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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Erroll Suvo Chunder Sen
| image = Erroll Chunder Sen 2019 stamp of India.jpg
| image_size = 260px
| alt =
| caption = Erroll Chunder Sen on a 2019 stamp of India
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| birth_name =
| nickname =
| birth_date = 13 March 1899
| birth_place = [[Bengal Presidency]], British Raj
| death_date = Unknown (c. December 1941?)
| death_place =
| placeofburial =
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial_coordinates =
| allegiance = United Kingdom
| branch = [[British Army]] ([[Royal Flying Corps]])<br>[[Royal Air Force]]
| serviceyears = 1917–1919
| rank = [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|Lieutenant]]
| servicenumber = 
| unit = [[No. 70 Squadron RAF]]
| commands =
| battles = World War I<br/>{{*}}[[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
| battles_label =
| awards =
| memorials =
| spouse = 
| relations =
| laterwork =[[Indian Imperial Police]]
}}
[[File:Holzminden mess 1918.jpg|thumb|upright=1.22|Erroll Sen, seated on ground, in [[Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp]], c.1918]]

'''Erroll Suvo Chunder Sen''' (13 March 1899<ref>[Quarterly Civil List for Bengal 1922 p.267]</ref> – after December 1941?) was an Indian pilot who served in the [[Royal Flying Corps]] and [[Royal Air Force]] during the [[First World War]], and who was among the first Indian military aviators.

==Family and early life==
Sen was born in [[Calcutta]] to an Indian father and English mother.<ref name="cook">{{cite book |first=Jacqueline |last=Cook |title=The Real Great Escape: the story of the First World War's most daring breakout |publisher=Vintage |place=North Sydney |year=2013 |page=268 |isbn=9780857981141 }}</ref> His grandfather was the philosopher and social reformer [[Keshab Chandra Sen]]; and his aunt was [[Suniti Devi]], the [[Maharani]] of [[Cooch Behar]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Sapru |first=Somnath |date=2014 |title=Combat Lore: Indian Air Force 1930–1945 |publisher=KW Publishers Pvt. Ld. |isbn=978-93-83649-25-9 }}</ref> At an early age, he moved with his mother, brother and sister to England.<ref name="cook"/> He was educated at [[Rossall School]] in [[Fleetwood]], Lancashire, where he joined its unit of the [[Officers' Training Corps]].<ref name="sopwith_hist">{{cite web |url=https://www.kingstonaviation.org/sopwith-day-by-day/1917.html |title=Kingston Aviation: A diary of the Sopwith Aviation Company and its products through 1917 |author= |website=kingstonaviation.org |access-date=20 January 2019 }}</ref>

==First World War==
Sen applied for a commission in the [[Royal Flying Corps]] in November 1916, but his application was rejected as he was under age.<ref name="Richards">{{cite journal |last1=Richards |first1=Clive |year=2008 |title=The Origins of Military Aviation in India and the Creation of the Indian Air Force, 1910–1932 (Part Two: The RAF in India and the Creation of the Indian Air Force, 1918–1932) |url=https://www.raf.mod.uk/what-we-do/centre-for-air-and-space-power-studies/documents1/air-power-review-vol-11-no-1/ |journal=Royal Air Force Air Power Review |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=20–49 |access-date=20 January 2019 }}</ref> After a period working in a bank,<ref name="cook"/> and having now turned 18, he made a second attempt in early 1917.<ref name="sopwith_hist"/> This time he was successful, and he was awarded a temporary honorary commission in the RFC as a [[second lieutenant]], with effect from 24 April 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30058|date=8 May 1917 |page=4449|supp=y}}</ref> He was ordered to report to the [[No. 1 School of Military Aeronautics]] at [[Reading, Berkshire|Reading]] from the same date.<ref name="Richards"/>

After two months at Reading, followed by 25 hours of elementary flying training and 35 hours in front line aircraft, Sen was posted to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].<ref name="sopwith_hist"/><ref name="Richards"/> He was assigned to [[No. 70 Squadron RAF|No. 70 Squadron RFC]], based at [[Poperinge]] in [[West Flanders]], [[Belgium]] and equipped with the [[Sopwith Camel]].<ref name="Richards"/> On 7 August 1917, he was appointed a Flying Officer in the RFC with the temporary rank of second lieutenant.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=30257|date=28 August 1917 |page=8968|supp=y}}</ref> A month later, on 14 September, while taking part in an offensive patrol, Sen experienced engine failure and dropped behind the rest of his patrol. As he stated later in a deposition for the [[War Office]], "...in attempting to catch up [with the remainder of the patrol, I] was lost in a cloud. Coming out [I] was attacked by 4 enemy machines. Both [fuel] tanks [were] hit & [I] crashed outside [[Menen|Menin]]. Unwounded."<ref name="Richards"/>

He was interned in [[Holzminden prisoner-of-war camp]] for the remainder of the war. He was a participant in the attempted mass escape from the camp on 23/24 July 1918, but was in the escape tunnel when it partially collapsed, resulting in the abandonment of the enterprise.<ref name="cook"/><ref name="Holzminden_list">{{cite web |url=http://www.facesofholzminden.com/book/Holzminden-Internee-List.pdf |title=Holzminden Internee List (Sept 1917 – Dec 1918 |author= |date=29 March 2013 |website=facesofholzminden.com |access-date=20 January 2019 }}</ref> He was eventually repatriated to the UK on 14 December 1918.<ref name="Richards"/>

==Postwar years==
Following his repatriation, Sen was promoted lieutenant on 17 April 1919,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31332|date=9 May 1919 |page=5798|supp=}}</ref> and was transferred to the unemployed list of the RAF on 23 May.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=31449|date=11 July 1919 |page=8857|supp=}}</ref> He returned to India and joined the [[Indian Imperial Police]] as an assistant superintendent (junior scale, on probation) with effect from 20 September 1921.<ref name="civil_list">{{cite book |date=1925 |title=The Combined Civil List For India: A List of the Civil Services and Higher European Services under the Government of India (July–September 1925) |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.168887 |location=Allahabad |publisher=The Pioneer Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.168887/page/n23 394] }}</ref> By 1925, he was serving in eastern Bengal in the [[Comilla District]] (now in [[Bangladesh]]).<ref name="civil_list"/>

Sen and his brother subsequently relocated to [[Rangoon]], [[Burma]], where they found work. Following the [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor]] in December 1941, Sen re-enlisted in the RAF, but was unable to find a means to leave Burma. He tried to walk out of the country, and is believed to have died in the attempt.<ref name="cook"/><ref name="Holzminden_list"/>

==References==
{{Commons category|Erroll Chunder Sen}}
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Erroll Chunder}}
[[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Bengali Hindus]]
[[Category:People educated at Rossall School]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Indian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Indian prisoners of war]]
[[Category:World War I prisoners of war held by Germany]]
[[Category:Indian police officers]]
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:1940s deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:Indian aviators]]

Erroll Chunder Sen - Revision history

Bot at 12:50, 12 November 2022