It is in the fitness of things that even as the Indian Air Force is celebrating its 75th Anniversary and at sixty, India is going through the euphoria of ‘Chak de’, celebrating achievements in a variety of fields, S Sapru has produced yet another book on aviation, Sky Hawks, reminding us that the seeds of the country’s greatness in military aviation were actually sown by five young Indians much earlier, during the First World War.

The IAF has honoured its heroes of the 1947-48 Kashmir war and the air operations in 1965, 1971 and 1999 but the spirit to fight in the air was first demonstrated by these young Indian aviation pioneers.

Sky Hawks is a fascinating story of the valour and sacrifices of Hardit Singh Malik, Indra Lal Roy, SC Welingkar, ESC Sen and DL Patwardhan who, commissioned in the Royal Flying Corps (later, the Royal Air Force), flew numerous combat missions over enemy territory.

Obvious in this narrative is the author’s passion for the subject and his ability to portray the minutest details of goings-on in the squadrons, the crew rooms, hangars and in the air, firing against enemy aircraft while averting being hit, the natural fear, nervousness and frenzy of triumph of the fliers ensconced in cockpits of their primitive flying machines. These are endless images which make the book fascinating.

The author has spent many tireless years collecting information from sources in England and India and his devotion is amply reflected in the graphic details at the end of the book, detailing missions undertaken by these pilots.

The longest and perhaps most interesting narrative in the book is about Indra Lal Roy whose love life, his passion for flying and finally him being shot-down in a dogfight (after nine kills to his credit) are dramatically poignant.

A befitting add-on to the book is reproduction of Indra Lal Roy’s several drawings of various types of aircraft he flew as he moved from one squadron to the other. Black-and-white pictures of this galaxy of aviators are pasted (not printed) within the book, which make for simplicity combined with grace.

However, some keywords are misspelt and perhaps better editing would have removed such an irritation. The writer’s name appearing on top of every other page also seems somewhat narcissistic but all in all, Sky Hawks deserves a place in every aviation enthusiast’s collection!