Jodhpur Flying Club
From The Space Library
The Jodhpur Flying Club was officially opened on November 16th 1931 by his Royal Highness Umaid Singh the Maharaja of Jodhpur . The previous October the Maharaja had settled on the structure of the Flying Club, had rebuilt the landing ground, erected a hangar, bought two aircraft and brought in RAF officer Geoffrey Godwin from England to act as Flight Instructor. The first two aircraft were Moths with Gipsy One engines. Flying Officer Godwin and ground engineer Mr R.Denton Samuels were recruited with the assistance of the Delhi Flying Club and Air Ministry. Over the Next 20 years the Jodhpur Flying Club would become a hub of activity. In 1931 Imperial Airways, not being allowed to overfly Persia, would use Jodhpur as a stop over, soon to be joined by KLM on their route to Jakarta. By 1933 Jodhpur was firmly established on the air routes to the middle and far east. Many famous aviators would stop over at the Jodhpur Flying Club, including the first to fly over Everest. The MacRobertson Air Race, in which pilots competed to be the fastest to fly from England to Melbourne, used Jodhpur as a stop off point. Jean Batten the famed New Zealander Aviatrix spent time at Jodhpur. In February 1937 Charles Lindbergh and his wife spent the night at Jodhpur before disappearing for several days in India. No flight plan was filed and for a short time the media were unable to find the famous couple.
In November 1932 the Maharaja ordered two General Aircraft Monospar ST4s. In September 1935 Leopard Moths and a Percival Gull were introduced to the club's register. By 1937 Air France was also using the Jodhpur field as a stop-over point. In September 1937 Geoff Godwin was dispatched to Lockheed in Burbank California to purchase a Lockheed 12A aircraft. In June 1939 engineer Samuels was replaced by Chief ground engineer AC Warren.
On 21st September 1939 the Jodhpur government offered the services of the field as an air training center for the duration of World War 2. On 28th January 1940 the Maharaja Umaid Singh donated his Lockheed 12A to the RAF. Godwin flew the plane to Delhi where it was redesignated with an RAF registration. The Director of Civil Aviation wrote to the secretary of the Jodhpur Flying Club on 14th December 1940 to discuss how the club could participate in training up to 300 pilots a year to fly in the war effort.
On January 20th 1941 the Jodhpur Flying Club officially became the Jodhpur Flying Training Centre. Primary instruction at this time was undertaken by Geoff Godwin. On 14th April 1941 Jodhpur Air Training Centre was now the No 2 Elementary Flying Training School, RAF. By December 1941 11 British and 21 Indian pilots were training under five RAF and 5 civilian instructors at Jodhpur. They were training in 20 Tiger Moths. On May 28th 1942 the RAF set up RAF Station Jodhpur which was to now accommodate 50 light bombers and fighters with 15 officers and 246 other ranks on station. At the same time the United States Army Air Forces set up a base at Jodhpur. For the remainder of the war Jodhpur was used as a staging post for operations in the Far East as well as for refueling planes flying " The Hump ". In July 1946 Geoff Godwin resumed his former post at the Flying Club and continued to train pilots. The Maharaja Umaid Singh died on June 9th 1947 and was replaced by his son Hanwant Singh. In June 1947 the new Maharaja merged the club into "State Aviation Jodhpur". Today the air field is Jodhpur Airport and is Primarily an Indian Air Force Base.
