“Close your eyes and think of the first person who comes to your mind with whom you’d trust your life,” says Air Marshal S Varthaman (retired). ‘My mother’ is what several people in the audience say. “That’s right. 50% of us would think of our mothers,” he adds. “This is what women are all about; they’re trustworthy.” He’s addressing a small gathering on ‘Women Pilots in Combat’, at the Madras Literary Society.
Air Marshal Varthaman starts by tracing the history of aviation.“The first female combat pilot was Sabiha Gökçen from Turkey,” he says, displaying her photo. “Russia inducted women who flew 24,000 combat missions during the Second World War,” he adds. “Called ‘Night Witches’, these aviators were so good that the Germans feared them.”
Russian pilot Lydia Litvyak had the habit of placing a white rose at the cockpit, the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) of the US weren’t allowed to fly beyond the continent, Flight Lieutenant Ayesha Farooq was Pakistan’s first female fighter pilot…Air Marshal Varthaman introduced to the audience women who fought against all odds, literally.
“Sarla Thakral was the first woman in the country to fly,” observes Varthaman. “She flew in 1936. She was married at 16, had a child at 17, and took her first flight at 21. She flew for the Lahore Flying Club.”
He speaks of ‘Madras’ pride’ Usha Sundaram, who, along with her pilot-husband, flew from London to Madras. What about the Indian Air Force?
It was in the early Nineties that the Air Force enlisted women; but they were involved in duties such as logistics and administration, he notes. In the late Nineties, women were finally given the opportunity to fly combat aircraft. “India’s first women combat pilots were helicopter pilots,” says Air Marshal Varthaman. Flying Officer Gunjan Saxena and Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan for instance, both helicopter pilots, were involved in the rescue of several wounded soldiers during the Kargil War.
The numbers, though, are not as encouraging. “There are 1,500 women in the IAF of which 110 are pilots,” he says. The fewer number can be ascribed to reasons that range from cultural setbacks to prisoners of war scenarios. Another key aspect , points Air Marshal Varthaman, is the design of cockpits and flying uniforms, that are largely done to suit the male form. In the end, air combat doesn’t have anything to do with gender. “The airplane doesn’t care if it’s being flown by a man or a woman.”
