Gujarati co-pilot of country’s aviation history

AHMEDABAD: An unknown Gujarati’s family has written to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), staking claim for Mansukhlal Parekh of Jamnagar to be considered the real pioneer of aviation in India. While JRD Tata got India’s first commercial flying licence, it was Parekh who is believed to have built his own plane – the first such successful attempt in India – way back in 1930.
“I have given DGCA documents to show that my father made the first aircraft in Jamnagar,” says Mumbai-based Harshida Desai, Parekh’s daughter.
“Tata appeared for the B licence for commercial flying in January 1934 along with my father in Karachi, a fact reported in the ‘The Sind Observer’, published from Karachi dated January 10, 1934.”
Tata was 23 then, while Parekh was only 19. The B licence allowed them to fly across India. Desai is planning to set up a museum dedicated to her father in Jamnagar.
Born in a family of jewellers in Jamnagar in 1911, Parekh’s love affair with flying machines began early. Not interested in formal education, he dropped out of school after fourth standard and yet taught himself English to read the American monthly ‘Popular Science’.
“So enchanted he was by the story of the Wright brothers that he decided to replicate their success in India. He imported the aircraft’s engine and propeller from the US and used spare parts of car and cycle to assemble a two-seater aircraft in 1930. As he didn’t know flying then, he requested a British pilot to test fly his plane. The aircraft made a first sortie. It flew to 200 feet at the speed of 200 miles per hour,” Desai said.
Impressed with him, the then ruler of Jamnagar had sent him for flight training to Karachi which was the aviation hub of unified India then. “My dad and JRD together passed the B licence test at Karachi Aero Club,” Desai added.