1 OF 6 
Jayapal M.R Jayakar
1 of 6 portraits of Jayapal M.R Jayakar
© National Portrait Gallery, London
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Jayapal M.R Jayakar
by Bassano Ltd
bromide print, 7 February 1940
Purchased, 1996
Photographs Collection
NPG x85362
On display in Room 27 on Floor 2 at the National Portrait Gallery
Sitterback to top
- Jayapal M.R Jayakar (1912-1981), Pilot officer and first Indian to receive a commission in the RAF; son of Mukund Ramrao Jayakar. Sitter in 6 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Bassano Ltd (active 1901-1962), Photographers. Artist or producer associated with 42746 portraits.
Placesback to top
- Place made: United Kingdom: England, London (photographer's studio, 38 Dover Street, London)
Events of 1940back to top
Current affairs
Following the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France, Neville Chamberlain resigns and Churchill is appointed Prime Minister making the famous speech: 'I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.'The Battle of Britain ends the Phoney War with Germany's attack on the nation from the air. Britain's cities, airbases and ports are bombed during the Blitz.
Art and science
With little access to sculpture materials, and a bombed out studio Henry Moore starts experimenting with drawings of war subjects. After taking shelter in a London Underground station during an air raid Moore was inspired to begin a series of Shelter Drawings. With a commission from the War Artists Advisory Committee, headed by Kenneth Clark, these became some of the most popular example of official war art.International
Britain's attempt to defend France against German invasion by landing troops on the French coast ends in failure; France surrenders and Britain is left to face the Axis Powers alone. While the Dunkirk Landings were a failure, the heroic rescue of troops by a fleet of English civilian boats was a victory for morale, and the 'Dunkirk Spirit' came to stand as an emblem of British triumph in adversity.Comments back to top
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Desmond Markus
30 April 2019, 17:30
Jayapal Mukund Ramrao Jayakar (85740) appears to have been commissioned as a Pilot Officer on 6 December 1939 (and left the service as a Flight Lieutenant in 1957).
However, while he may have a claim to be the first Indian to be commissioned in the Royal Air Force in WW2, he is probably not the first Indian to be commissioned in that service. BAME airmen are known to have served with the Royal Flying Corps in WWI (and a Dattaray Laxman Patwardhan was given a temporary commission in 1919).
As RFC and RAF WWI records were lost in WWII, and many used or had anglicised names, it's difficult to say for certain who the first was (it's worth noting that First Nation Canadians - their equivalent of Native American - are also known to have joined and served in the RFC (the RAF was only formed on 01/04/1918).
London Gazette, 24/10/1940 p6145 / Iss 34976 - Commissioned as a Pilot Officer 6 December 1939
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34976/page/6145
Supplement to London Gazette, 30/04/1957 p2589 / Iss 41057 - Resigned commission 25 March 1957
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/41057/supplement/2589
Black Eagles and The Spy Princess
23 October 2016
"13.00-14.00 So Far, So High: Black and Asian Pilots in the First World War - A Guided Tour (Peter Devitt) (First World War in the Air)
During the First World War, large numbers of Black and Asian volunteers fought for Britain and an unknown number chose to join her flying services, the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and, from 1 April 1918, the Royal Air Force. Four Indian officers - Lieutenants Shri Krishna Chanda Welinkar, Indra Lal Roy, Hardit Singh Malik and Errol Suvo Chunder Sen - became fighter pilots with the RFC. The first Black volunteer to qualify as a pilot was Sergeant William Robinson Clarke from Jamaica who flew reconnaissance missions for the RFC over the Western Front..."
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/whats-going-on/events/black-eagles-and-the-spy-princess/
Indra Lal Roy
https://www.raf100schools.org.uk/resource/50/indra-lal-roy
Indians over Flanders
https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/history/pioneers/1347-indians-over-flanders.html
London Gazette, 25/03/1919 p 3892 / Iss 31251 - Dattabraya Laxuman Patwardhan / Dattaray Laxman Patwardhan
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31251/page/3892
Lieutenant John Randolph Stacey / Sawatis Tawanladah
http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/searches/soldierDetail.asp?Id=19912
http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/general/image.asp?imageId=2381&imageType=S
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/389186/stacey,-john-randolph/