Remembering India's role in World War II

Hyderabad: Mr K. Sree Kumar Nair is among the seven military aviation historians who focuses on India’s contribution to World War II. He has published 50 articles including on fighter and bombing aircraft such as Liberators, Tempests, Spitfires, Hurricanes and Canberras. He has also written about battlefields after personally visiting them.

One of the deepest air bases that he has visited is Chhamb, which is located in Asal Uttar on the Indo-Pak border, which was a hotbed of conflicts during the 1965 and 1971 wars.

Mr Nair, 58, a civilian, is the son of former Air-Vice Marshal the late N.K. Nair. “I wrote my first article, on aero-modelling, 40 years ago, for my school magazine. I was in Class VI then. Aviation has always been my passion,” he says.

Mr Nair is in the final stages of signing an agreement with Harper Collins India for the publication of a book on the contribution of Indian aviators to the Second World War.

“Three million Indian took part in World War II and two major troops were led by Indians. However, there is not much mention made of our role since we weren’t an independent alley. This is what drove me to write on military history,” he says.

The eminent historian visited Normandy Beach, the epicentre of World War II, before starting to write about the topic.

He says that a large section on the history of the No-6 Squadron recounted in Dragon Fire has been contributed by him. “My articles have been used in most of the anniversary brochures of the IAF squadron,” the historian says.