In the second part of our feature Sree (KS Nair) talks to us about IAF Training, aircraft types and ground attack tactics. We expose some of the challenges around motivation as well as culture and work through the quote from many at the time that “The Indian Air Force was an experiment that was never meant to succeed”.

K.S. NAIR is the son and son-in-law of Indian Air Force officers. He is a graduate of IIT Delhi and IIM Bangalore, and a former director and CEO of multinational consulting firms. But, beyond that, he has been a lifelong student of Indian aviation history.

He has collected aviation-related material with an India connection from around the globe. He counts himself fortunate to have grown up around people who played key roles in some of the Air Force’s finest hours (as well as some of its most difficult), and having met several key figures from the periods he writes about.

He has published a number of articles on the Indian armed forces in Indian, American and British journals. This is his second book; his first, ‘Ganesha’s Flyboys’ (2012), covered the Indian Air Force’s role in the first-ever UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo (where they were succeeded in their UN role by a detachment of Swedish Saab J29 Tunnans).  His third book, published in mid-2022, covers the Indian armed forces’ role in the independence of Bangladesh.

Recorded 10th February 2023

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KS Nair

Other selected writing

Indian pilots in the UK and Middle East, during WW2:

Indian pilots in Burma during WW2: