Story of War a RIAF Pilot Diary 1938 to 1944

[Sakobav]

I stumbled on this blog prepared by son of Flt Lt D Wood, who although a Sandhurst graduate learned flying in Madras and joined fledgling RIAF. Interestingly he was trained in Iraq ( Habbaniya) and served in Afghan/ RAZMAK area same places coincidentally where the wars are still going on.
His dairy is very straightforward and candid, does mention renowned RIAF officers and pioneers Mehar Singh ( his name came up when pilot friend of his in plane was shotdown, surrounded shot by pashtuns and then his body was disfigured, Mehar Singh in a similar situation took the machine gun off and with plane compass managed to escape back to the fort) Arjan Singh, Latif, Manjumdar, Mukherjee, etc. He also writes about his shikar in various parts of India, flying from Lahore to Bathinda, Jalandhar, Nakodar etc and various places in india. due to restricted supply of guns and ammo with war, how prices spiked up and he bought a 22 winchester rifle and ammo, the relative cost of guns etc. Blog is about life as a general in that era.

http://storyofwar.com/

[ckkalyan]

Very, very nice info ngrewal! Many Thanks for sharing this authentic gem! This is Déjà vu for me...My dad was in the RIAF, so I cherish these stories, they are indeed, very close to my heart!

Guess who else will love your post, amongst the many fans of RIAF at IFG? xl_target - we have had many nostalgic and entertaining tele-conversations in the last months about this very topic (Déjà vu - again?)!

Thanks ngrewal - once more - for sharing this!

This link is the only one in India - unfortunately, it lists only IAF (some RIAF) personnel! xl_target again is the only person who I know who has deep dived into this sceneraio...

This is the link for my dad - Service No. 2297 - very scant information on the site - but I am glad that they solicit information, old photos, stories etc from families! I would love to add to the information...one day - soon!

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Datab ... srnum=2297

[xl_target]

Navi,
Another great find from you.
CK is correct. I love this kind of stuff.

Have just nibbled on the edges so far. Will get into the rest of the blog in more detail when I get the time.
Thanks!

[ckkalyan]

Navi,
Another great find from you.
CK is correct. I love this kind of stuff.
Have just nibbled on the edges so far. Will get into the rest of the blog in more detail when I get the time.
Thanks!

xl_target - lovely - I have just gone through a few years from 1939 to 1942 - it is really superb 'morse code type' of narration; very exciting to decipher what the author had in mind and what he was referring to!

I think you will love it - especially connecting the 'localized' Hinglish of that time to what we know. Huge and amazing variation in Geography within a short number of years! Very exhilarating once you get into the flow!

[Sakobav]

Ck and XL glad you like this blog..CK you should try IAF bhavan maybe they have your fathers record? Even London archives are great cant remember their name

Cheers