India’s oldest air force pilot dies — Dalip Singh Majithia, who flew alongside Manekshaw & Asghar Khan

New Delhi: Squadron Leader Dalip Singh Majithia, the oldest fighter pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF), died at the age of 103 on Monday night in Uttarakhand.

Majithia logged over 1,100 flight tours across 13 different aircraft types and participated in World War 2 combat missions over Burma, according to IAFHistory.

One of his milestones was the successful aircraft landing on an unprepared airstrip in Kathmandu on 23 April, 1949. This was after his uncle Surjit Singh Majithia, the first Indian ambassador to Nepal, responded to Kathmandu’s request to establish an air route.

Born in 1920 in Simla, Dalip Singh Majithia studied at Khalsa College in Amritsar and later in Lahore where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He then joined the air force in November 1939 during World War 2.

After a rigorous selection process, Squadron Leader Majithia underwent basic flying training in Karachi Flying Club where he trained on the Gypsy Moth aircraft.

Further, in August 1940, Dalip Singh Majithia joined the 4th Pilot Course at the Initial Training School (ITS) in Walton, Lahore. By the end of 1940, he had logged 58 flight hours on the Tiger Moth and was awarded the best pilot trophy.

He then went on to the No. 1 Flying Training School in Ambala to continue his advanced training for six months, where he  logged 150 hours of flight training, as well as learnt skills including map reading, night approaches, aerobatics, formation flying, forced landings, and instrument flying, according to the IAF. He then earned his wings on 24 May, 1941.

He served the newly established IAF Volunteer Reserve (IAFVR) in early 1940. At the time of World War II, six Coastal Defence Flights (CDF) were established in 1940 and the flights were operated by IAFVR pilots

As part of this, in June 1941, he was assigned the Number 1 CDF based at St. Thomas Mount in Madras, where he spent the next 15 months. During this period, he piloted a variety of aircraft including the Wapiti, Hart, Audax, and Atlanta for missions important to coastal security.

One of the tasks included was to fly the Wapitis — a British two-seat general-purpose military aircraft — from Madras to Karachi, a three-day journey involving over 15 hours of flight time.

One of his tasks also involved searching and bombing submarines and conducting single-aircraft patrols over the sea, according to the IAFHistory.

In 1942, after the Coastal Defence Flights came to be disbanded, Majithia was posted to 151 Operational Training Unit (OTU) at Risalpur. He underwent training on the Harvard and Hurricane aircraft.

The next year, he joined the Number 6 Squadron as a flying officer under the command of the legendary Mehar Singh, who went on to become an Air Commodore.

In January 1944, he was appointed the Flight Commander of No. 3 Squadron which gave him the opportunity to fly alongside Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, then a Major, as well as Asghar Khan, who later became the Chief of the Pakistan Air Force.

His next assignment was as the Flight Commander of No. 4 Squadron, based in Arakan, wherein he was involved in bombing and strafing missions.

After several months of illness, Majithia was assigned a role at Air Headquarters as Squadron Leader in charge of operations. However, within two months, he was sent on a new mission that saw him fly to Perth via Colombo and Coco Island aboard a C-54 Sky Master.

He then went to Melbourne, where he served as the IAF’s Liaison to the Joint Chief of Staff in Australia. Upon his return, Squadron Leader Majithia formally retired from the IAF on 18 March 1947.

It was during his stint in Australia that Dalip Singh Majithia met Joan Sanders, a member of the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service. The two got married in 1948 and they settled in Sardarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. The couple had two daughters. Joan Sanders passed away in 2021.

(Edited by Tony Rai)