The date was June 8, 1948. The history of Indian civil aviation was about to be written. At 5 minutes past midnight, the Malabar Princess — bearing the Indian tricolour — took off from Mumbai for London, giving wings to Air India’s first international flight and India’s first international airline.
The air buzzed with the excitement of the hundreds of people who had gathered to cheer as passengers boarded this historic flight only 15-20 yards away. The 35 passengers, included cyclists H.R. Malcolm and R.R. Noble on their way to represent India at the London 1948 Olympic Games, famed cricketer KS Duleepsinhji, a movie mogul, royalty and of course, J.R.D. ‘Jeh’ Tata.
The aircraft, a Lockheed Constellation, was the queen of the skies in those days. It was a 40-seater and could seat 22 as a sleeper! There were separate cloakrooms for men, women, and the crew. It featured refrigerated water taps, a loudspeaker installation, a life-sized galley, electric razor plugs and a generous inventory of toiletries. The pilots, flight engineers and radio officers had received specialised training from America. Right from the food to the uniforms, everything on the Malabar Princess had been perfected over countless late nights.
The journey from Mumbai to London, which takes less than 10 hours today, then took two halts — in Cairo and Geneva — and more than 24 hours to complete. And India achieved what many had deemed impossible.
In 1948, only a handful of airlines existed and not many countries had their own international operations
We had created history.
