The Kohima Educational Trust is delighted to present this webinar on Thursday 21st May with Dr Robert Lyman MBE and guest speaker K. S. Nair, historian and author of The Forgotten Few - The Indian Air Force's Contribution in the Second World War.
The Indian armed forces were, at over 2.6 million personnel, the largest all-volunteer force in the Second World War. The Indian Air Force (IAF) was a relatively tiny part of this contribution, but they grew from around 300 personnel to 30,000 during the war. That was still a small force, by Allied standards, but it had symbolic importance beyond its numbers, and had little-known connections to many key battles.
The talk will run through the history of this growth, and the IAF’s accomplishments using second-line aircraft. It will tell a few representative stories of the small number of men (and an even tinier number of women) and the challenges and constraints they had to overcome, including from their own side, before establishing this force and getting to grips with the enemy. It will acknowledge the help of the British, as the colonial power, and their occasional obstruction. It will touch on the presence of Indian aircrew in the skies over England and France in the early 1940s, and in the Middle East and North Africa. It will then return to India to follow their role in the war against Japan, and at the critical turning-points of Imphal and Kohima, and the broader North East of India. It will recall their service in Burma, South-East Asia and in Japan itself for up to two years following Allied victory.
It will highlight some little-known aspects of the IAF’s story in that period, such as India’s role in protecting China; in taking on the Japanese First Air Fleet between its victory at Pearl Harbour and defeat at Midway; the sheer diversity of the people who made up the IAF; and their roles in post-1945 operations.
We will conclude with an overview of the influence of that experience on what is now the world's fourth largest air force.
To register and book your free place for Thursday 21st May at 8pm, please click the button below.
Speakers:
Dr Robert Lyman MBE - Military Historian, Author and Trustee of KET Born in New Zealand in January 1963 and educated in Australia, Robert Lyman was, for twenty years, an officer in the British Army. Educated at Scotch College, Melbourne he was commissioned into the Light Infantry from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, in April 1982. In addition to a business career he is an author and military historian, publishing books in particular on the war in the Far East. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Robert is married to Hannah, has two sons, and lives in Berkshire. For information about Robert's publications please visit his website: robertlyman.com
K. S. Nair is an historian and author of The Forgotten Few: the Indian Air Force's Contribution in the Second World War.
K. S. Nair is the pen-name of K Sree Kumar, who has been writing on the Indian armed forces, and on military issues in developing countries, for over 20 years. He has published around 100 related articles, including some in American, British and Japanese publications.
In 2024 he was honoured by the Indian Air Force with a Chief of the Air Staff’s Commendation.
Outside his interest in Indian armed forces history, he is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, and has served at levels up to Vice President, CEO, and Director, at several multinational and boutique firms, in the areas of consulting, investment and development, with clients in multiple countries.
Sylvia May - Managing Trustee of The Kohima Educational Trust Sylvia May was born in New Jersey, USA in 1957. Her parents moved to England in 1963. Educated at High Wycombe School for Girls, she decided to pursue a career in the world of books. Sylvia worked for HarperCollins for 37 years, the last eleven of which she headed up their UK-based International Sales team. Sylvia May is the daughter of the late Gordon Graham, Founder and President of the Kohima Educational Trust. She is proud that her father has inspired many people to share his vision to commemorate those who fought and died in Kohima, and the wonderful Naga people who have done so much for the British in the past. She first visited India in 1994 with her husband Robert, and has returned on numerous occasions, staying in Kohima several times. In 2000, they followed the WWII route of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, her father’s regiment. The regiment’s first main engagement in this theatre of war was at Zubza shortly before the Battle of Kohima.
