Episode Details

The Forgotten Story of Flying Officer Man Mohan Singh | Radio Haanji 1674 AM Podcast

Eighty-four years ago today, on 3 March 1942, a Sikh pilot from Rawalpindi drowned in a harbour in Western Australia. He was 35 years old. He had flown solo from England to India. He had flown solo from England to South Africa. He had commanded flying boats in the Battle of the Atlantic and in the waters of Southeast Asia as the Japanese swept through Singapore and Java. He was one of the most remarkable aviators of the early twentieth century. And almost nobody knows his name. In a special podcast episode on Radio Haanji 1674 AM, host Ranjodh Singh sat down with Tarnpreet Singh from the Australian Sikh Heritage Association to tell the story of Flying Officer Man Mohan Singh — the first Sikh aviator, the first Indian to fly solo from England to India, and the first Indian to die on Australian soil in the Second World War.

A Boy from Rawalpindi Who Taught Himself to Touch the Sky

Man Mohan Singh was born in Rawalpindi in September 1906 — a city that now sits in Pakistan but was then the heart of British India's Punjab. His father, Dr Makhan Singh, was a physician of distinction and a recipient of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal, awarded for distinguished public service. In 1923, at just seventeen, Singh left for England on a Government of India scholarship to study civil engineering at the University of Bristol, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1927. He then enrolled in a two-year course in flying and aeronautical engineering on scholarship, emerging not just as a qualified engineer but as a licensed pilot.

In 1929, the Aga Khan offered a prize of five hundred pounds to the first Indian to complete a solo flight between England and India within one month. Man Mohan Singh named his de Havilland Gipsy Moth aircraft Miss India, had the Maharani of Cooch Behar preside over its naming ceremony at Stag Lane Aerodrome in London, and had a map of India painted on its rudder — because, he joked, he frequently lost his way. An editor of a flight journal noted drily: "Mr Man Mohan Singh called his aeroplane Miss India and he is likely to."

He made his first attempt on 11 January 1930 from Croydon Airport but smashed his propeller at Noyon in France. His second attempt ended in a crash landing on a mountain road in Paola, southern Italy, injuring his eye. His third attempt departed Croydon on 8 April 1930 and reached RAF Drigh Road in Karachi on 9 May 1930. He had done it — the first Sikh and the first Indian to fly solo from England to India. He also missed the Aga Khan prize deadline by precisely one day. It went to Aspy Engineer instead.

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, moved by his perseverance, compensated him personally and employed him as his chief pilot. Between 1934 and 1935, Singh went further — becoming the first Sikh and the first Indian to fly solo from England to South Africa. During the Aga Khan race period, the industrialist JRD Tata encountered him at Gaza and later recalled Singh's fearless, unorthodox flying style with great admiration. These were not sporting achievements alone. In an era when aviation was still young and dangerous, they were extraordinary acts of courage.

From the Atlantic to the Edge of the Pacific

When the Second World War began in 1939, Man Mohan Singh joined the Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a pilot officer. He was then selected as leader of a batch of Indian Air Force pilots sent to England for training an