Government, Please Act to Save a National Hero's Legacy

New Delhi: In exactly one week, a
Distinguished Flying Cross awarded to the man widely considered the father of the modern Indian Air Force will be auctioned in London.

With just a handful of days remaining, NDTV has learnt that the
Indian Air Force has swung into
action to try and ensure that the
unique medals awarded to Wing
Commander Karun Krishna 'Jumbo'
Majumdar are instead brought to
India, where they will find pride of
place at the Indian Air Force Museum in New Delhi.

Karun Krishna 'Jumbo' Majumdar
was the ultimate flier, a hero is the
truest sense of the word. He was
awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross by the Royal Air Force not once, but twice, for bravery during the Second World War where he flew
over both the Burma front and in
Europe.

But the prospects of getting back these treasures look bleak at the moment.

Sailen 'Bambi' Majumdar, the late
Wing Commander's son, is
determined to go ahead with the
auction by Morton & Eden Ltd. in
London. Mr Majumdar, who was just
two when his father died, is reported
to have said that he does not want a
situation where his relatives fight
over Jumbo Majumdar's medals and
would prefer seeing them in the safe
hands of a private collector. The
auction is expected to fetch up to
30,000 pounds or a little more than Rs 29 lakh.

Alerted by NDTV of the possibility of
Jumbo Majumdar's medals being
auctioned, Air Headquarters in New
Delhi have instructed their Air Attache at the Indian High
Commission in London to reach out
to Sailen Majumdar to convince him
to instead hand over the DFC to the
Indian Air Force so that it can be
brought back to India. So far, Mr
Majumdar has resisted these efforts
and has made it clear that he is not
interested in speaking to anyone in
the Indian media. There was no
reply to an email sent by us to Mr
Majumdar and repeated efforts to
reach him on the telephone have been unsuccessful

Sadly, the Indian Air Force has not
been authorized by the Ministry of
External Affairs to place a bid at the
auction and all hope of getting
possession of his Distinguished Flying Cross, his India General Service Medal (1936), original log book among other personal belongings rests squarely on
the shoulders of the IAF's Air Attache in the UK.

The auction documents state, "Jumbo Majumdar's seeming disregard for his own safety on solo bombing raids and leading others against what appeared to be insurmountable odds made him
a legendary figure both in the Royal
Air Force and among his own
countrymen. It is generally agreed
that had he lived, his example and
vision for Indian air power would
have seen him rise to the highest level in the post-Independence Indian Air Force."

In 1942, Jumbo commanded a
squadron flying Lysanders in Burma
where he led two unescorted attacks
to enemy airfields in Thailand and
conducted attacks in support of the
army in Tennasserim. He also led
invaluable reconnaissance missions
over the Rangoon region. On one
occasion, he had to crash land in the
jungle where he was eventually
rescued after four days by Shan
tribesmen.

Deployed in England in March 1944,
Jumbo went on to fly 65 sorties in 100 days operating in densely defended airspace. His efforts were not unnoticed.

In January 1945, when he was
awarded a second (Bar) to his D.F.C,
the London Gazette wrote, "His
keenness for operational work and
his skill on difficult and dangerous
missions has always been outstanding. Before the advance
northwards in France, he completed
exceptionally valuable photographic
reconnaissances of the Seine bridges, in the face of heavy ground defences.

He has also participated in long
tactical reconnaissances on which he was several times intercepted by
superior formations of enemy aircraft. His skill and courage have
always been outstanding."

'Jumbo' Majumdar was killed on
February 17, 1945 in Lyallpur (in
Faisalabad, Pakistan) in an air crash
when the Hurricane fighter he was
flying during an aerobatic display
developed problems - one of the
undercarriage legs deployed mid-
flight upsetting the balance of the
fighter as it was being put through
tight turns. True to form, Jumbo had
gone ahead with the display despite
knowing that this particular
Hurricane had a series of mechanical problems. He was killed instantly in the crash. The display was meant to raise public awareness to improve recruitment prospects to the Indian Air Force.

The prospect of losing what should be a considered a national treasure to a private collector comes at a time when this government has made it clear that the memory of those who served in the First and Second World War will not be forgotten and that India will publish the structured history of its armed forces. In fact, on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented the Man Singh Trophy, a prized possession of Sikh battalions to his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott in Canberra in memory of the Indian and Australian soldiers who had fought together in Gallipoli in the First World War.

Will the Government of India now act
to bring back to India a piece of the
Indian Air Force's history?