Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Laddie Goes to War: Indian Pilots in World War I
    Laddie Goes to War: Indian Pilots in World War I
    Laddie Goes to War: Indian Pilots in World War I
    Ebook412 pages5 hours

    Laddie Goes to War: Indian Pilots in World War I

    By Somnath Sapru

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    During the first decade of the 20th century, the British Empire was at its zenith. The Indian Subcontinent was secure barring trouble in the North West. English education had spread far and wide. The project to build and nurture a middle class of supportive English-speaking Indians was proceeding apace.
    Many affluent Indian families, as also the princes, sent their children to England for education as that was our only window to the West and the world at large. Thus, it was that four families had their children in England for studies when World War I broke out.
    During the first two years of the War, the Royal Flying Corps that had been set up as part of the British Army, suffered heavy casualties on the Western Front in Europe. The British Government was especially looking for volunteers for the flying service.
    Among the volunteers were four young Indian men (actually five, including a technician). The first was rejected on medical grounds even though he was an American-trained pilot. All the Indians were from affluent families and had no need to volunteer, but they did so nonetheless and were accepted, trained and sent into battle.
    This book, Laddie Goes to War: Indian Pilots in World War I, is the story of these five Indians who volunteered in World War I. Four of them flew combat planes in the Royal Flying Corps in France, Belgium and Italy during the War, at a time when Indians were considered to be unfit to operate a screwdriver or drive a car/railway engine, or even fly an aeroplane. This book tells their story.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherVIJ Books (India) Pty Ltd
    Release dateMay 31, 2021
    ISBN9789389620559
    Laddie Goes to War: Indian Pilots in World War I
    Author

    Somnath Sapru

    In a four-decade long career as a journalist and author, Mr. Somnath Sapru has over the years, specialized in writing on the military and civil aviation. He has several books on this subject to his credit. His first book dealt with four Indian pilots who flew in World War I, which is now being revised and expanded to include the hitherto untold story of one more pilot, with a new title: Laddie Goes to War: Indian Pilots in World War I. Mr Sapru was initially the Defence Correspondent of the Deccan Herald and later with the Indian Express, first at Bengaluru and subsequently in New Delhi. He served as the Editor of The Pioneer, with editions in Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi and New Delhi. He later served as the Regional Editor for the Indian Express at Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore. He covered the activities of the three Services of the armed forces and specialized in the history of military aviation. He has bagged several professional awards such as the American Jefferson Fellowship in the United States in 1979 and the Asian Journalist of the Year in 1988. Though he has written on myriad themes, his preferred area of research has all along been aviation.

    Related to Laddie Goes to War

    Related ebooks

    Wars & Military For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      ‘My Ancestor Marched Across The Indian Subcontinent’

      May 5, 2020

      Over 200 years ago Solomon Earle, the 4x great grandfather of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine reader Robert Adams, wrote an account of an epic march: “In 1778, we crossed the Jumna at Culpee. Our first day’s march (3rd June) proved most disastrous

      6 min read

    • Article

      Double Duty

      Oct 26, 2021

      Double Duty
      4 min read

    • Article

      Double Duty

      Oct 26, 2021

      Double Duty
      4 min read

    • Article

      Commemorating The Lancaster

      Jun 11, 2020

      The Avro Lancaster was one of the most famous aircraft of WWII. A heavy bomber with a crew of seven, the Lancaster was capable of carrying 33,000 lbs (15,000 kilograms) of explosives. A mainstay of RAF Bomber Command, it was the most successful bombe

      11 min read

    • Article

      In Their Footsteps

      Oct 1, 2019

      In Their Footsteps
      3 min read

    • Article

      Indian Army At War

      Jan 30, 2020

      Indian Army At War
      5 min read

    • Article

      “Many South Asian Diasporic Families Don’t Know Of Their First World War Links ”

      Jun 9, 2022

      In 2021, when my daughter was studying the First World War in her final year of primary school, every week I asked her if she had learned about the contribution of soldiers from the British empire. The answer was always no – though she did have two l

      3 min read

    • Article

      Rare Lance Of The 21 St Lancers

      Jan 20, 2020

      THE BRILLIANT ARTICLE on Kitchener (Nov 2019 edition) and his involvement in the cavalry charge at Omdurman in 1898 prompted me to share this story. Some years ago, I attended an auction on a farm in the Fauresmith district, which had belonged to the

      3 min read

    • Article

      Fallen Artists

      Feb 11, 2020

      Fallen Artists
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ride Of A Lifetime

      Dec 21, 2021

      Ride Of A Lifetime
      3 min read

    • Article

      Ride Of A Lifetime

      Dec 21, 2021

      Ride Of A Lifetime
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Original Desert Rat

      Oct 2, 2017

      Burritt was part of the advanced party to land on Juno Beach on 6 June 1944 and was awarded the Légion d’honneur by the French government in 2014, along with all other surviving veterans of D-Day Damaged panzers in the aftermath of the Battle of Sidi

      19 min read

    • Article

      Man at Arms

      Nov 1, 2021

      Man at Arms
      2 min read

    • Article

      Lasting Memories And Friendship

      Oct 6, 2022

      In March this year, 70-year-old Eve Coulson made the 4,700-km journey from New Jersey to California to visit her 109-year-old Chinese-born “uncle” Moon Fun Chin. As far as she knows, Chin is one of the few surviving pilots in the U.S. who flew “the H

      7 min read

    • Article

      Family Ties

      Dec 3, 2019

      Family Ties
      5 min read

    • Article

      Lawrence battle For Arabia

      Oct 1, 2021

      Lawrence battle For Arabia
      13 min read

    • Article

      Renaissance Man

      Apr 14, 2021

      Renaissance Man
      7 min read

    • Article

      Better Sea Than Land

      Mar 16, 2021

      Better Sea Than Land
      4 min read

    • Article

      Norway Commando An Interview With Charles ‘Sonny’ Wright

      Oct 4, 2018

      WORDS TOM GARNER The British commandos became famous during WWII for daring raids behind enemy lines, and their units served in all theatres of the war across the globe. What is less well known is that the commandos were first formed in June 1940 fro

      13 min read

    • Article

      Turning Points

      Feb 21, 2023

      Turning Points
      3 min read

    • Article

      Captain Gordon’s Holland

      Mar 11, 2022

      For decades, I have dreamt of owning a Holland & Holland. This dream came true in 2021 when an acquaintance put up his vintage 12-gauge Holland & Holland for sale, and I jumped at the opportunity. The gun under discussion is a hammerless, sidelock, n

      10 min read

    • Article

      God’s Pilot

      Jul 3, 2018

      God’s Pilot
      9 min read

    • Article

      Mailbag

      Apr 13, 2021

      > Before leaving the replacement air group, F-14 pilots were well educated on the TF30 engine’s limitations and knew the workarounds so that the “sudden and scary” things that Wilkinson talks about did not happen in an air combat maneuver environment

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Laddie Goes to War

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Laddie Goes to War - Somnath Sapru

       qebook_preview_excerpt.html}ْDZ寤In!ARh؅Ǩ̨@.4?p?L_2~{DfUD#\bq?ao߽.>Pυ|~,>^/~Ë/)4MфoCwEY]'|$8p[/a(ë j7=G>#^麊_i6KQvUtO]U|ǩԇmk[7O}WݦxbNSo]9h>.v:N\wȹPžŀݾ c]LBWM2Fy7U2;Ygg;bp!޸)u('= q9~ĭrU<6\byX4}/+w؃q']\}{Y hhC6~TvyylZ 6(;s'Pkjy<$u`+dɧb=Far)Ӧ KRaCFuHu/K re򽈝kkU:rAڥ^rٷC?YpkٜxBŴm}TUle4Uັx욧QT&[ h_ $,^lsSGo QmˋۼS˕/)Fw˿_"rǦj |+MYxK]ųn>y7^Ų{_R6F1ݍH+ruP/ɦ;jֱvе}wĒ+k"o}wN߸~^.#'{"?e)ԳltB!9ؾD2Ε$Q ̊U{2Ȏ@psP5"~=\WBfGqxFbG!%Kdn"y*/B`uSU]UjT$Q+ /qKz{7u} ",(H:"H [lTO!mm=狺los\p劅D{&1Be.8=-YK)xs[fdKn ~U3 dp skB A\N'b CHLGme˾/3SDE 8 a ܣw~jFh 3<_~b-8xJ(&x$:4yGnhCx D1Rα6tub9G-{_$)ànּ*  l wU yǤ&/r"Zow8|K=ן9 42h!X1tw r F"+7BSNVj›h2lMɲ!` iﳻ,SqV_- VTbDT'b UvKݔ-=r WL +bۿ 6rwjn%Rb W1G/bw/_{,C,D8 tˮtvč LTyOh fӗ.wbvuvl7}GubȨ3&+WKD$‹.zID`-P&2!9iHst0+0 N c?kzͪ'7? N$w :b _.`B: 8u:HfJ )7 papF#NWʘuv?ᰧ uOS+/Bl+@B3&9ƆkII^qt" ֎I0 _~}.Bb'ZpvP{^qPp64Gb`!qէpcԄ=_}BrP{l߰aak."`'75)9jnQEqCחsCVM妛ec*" t`zZPB%?s+%bvQeUDmie'b8ӂMWOc-e[\}OI@-$=+O'h6ԋEÁ`! I&*NAĕ:g} H0n'*" ӥdz,L>'(-B~YF۱8ܴ "(;0M%^/은,V1r3iNKO_/ YCh&5Q ^fl'(/1TJJ2$^K +{ mAP>Dtx*'?ۉni :Q iT zA`1-"3ʵLOkR.K["ܒC-vfq?4!_%ky"mG VsF(s{Yp 5pBP2P qH}DHqvoЛ'1YD::j\Q}G:׈dS޷x]]4$ܸb/T<č $uȠpL>J>zr)nbʝa;MTE(DpT fMA1Sqf! K +љc@A~-~U3zݳlô qH~X|D8v;50+z(eNg $k< QYr|~{6t BeBԮE I1SbOԉ4=<|%uH^ʵ;KHҊzɢpk6-Cʼn 2wWkNԉh{ǺWy[cW)K d $(p>m} Σ$y~M0qGS(i~cH',#zTDI7L!VkgM;+\!#  MdF~V;-b0i봊&ϥx=a϶D*otM~ KwuĠ꿦d.3XU:[5_ЁQQ&Z:4/Մj$F+ ֭+x/G"b7ZwGͶȅEه?4@J"D{Kb0Z)}9n4P\@Դ0 5 4E::Ay(KbqFQ1_-yE}VWИRoϘ0 v/8](o2Pzm>L>U*OI>%HWj,(Z 3Ѳb~#҃ilA4,/p"?~T O&ŤQOs[%Xh}~e*Tbl琉gHDXao9v߉aI0q4U>SѶiknbG?LԄjDy]"OcGJʆtd5a~b`&ka"q23aBXppN>z>K:>? 2m*oln"wN4wt#k&{|̯enʥUJCQT *u"`M@|f Xd&@u) L ߈h͔A] F6-lmQT+#ء"/l=-빻b3V,B(+?=_DDW`k-(82"܈GYX#Y}}.!b1=fشY>,Y)\%'a &Zhj꘸-^$d \VY“KVJ4>-AgsV![cNh> };1dh%&,Hoa@$)haٙY^Xoy(ͦ[pF)buJ3Uj|raj[XnYؖsԦuS@YAGZ-N7=jĴ7~(=TYdzozk<(z!dQ>_GS/ =FOƣ\~Hy  Af++!;2,Vl((øb7%-"o#b۳(ohլȖM}+ v`w_nc|DGKNq^ϊTI.QPinGRw(XVpXc*V]Ѹhv3ݙ~᭚>T%4'tdX*G/~˟.#Ka}Ö-`Cɶo{Gw \\irF,ŤUtR{坝* >rObP{Ks[|$ ^_xT.]&?,9vUꬔ2YŨd⪁^?DA^j7 qoSIʁS-LPAbEǿBk>BZ40hDXf RAm  zANX 3V$@ ]@>Q)퍅tQwu+ȐO3[є`Nm%k aX#mJL{ڀ4HOJ]]2Oۣ3A}㬭# r =9't\67W7DU9*d?FEWԫVbvvתd hL##,r9Uwq6T;ՒgZs4"jrrj'MkK:0mx#M8oP 1EBII <ŏ0X?X1wYAfRG~NOF8(s~j 21ىhwBh)++K#LYǝ BEG~0*V.6\V(D 02(g7G)e(B== yP뎲"͑| nqc۞dXѮⱚ, j{sa5KY&"Dmh 0ve+ɖ75-'T^Sb1w!%(iڴ_Ǻ?qfKȂl C'+gvk "Z1%`z*[LzY8 *ճZ@>bL 5ѻK\~K(PMJq5}gP+s G0['bdۣ) kӝו_MȓQ&Jx6=&ĭĭ<@Sp\)%è >RzƐ)LMųg r9FIݳ"n?aVk.7+-VBgl{;")\#sfA98c% u Ñ3FbWԣzEYΉPhB_w5iNӎ0pD?Ұpckb@ Ci9f}\ ]/Ҡ/ďC͝Kj~pFh=Ѿ1Gn_T IaNgҥIʡm!C9>qc#]p~?US<,/ŊG@#ݥ0N: +D4YC*>n,6lPHa(NɐߘD#Yٓ;HfI?|(ڠ4bkQ_,\ L9L-x/X6TmG'`gK,lRjB7ƏY#rnjfkOQT\5[װ@$cA|ez>vbТ~OVTwk bk} .UƾOD*\ %ݵgB`i&Q)D4+oEZبZbuUq'0RhMBzOO*JĽ0̇Rdts~ yw8vLgeզHI,\7Eb\~Z9aEN%>?lLj1#3ۚ"ǖeU^=cSLWs7:mXmsZг֮4́IĘń2FaaƑg)՟/Miʩ->lXI1:aʦg)ﴞ7Zj&IDb2w_Iz6Kk=;,K;S1͌KˇBHރ'M)5js8RT;VȚt22 2$!8 zp<.5hyc37kӤ]@20B_2_fU$ SHQd K CJ=#7kP㶽g<>CzvfZ% :=O$ƮGhg0 ru ;%Nsn|:/_$X9zc+PҦbg%W]ZpH anˁ3/kQ&ZzU8@7dtIݺ|CD>>I(uSkS甊,n45I!b@7,glwC;)Owlp<--z71n ';Z㒾=8ύ)/S4O I^p[v K4dݔRSkGYV& E<g]Oi>:w@Y8鮫"GvuƈU_8}"p-<܊id:E[0Wv|=ŸIg,uvtf(W͐NO$oXp4w.S&"qS5/O%(B\ZU;]6j4BFl`Q`I(=+Ҙ\<})VeNNxgFS04YE_ys{?{jC *FKaDq V aOR|͖Nft0Bjj@+u^Ynuv+xZ,WMR5}mT|(=zG.8i$ swNY-Se4qZ}aMgW+|>|dUv"sfОX:B)c5+?>|O3+ް(~oܐ\ܥxJd*O]#odw^m?z56,hSf5M 0-e* ?Ϟm_Xۧv)GOBpP1?1'NkUi[Ia*Sy'ѭ]7O6}u},$RŮ)d^e<m`8 /-[_ ϦϊoZ}WJ$4X'OTlbQ_gKctviJr2Tʬe[@)\g hAzK'dl;9߸z !dW7>2WϨyȜ@}1\/f-=Ȥ,l7n){YKf.v_'hY}[ıecG j4v791V']x H߉$zYD["j.B:dUCTPq 6 ؼp{ DљXG12f>yrQpK"IG妲|[z~)!-gC4L7XEG[qNN֙ {H7ˡل)gY/C8<)xPGV4h_!1֫o8⤈Z%E[C X3ސ<36'E9Ay$6bX6'0H}drUPX$PdZ`zxa G261NZQU}DcQS4S*EFq+AAVLhôxbƮ1@a|trvb^;舦X9Oz@sFJbe0W6 H}k-#+\ &-T-F n|^1C qk7-Eg1hpMkc[e2z1ur=&&L`>7@L(`*t1-s7ضց;Ym(c$Δ&W@\*Yr8"OX}&~ je5FdߥX-hpP7>'5NKB)S"iǃvQb۞pI!L1Kڸ*d<$Kh;ңvir+ݛ!,凈4nP@03*د̟!5X~ՋC1` z0YrG뮸DBv8Und昁׃6:%"8CyOQ J5AiҖK`;=-K Dk(`"fC4r MG*Zs|v&/9Td@eXjUN9S<)s}̞h<0LZfRqL*\Dfpc:AM{[5дߝ Y-,/29ϑCg'WLY] hs w8sX )ׅy`PAu
      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1