India
Hardit Singh Malik
1894–1985 Pilot, Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force, 1917–1918
Born in Rawalpindi in 1894, Hardit Singh Malik read history at Balliol College, Oxford. Denied a commission in the Royal Flying Corps, he drove ambulances for the French Red Cross until his tutor appealed to General David Henderson, head of the RFC, and he became the first Indian to fly as a pilot with the corps. He flew a Sopwith Camel with No. 28 Squadron under Major William Barker, and a flying helmet made to fit over his turban earned him the nickname "Flying Hobgoblin". Wounded on 26 October 1917, he crash-landed behind Allied lines in an aircraft hit more than 400 times. Credited with two victories, he later joined the Indian Civil Service, became independent India's first High Commissioner to Canada and served as ambassador to France.
In the chronicle
Sources
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardit_Malik
- www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p022ybgy
- balliolarchivist.wordpress.com/2014/08/14/ww1-hardit-singh-malik-balliol-1912
- timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indians-who-lorded-over-European-skies-in-WWI/articleshow/44717029.cms
- www.sikhchic.com/books/a_little_work_a_little_play_the_autobiography_of_hardit_singh_malik