When JRD Tata Piloted The First Air India Flight, All He Carried Was...

"On February 10, 1929, JRD 'Jeh' Tata earned the first commercial aviator's certificate in India, fulfilling a dream that he had nurtured since he was 15."

On this day in 1929, JRD Tata became the first Indian to receive a commercial pilot's license - thereby setting in motion a chain of events that would lead to the creation of Air India. Seven decades later, as Air India returns to the Tata Group, a post shared on the Group's Instagram remembers the father of Indian aviation and the role he played in Air India's history.  

Air India, the airline which gave wings to the nation, was born of Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata's love for aviation. Although the first Air India flight took off on October 15, 1932, its story actually dates back to 1929 - when JRD Tata received his pilot's license.

"On February 10, 1929, JRD 'Jeh' Tata earned the first commercial aviator's certificate in India, fulfilling a dream that he had nurtured since he was 15 and setting the stage for the much bigger dream of giving wings to the nation," the Tata Group wrote on Instagram, sharing a black and white photo of JRD Tata.

JRD Tata was 24 when a flying club opened in Mumbai (then Bombay). He became the first Indian to pass out with 'No. 1' endorsed on his flying licence and, three years later, famously piloted the first flight in the history of Indian aviation. On October 15, 1932, the Air India flight (then known as Tata Air Services) took off from Karachi's Drigh Road Aerodrome and flew to Mumbai's Juhu Airstrip.