Indian Airmails

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      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Colombo August 1952
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      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Sydney March 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Tokyo July 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Colombo August-September 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Singapore June 1959
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      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Auckland April 1963
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  • Home
  • Pre-1953 Airlines
    • Indian State Air Services >
      • 1929 Karachi - Delhi via Hyderabad & Jodhpur
    • Delhi Flying Club >
      • 1931 Emergency Flight by Delhi Flying Club
      • 1932 Karachi - Delhi
    • Indian Trans-Continental Airways >
      • 1933 Karachi - Calcutta >
        • 1933 Eastwards: Karachi - Calcutta
        • 1933 Westwards: Calcutta to Karachi
      • 1933 Calcutta - Rangoon via Akyab >
        • 1933 Eastwards: Calcutta - Rangoon via Akyab
        • 1933 Westwards: Rangoon - Calcutta via Akyab
      • 1933 Karachi - Singapore Extension
      • 1934 Karachi - Australia Extension
      • 1936 Rangoon - Hong Kong
    • Indian National Airways >
      • 1933 Calcutta - Dacca
      • 1933 Rangoon - Calcutta
      • 1934 Karachi - Lahore
      • 1940 Karachi - Calcutta via Lahore
      • 1939 Karachi - Delhi
      • 1947 Calcutta - Rangoon
    • Madras Air Taxi Service
    • Experimental & Survey Flights. >
      • 1931 England - Australia Flight >
        • 1st Experimental Flight
        • 2nd Experimental Flight
      • 1938 Flying Boat Coogee
    • Star Line
  • Tata Airlines
    • 1931 - Karachi - Madras: Route Survey Flight
    • 1932 - Karachi - Madras >
      • Official Southbound
      • Official Northbound
      • Other Southbound
      • Other Northbound
      • Other Material
    • 1933 - Karachi - Madras via Poona
    • 1935 Karachi - Madras via Hyderabad >
      • 1935 - Karachi - Madras via Hyderabad
      • 1935 Bombay-Hyderabad Errors on Stamp
    • 1935 - Bombay - Calcutta demonstration flight
    • 1935 - Bombay - Travancore via Goa & Cannanore
    • 1936 - Madras to Colombo via Trichinopoly
    • 1937 - First Flight to Bhuj
    • 1937 - Delhi - Bombay via Gwalior, Bhopal & Indore
    • 1938 - Karachi - Madras extension to Colombo via Trichnopoly
    • 1938 - Trichinopoly - Trivandrum extension
    • 1938 - Mansoon halt at Poona
    • 1946 - Bombay - Calcutta via Nagpur
  • Air-India
    • 1948 Air-India International Bombay - London Flight >
      • Postage Stamps - Constant Errors
      • The Postage Stamp
      • First Day Covers
      • DG's Circular & Postal Notices
      • Official Covers
      • Air-India Covers
      • Special Flight Cachet
      • Postage Rates gallery
      • Local Cancellations
      • Private Covers Gallery
      • Interesting Places of Origin & Destinations >
        • Interesting Destinations
        • Interesting Places of Origin
        • Interesting Places of Origin & Destinations
      • More interesting covers
      • Return Flight covers
      • Other Philatelic Curiosities
      • Award winning exhibit
    • 1948 - 1953 Early Route Expansion
    • 1954 - 1959 Early Route Expansion
    • 1960 - 1965 Air-India Boeing 707 Era.
    • 1966 - 1970 Air-India Boeing 707 Era.
    • 1971 - 1975 Boeing 747 & Other Aircraft Era
    • 1976 Onward Boeing 747 & Other Aircraft Era
    • Crash Mail Covers
    • Postal Meter panels
  • Indian Airlines
    • 1960 - 1964
    • 1965 - 1969
    • 1970 - 1974
    • 1975 - 1979
    • 1980 - Onward
    • Crash Mail Covers
    • Meter Panel & Stationery
  • Foreign Airlines
    • B.O.A.C. >
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Colombo August 1952
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Singapore October 1952
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 1 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1953
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Sydney March 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Tokyo July 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Britannia Turbo-Prop Airliner London to Colombo August-September 1957
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Tokyo April 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Singapore June 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Sydney November 1959
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Manila November 1961
      • B.O.A.C. Comet 4 Jetliner Service London to Auckland April 1963
      • B.O.A.C. Boeing 707 London to Nandi November 1965
      • B.O.A.C. VC 10 40th Anniversary of Regular Airmail
  • Others
    • Zeppelin & Catapult >
      • LZ-10 Schwaben
      • LZ-13 Hansa
      • LZ-127 Graf Zeppelin
      • LZ-129 Hindenberg
      • LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II
      • Catapult Mail
      • Ephemera
    • Rocket Mail >
      • Indian Rocket Mail
      • Sikkim Rocket Mail
    • Pigeon Mail
    • Balloon Mail
    • Airship R 101
    • Indian Air Force
  • Resources
  • Useful Links
  • Contact us

JRD Tata gallery


JRD Tata was the founder of Tata Airlines and Air-India. He was also the force behind the extraordinary success of the airlines.
See my gallery below for some rare souvenirs related to JRD Tata and the story of Air-India and predecessor airlines.

Picture

Picture
Picture

Picture
Seating and Sleeper Accommodation folded in showing the chairman Mr. J.R.D. Tata,
​using the internal communication telephone.
Picture
J.R.D. Tata on the occasion, when he flew a Vampire at Hatfield in June 1948
(ex-John Stroud Collection)
Picture
De Havilland Vampire
Picture
London, 1948. JRD Tata, Chairman of Air-India.He was the First Indian to hold a pilot's Licence.
Seen here is 1948 when he flew a D.H. Vampire at hartford
​(ex-John Stroud collection)

Picture
Bombay 16th March, 1948 Arrival of the 1st Air-India International Constellation VT-CQS Mughal Princess at Santacruz Airport.
Left to right: Mr. J.D.Choksi - Director Air-India, Mr. JRD Tata - Chairman, Air-India & Air-India International, Mr B.W. Figgins - General Manager Air-India & Air-India International, Mr S.K. Kooka Traffic Manager Air-India & Air-India International, Mr A.C. Gazdar Operation Manager Air-India & Air-India International.
​(ex-John Stroud Collection)

Picture
London, 9th May 1948. 
Arrival of the second proving flight from Bombay.
On staricase, from bottom to top: Mrs. Masani, Mr. Tata, Mr. Masani, Mr. Figgins, Mr. Kooka.
(ex-John Stroud collection)

Rome, early 1960s.
JRD Tata and Bobby Kooka arriving at Rome.
Picture
Faded photograph of JRD Tata, Bobby Kooka and an unknown person taken at Rome Airport.

Bombay, 15th October 1962 
Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the First Flight
JRD Tata retraces the route of his original Karachi - Ahmedabad - Bombay flight.
Picture
Publicity photograph taken at Bombay airport on 15 October 1962 shows Mr. J. R. D. Tata, Chairman of the Tata group and of Air-India, who piloted this flight and the original 1932 flight as well, standing with Mr. S. K. 'Bobby' Kooka of Air-India. Behind him is the De Havilland DH85 Fox Moth, VT-AKH in which he recreated the flight. This aircraft was similar to the De Havilland DH80A Puss Moth, VT-ACZ in which he did the original 1932 flight. Also in the background is Air-India's Boeing 707, acquired by Air-India in 1960.
Picture
On 15 October 1962 De Havilland DH85 Fox Moth

Picture
Mr. JRD Tata, Chairman,
photographed in front of the Leopard Moth and the Boeing 707 at Satnacruz airport on October 15, 1962 after completing his 30th Anniversary flight.
​​(ex-John Stroud collection)

Bombay, 15th October 1982 
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the First Flight
78 years young, JRD Tata flies solo as he retraces the route of the original Karachi - Ahmedabad - Bombay flight flown by him 50 years ago.
Picture
 Tata at Bombay airport after completing the Karachi - Ahmedabad - Bombay flight standing in front of the airplane he flew that day. In his right hand is the original Tata Airlines mail bag used to carry mail in the 1930s. A rare autographed publicity photograph.
Picture
JRD TATA. VT-AKH
​(ex-John Stroud collection)

15th October 1932
The First Flight of Tata Sons Ltd., Aviation Division from Karachi to Madras via Ahmedabad, Bombay and Bellary.
Piloted by JRD Tata on the Karachi - Ahmedabad - Bombay stage.

Picture
Top: Actual mail flown from Karachi to Bombay on the flight piloted by JRD Tata on 15th October 1932. This was the first flight of the Aviation Division of Tata Sons Ltd., and was in one sense the first flight ever by a truly Indian enterprise.

Below: Actual mail flown on the Ahmedabad to Bombay stage of the same flight, also piloted by JRD Tata.

Both covers signed by JRD Tata. Extremely rare covers. it is believed that only three such covers exist, and here are two of them.
Provenance: ex. Solee Sukeshwalla collection, Cherrystone Auction 2013.
Picture

Picture
Cover flown from Karachi to Bombay on 15 October 1932, signed 50 years later.
This cover is from the H. C, Mehta/Yogi Mehta collection with an interesting story. In 1982, Mr. Tata recreated the historic flight and halted in Ahmedabad on the same day as the first flight on 15 October 1932. The Mehtas, father and son, were at the airport among the enthusiastic crowd welcoming the flight. Young Yogi ran up to Tata with the souvenir philatelic cover issued that day by the postal authorities and asked him to autograph it. Mr. Tata looked at the cover and refused to sign on it saying something to the effect that he would not sign on an official postal cover. Mehta thought fast, rushed home and back with the 1932 cover flown by Tata himself 50 years ago, he went up to Mr. Tata again, and this time seeing this cover, Mr, Tata smiled and said, "now I will sign as many of these as you like", and happily went on to sign the cover taking care to date it as well, 15.10.82
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