Usha Sundaram

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Usha Sundaram
Maharajah of Mysore's Dakota DC-3 VT-AXX (1949)
Born1923 or 1924
Died (aged 86)
Chennai
, India
NationalityIndian
Occupations
  • Pilot
  • animal welfare activist
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1941; died 1997)​
Children3

Usha Sundaram (1923 or 1924 – 6 April 2010) was an Indian pilot and animal rights activist. She was the first female pilot of post-independence India.

Early life

Sundaram was born Usha Krishnamurthi/Krishnamoorthy in 1923 or 1924

Madras (present day Chennai) in the late 1950s.[1][2] The couple had three children – two sons and a daughter.[2]

Flying career

Sundaram started her flying career after she and her husband's move to

Government of Mysore under Jayachamarajendra Wadiyar. He was later the principal of the Government Flight Training School, in Jakkur, which Wadiyar had founded in 1948. Sundaram was the school's first graduate in 1949.[2][3] She was independent India's first woman pilot.[1][4]

Sundaram started as a co-pilot to her husband, flying many leaders of the newly-independent India including

partition riots of 1947, which she flew with her husband.[2][5] She also flew the then home minister of India Vallabhbhai Patel on the Maharaja of Mysore's Dakota aircraft, when Patel was traveling on his missions toward reunification of the princely states with India.[5][6]

Along with her husband, she set a speed record for piloting a

Bombay, before reaching Madras. This record still stands, as of 2020.[2][7][8] The couple continued to fly recreationally until 1996.[2]

Personal life

Sundaram co-founded the Blue Cross of India, a Chennai-based animal welfare organization, in 1959. The foundation started at the couple's house and was later incorporated in 1964.[3] Sundaram died on 6 April 2010, in Chennai. She was aged 86.[3] Her husband had predeceased her in 1997.[9]

Notes

  1. ^ Sundaram's date of birth is not known. Estimated year of birth is computed based on her age, 86, at death in 2010.

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-81-7276-102-8
    .
  2. ^
    ISSN 0971-8257
    . Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  3. ^ a b c d "Blue Cross of India cofounder Usha Sundaram, 86 – ANIMAL PEOPLE NEWS". newspaper.animalpeopleforum.org. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  4. ^ Vijayan, Kalyani (10 February 2002). "Aerowoman" (PDF). Current Science. 82 (3): 254–255.
  5. ^ a b Sethu, Divya (9 March 2022). "Independent India's First Woman Pilot Rescued Indians During Partition". The Better India. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  6. ^ "Book review: V. Sundaram's 'An Airman's Saga'". India Today. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  7. ISSN 0971-751X
    . Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  8. ^ Ayyappan, V (14 June 2013). "When Good Old Madras Took Wing". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 14 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  9. ^ Gupta, Abhijit Sen (20 March 2022). "Usha Sundaram flew rescue missions during partition and piloted VIPs later". The Siasat Daily. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
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