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J.R.D TATA the pioneer in Civil Aviation

by Gyanvitaranam

   October 15th is considered to be the birthday of Civil Aviation Movement in India for on that same historic day in the year 1932 J.R.D TATA flew his aircraft from Karachi to Madras as a connectivity flight service to the London – Karachi segment operated by erstwhile Imperial Airways via Basra and Cairo.

   The House of Tatas or Tata Sons Limited began Karachi – Ahmedabad – Bombay – Bellary – Madras mail services on October 15, 1932 carrying mail bags which had left London on October 08, 1932. The service was operated by deHavilland Puss moth VT-AND, the aircraft flown by J.R.D TATA from Karachi to Bombay and piloted by Neville Vincent from Bombay to Madras. The service arrived at Madras on 17th October after a stopover at Bellary on 16th night. The total distance between Karachi and Madras was 1330 miles and this was the commencement of commercial internal air transport in the Indian subcontinent.

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