Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T07:31:02.383Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Story of Indian Air Transport

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2016

J. R. D. Tata
J. R. D. Tata*
Affiliation:
Air-India International
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Sixteenth British Commonwealth Lecture, The Story of Indian Air Transport, by Mr. J. R. D. Tata, Chairman of Air-India International, was given before a distinguished audience on 18th November 1960 at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Birdcage Walk, London, S.W.1.

The President of the Society, Dr. E. S. Moult, C.B.E., B.Sc., F.R.Ae.S., M.I.Mech.E., presided at the meeting. Before introducing the Lecturer the President explained that hitherto the election of Fellows had been initiated by the Council and announced once a year but, under the new By-Laws, Fellowship was to be regarded as a position which could be attained by any qualified member who had reached a position of eminence and responsibility in the profession of aeronautics. At the same time it had been decided that the announcement of such elections should be made not just once a year, but on occasions such as this.

The names of 22 members who had been elected to Fellowship since May 1960 were then read out by the Secretary. (These names were published in the December Journal–Ed.)

After congratulating the new Fellows, Dr. Moult said that the British Commonwealth series of lectures started at the end of the War in 1945, and had continued annually until the present day. Throughout the years they had had a series of outstanding lectures on subjects associated with aeronautics in the Commonwealth, given by most distinguished lecturers. The stature of this lecture was set for all time in 1954 when His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh addressed them on “Aviation and the Development of Remote Areas”. Now they were to hear about the growth of aviation in one of the great members of the Commonwealth. Air Transport in India was now thirty years old1 and there was no one more suited to tell the story of that thirty years than their lecturer, Mr. J. R. D. Tata.

Mr. Tata had been actively associated with this development all his working life. Indeed, it was true to say he had had a major part in it. He learned to fly in 1929 and personally flew the first scheduled transport service in India in 1932. He had been associated with aviation throughout all these years and a few years ago was president of I.A.T.A., the International Air Transport Association; he was now Chairman of Air-India International. He had great pleasure in asking Mr. Tata to give the Sixteenth British Commonwealth Lecture, “The Story of Indian Air Transport.”

Type
The Sixteenth British Commonwealth Lecture
Information
The Aeronautical Journal , Volume 65 , Issue 601 , January 1961 , pp. 1 - 25
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Aeronautical Society 1961

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bibliography

Books

1.AIR India LTD. (1953). Story of an Airline. Commercial Printing Press, Bombay, 1953.Google Scholar
2.Dhekney, M. R. (1953). Air Transport in India. Vora & Co. Ltd., Bombay, 1953.Google Scholar
3.Gidwani, B. S. (1954). History of Air Transport. Suneja Book Centre, New Delhi, 1954.Google Scholar
4.Mustafa, Anwar. (1954). Civil Aviation in India. Calcutta, 1954.Google Scholar
5.Naqvi, S. K. L. (1948). Air Transport in India. Allahabad, 1948.Google Scholar
6. AIR India International. Annual Reports 1953-54 to 1958-59.Google Scholar
7. IATA. Annual Reports 1955 to 1959.Google Scholar
8. ICAO. Digest of Statistics—Financial Data, 1947 to 1957.Google Scholar
9.India, Government of. (1953). Air Corporations Act, 1953. Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1953.Google Scholar
10.India, Government of, Air Transport Council. (1957). Report on Indian Airlines Corporation's Fares & Freight Rates. Report prepared by the Lai Committee. Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1957.Google Scholar
11.India, Government of, Director of Civil Aviation. Reports on the Progress of Civil Aviation in India, 1931-32 to 1958.Google Scholar
12.India, Government of, Director General of Civil Aviation. (1946). Civil Aviation and Post-war Plans, Parts 3-7. Civil & Military Gazette Ltd., Lahore, 1946.Google Scholar
13.India, Government of. India in 1919 to 1934-35.Google Scholar
14.India, Government of. (1927 & 1928). Legislative Assembly Debates on Aviation. 1927, 1928.Google Scholar
15.India, Government of. (1944). Memorandum on the Post-war Development of Civil Air Transport in India, February 1944. Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1944.Google Scholar
16.India, Government of, Ministry OF Communications. (1956). 41st Report, 1956-57. Report prepared by the Estimates Committee on General Matters and Air-India International. Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1956.Google Scholar
17.India, Government of, Ministry OF Communications. (1956). 43rd Report, 1956-57. Report prepared by the Estimates Committee on Indian Airlines Corporation. Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1956.Google Scholar
18.India, Government of, Ministry OF Communications. (1950). Report of the Air Transport Inquiry Committee, 1950. Report prepared by the Rajadyaksha Committee. Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1950.Google Scholar
19.India, Government of, Ministry OF Transport & Communications. (1959). Report on the Cost Structure of the Indian Airlines Corporation. Report prepared by Wheatcroft Committee. Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1959.Google Scholar
20.Indian Airlines Corporation. Annual Reports, 1953-54 toGoogle Scholar
21.U.K., Air Ministry. Department of Civil Aviation. Annual Reports on the Progress of Civil Aviation, April 1922. March 1923 and April 1925-March 1926. His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1923, 1926.Google Scholar
22.U.K., Air Ministry. (1926). The Approach Towards a System of Imperial Air Communications. His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1926.Google Scholar
23.U.K., Air Ministry. (1930). The Progress of Imperial Communications. His Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1930.Google Scholar
24.India & Aviation. (1944). Paper written for the Indian Institute of International Affairs, New Delhi, by an Indian Airman. Kitabistan, Allahabad, 1944.Google Scholar
25.Indian Aviation, 1929-30, Jan.-March and May-Dec. 1931, 1932-1936. Editorial, Publishing & Advertisement Office, Calcutta.Google Scholar
26.Tata, J. R. D.Speeches to the Rotary Club, Bombay, 1933, 1943 & 1958.Google Scholar
27.Tymms, Sir Frederick. Post-war Civil Aviation in India. Paper read before the Institution of Engineers (India), New Delhi, Oxford Printing Press.Google Scholar
28.India, Government of. (1926). Agreement made with Imperial Airways Ltd., for the establishment of a Civil Air Transport Service between Egypt and India.Google Scholar
29.India, Government of. (1932). Agreement with Messrs. Tata Sons Limited for the operation of an Air Mail Service between Karachi and Madras via Bombay.Google Scholar
30.India, Government of. (1924). Annual Report on the Progress of Civil Aviation in India for the year ended 31st December 1923.Google Scholar
31.India, Government of. (1929). Decision that the Government of India should not participate in the proposed London-Delhi Air Service.Google Scholar
32.India, Government of, Department of Civil Aviation & Communications. The Organization of the Government of India—Paper prepared by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, pp. 167 to 181.Google Scholar
33.India, Government of. (1926). Development of Civil Aviation in India.Google Scholar
34.India, Government of. (1927). Grant of Permission for a Regular Dutch Air Mail Service between the Netherlands and Batavia to operate across India.Google Scholar
35.India, Government of. Minutes of the Meeting of the Air Board held in January 1924, June 1925 and April 1926.Google Scholar
36.India, Government of. (1923). Note on Aerial Transportation in India.Google Scholar
37.India, Government of. (1927). Policy of the Government of India in regard to the development of Civil Aviation in India.Google Scholar
38.Tymms, Sir Frederick. (1946). The State of Aviation in India. Article written for International Air Affairs in 1946.Google Scholar