https://indianpedia.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Jeejeebhoy_Piroshaw_Bomanjee_JeejeebhoyJeejeebhoy Piroshaw Bomanjee Jeejeebhoy - Revision history2026-07-31T14:06:20ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.45.4https://indianpedia.org/index.php?title=Jeejeebhoy_Piroshaw_Bomanjee_Jeejeebhoy&diff=373991&oldid=prevBot at 23:56, 3 January 20222022-01-03T23:56:37Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|First Indian military pilot who served in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I}}<br />
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{{Use Indian English|date=January 2019}}<br />
[[File:Jeejeebhoy Piroshaw Bomanjee Jeejeebhoy.jpg|thumb|right|J. P. B. Jeejeebhoy]]<br />
[[File:Jeejeebhoy Piroshaw Bomanjee Jeejeebhoy grave.jpg|thumb|Jeejeebhoy's grave in the [[Parsi]] section of [[Brookwood Cemetery]]]]<br />
'''Jeejeebhoy Piroshaw Bomanjee Jeejeebhoy''' (9 November 1891, [[Mumbai]], India&ndash;9 April 1950, [[Harlow]], [[Essex]]) was the first Indian military pilot, briefly serving in the [[Royal Flying Corps]] during [[World War I]].<br />
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Born into a minor aristocratic [[Parsi]] family, Jeejeebhoy was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society|Fellow]] of the [[Royal Geographical Society]] in 1912. Generally, the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] officers who fought as pilots during World War I were of European rather than Indian descent. Before WWI it was the policy of the [[War Office]] to deny commissions to applicants not of pure European descent on the grounds that "a British private will never follow a half-caste or native officer."<ref name=Review/> However, a shortage of pilots resulted in a change in policy and a handful of Indian military pilots served during that war as officers of the Royal Flying Corps and later the [[Royal Air Force]], rather than as officers of the Indian Army. Jeejeebhoy held an [[Fédération Aéronautique Internationale|FAI]] accredited Aviator Certificate while undergoing training with the RFC. He completed his flying training at [[Stinson Airport|Stinson School]] at [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]] on 2 May 1916 and held American Aviator certificate #495.<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1283/31032_A200011-01072?pid=27799&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3Ddjv212%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26gss%3Dangs-g%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26msT%3D1%26gsfn%3DJeejeebhoy%2520Piroshaw%2520Bomanjee%2520%26gsfn_x%3D0%26gsln%3DJeejeebhoy%2520%26gsln_x%3D0%26msbdy%3D1891%26msddy%3D1950%26cpxt%3D1%26cp%3D11%26catbucket%3Drstp%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3Drc8%26pcat%3DROOT_CATEGORY%26h%3D27799%26dbid%3D1283%26indiv%3D1%26ml_rpos%3D2&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=djv212&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true Jeejeebhoy Piroshaw Bomanjee Jeejeebhoy in the Great Britain, Royal Aero Club Aviators’ Certificates, 1910-1950]</ref><ref name=Flanders>[https://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/history/pioneers/1347-indians-over-flanders.html Record of 2/Lt Jeejeebhoy - 'Indians Over Flanders']</ref><br />
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The first of five Indian military pilots, on 6 November 1916 Jeejeebhoy was promoted to temporary Honorary 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps on the General List.<ref>{{London Gazette<br />
| issue = 29825<br />
| date = 15 November 1916<br />
| page = 11114<br />
| supp = y<br />
}}</ref> However, Lieutenant Jeejeebhoy’s active career with the RFC was brief as his papers in [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] show that he fell ill in January 1917 while training at the RFC's Oxford School of Instruction and he was suspended from training to convalesce. In May 1917 a medical board decided that he was permanently unfit for further service, and an entry in ''[[The London Gazette]]'' of 29 May 1917 announced that "Temp Hon 2nd Lt Jeejeebhoy Piroshaw Bomanjee Jeejeebhoy relinquishes his commission on account of ill health". He was given an honorary commission of 2/Lt at the time of discharge. In 1920 he was given an honorary commission as Captain and may have served in the Air Ministry of the British government in the early 1920s.<ref name=Review>[https://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcms/mediafiles/bc18f893_1143_ec82_2e16ac19f19fe2d2.pdf Richards, Clive ''Air Force, 1910 - 1932 - Part Two: The RAF in India and the Creation of the Indian Air Force 1918-1932'' - ''Royal Air Force: Air Power Review'', Vol. 11 No. 1 Spring 2008 pg 27]</ref><ref name=Flanders/><ref>WO 339/85698; ''The London Gazette'', 29 May 1917, page 5297. A subsequent entry in ''The London Gazette'' of 19 March 1920 states that "J P B Jeejeebhoy (late temp Hon Sec Lieut, RFC, Gen List) is granted the honorary rank of Captain" (Number 31830, page 3437)</ref><br />
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Jeejeebhoy died in 1950 aged 58 and is buried in the [[Parsi]] section of [[Brookwood Cemetery]], Surrey.<ref>Jeejeebhoy P Jeejeebhoy in the England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007</ref><br />
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==References==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
*[http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1139526 Record of 2/Lieutenant Jeejeebhoy RFC] in [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]]<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeejeebhoy Piroshaw Bomanjee Jeejeebhoy}}<br />
[[Category:1891 births]]<br />
[[Category:1950 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]]<br />
[[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian military personnel of World War I]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Military personnel from Mumbai]]<br />
[[Category:Indian aviators]]<br />
[[Category:Burials at Brookwood Cemetery]]<br />
[[Category:Parsi people]]</div>Bot