The Aeroplane and the Making of Modern India

Abstract

Abstract The aeroplane played a small but significant role in India’s transformation from colony to republic. Through the prism of aviation, both civil and military, this book traces the story of India’s journey from the Second World War to the emergence of India as a sovereign state. Drawing on archives in India and the United Kingdom, untapped personal collections, and newspaper reports it points to the critical impact of aviation on the shaping of modern South Asia. Control of aviation enabled the Indian state to survive the twin crises of partition and the war in Kashmir. The aeroplane also served as a potent symbol of modernity. The strategic and ideological importance of aircraft was not lost on other contenders for power in South Asia. The Indian princes and Pakistan both also invested substantially in aviation with a view to entrenching their sovereignty. The book makes two key arguments. First, a study of the state’s relationship with aviation reveals that independent India conceptualized sovereignty in ways that diverged radically from its colonial predecessor, stressing the importance of ruptures over continuities in explaining decolonization. Second, that aviation was critical to securing and legitimating independent India. Indeed, the indispensability of aircraft would be confirmed by the independent Indian government’s decision in 1953 to nationalize aviation, heralding an era of near-total state control of aviation. This book is the first comprehensive history of aviation in India and makes important interventions in a number of fields including histories of technology, warfare, politics, transport, and law.