Lt. Indra Lal Roy dfc

   Lt. Indra Lal Roy (1989-1918) was the one Indian pilot who distinguished himself most in the First World War. Indra was born in Calcutta on 2nd December, 1998. His father P.L. Roy was a wealthy Barrister and Zamindar from Barisal, now in Bangladesh. Indra was academically brilliant and won several scholarships and joined Oxford University, in England. Even as a student he evinced great interest in aviation and used to spend much of his time making models of aeroplanes.

   At the age of 18 years he joined the Royal Flying Corps and obtained the king’s commission on July 5, 1917. Within a few months he was appointed Scout Airman and was posted to 56 Squadron of RAF in France for military operations against Germany. According to a contemporary report in the ‘Times of London’, Lt. Roy did fine work at the war front till December 1917 when his plane was shot down by the Germans in the battle of Cambray.....