute of his time, after attending to his office duties, to complete his training as a full-fledged service pilot.

His Senior Administrative Officer, Squadron Leader (later Group Captain) E D Masillamani, Vir Chakra, who was a qualified flying instructor, assisted him in his ‘advanced flying’ stage. Incidentally, Masillamani earned his Vir Chakra in the 1948 Kashmir war flying as Flight Commander and later as CO of 7 Squadron attacking ground targets in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir to great effect.

The official statement notes that in qualifying for his ‘Wings’, Group Captain Harjinder Singh completed the curriculum of all the ground and air training, which is required of pupil-pilots at the flying training establishments before they can earn their flying badges. This was an unconventional way of earning the flying qualifications but it gives credit to the flexibility of the IAF’s senior officers who gave official recognition to this feat.

From engineering college to the skies

Born in Hoshiarpur (Punjab) in 1909, Harjinder Singh completed his engineering studies at the Maclagan Engineering College, Lahore. After Partition, the successor of this engineering college in Indian Punjab is the Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh. Quite fittingly, Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh gifted the aircraft designed by him, Kanpur-1, to PEC in 1967. Today, it is housed at the IAF Heritage Centre in Chandigarh.

Given his engineering background, Harjinder Singh could have joined at a higher level in the IAF but he chose to join at the lowest rank in the newly formed service. By sheer dint of merit and hard work, he bellied the then prevalent prejudices against ‘un-technical minded Indians’, and worked his way up to become the first Indian IAF Corporal, the first Indian Sergeant, and the first Indian Warrant Officer. His rise in the service continued until it saw him become the Station Engineering Officer at the Air Force Station, Peshawar, with more than 1,000 technicians working under him.

Harjinder Singh was commissioned as an officer in 1942 after his return from the first Burma air operations where, as a Warrant Officer, in charge of the ground crew, he earned immense praise from the late Wing Commander K K Majumdar, who was then commanding No 1 IAF Squadron.

In 1948, Harjinder Singh took over command of the IAF Base Repair Depot, Kanpur, from Group Captain (later Air Vice Marshal) Dewan Atma Ram Nanda. Harjinder was appointed as Air Officer Commanding Maintenance Command in 1955 when that Command was formed. On promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he was designated as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Maintenance Command after the command was upgraded.