FLYING SIKH: Britain To Memorialize World War-I Sikh Fighter Pilot Hardit Singh Malik

0
560

Hardit Singh Malik first arrived in the UK in 1908 as a 14-year-old to Balliol College at the University of Oxford and went on to become a member of the Royal Flying Corps during the World War-I. As the first Indian and turbaned pilot with a specialised helmet, he became famous as ‘Flying Sikh’.

LONDON – The design for a sculpture of an early 20th century Sikh fighter pilot, cricketer and golfer from Oxford University has been approved for a new memorial to be erected at Southampton (England) in memory of the Indians who fought in the world wars.

Hardit Singh Malik first arrived in the UK in 1908 as a 14-year-old to Balliol College at the University of Oxford and went on to become a member of the Royal Flying Corps during the World War-I. As the first Indian and turbaned pilot with a specialised helmet, he became famous as ‘Flying Sikh’.

“As such, the statue of Hardit Singh Malik, the world’s first Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) Sikh, turbaned fighter pilot, will be emblematic for the broader Sikh contribution in the British armed forces of World War I and II,” notes the One Community Hampshire & Dorset (OCHD) organisation behind the campaign for the memorial that was approved by the Southampton City Council last year.

I am overwhelmed by the striking beauty and power of the exceptional design of the memorial, which captures the spirit and endeavour of the great RAF fighter pilot.

Malik also played cricket for Sussex and was also the Indian Ambassador to France after a long and distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service. But he is best known as a fighter pilot during 1917-19.

“I am truly overwhelmed by the striking beauty and power of the exceptional design of the memorial, which captures the spirit and endeavour of this great RAF fighter pilot, Hardit Singh Malik, so well. It gives me great happiness to learn that the design is approved by the community,” said Lord Rami Ranger, Chairman of the British Sikh Association and Chief Patron of OCHD.

The memorial will be created by English sculptor Luke Perry.