YESTERDATE
■ Combat pilot Indra Lal Roy, the only Indian World War I flying ace, was born on this day. He served in the Royal Flying Corps and its successor, the Royal Air Force, and was credited with winning 10 aerial battles in about 170 hours of flying time.
This included three battles over the feared German combat aircraft Fokker DVII.
A military aviator who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft is honoured as a flying ace. The tradition began from World War I.
Roy was born in Calcutta in a distinguished Bengali family. He attended Saint Paul’s School, Hammersmith, in London. He joined the Royal Flying Corps when he was 18.
Soon after joining, he crash-landed his fighter plane. Thought to be dead, he was placed in a French morgue but woke up there. While recovering, he made designs of aircraft to make them safer. Soon he was able to return to active service.
His remarkable victories took place between July 6 and July 19, 1918. He won his final battle when he shot down a Hannover C over Cagnicourt in France.
His brief, dazzling life — he was yet to be 20 — came to an end when a few days later, on July 22, he was killed over Carvin in France, which was German-controlled territory, in a dog fight with Fokker D.VIIs.
He is buried at Estevelles Communal Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France.
