Erroll Suvo Chunder Sen (13 March 1899 – after December 1941?) was an Indian pilot who served in the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, and who was among the first Indian military aviators.

Family and early life

Sen was born in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

to an Indian father and English mother. His grandfather was the philosopher and social reformer Keshab Chandra Sen; and his aunt was

Suniti Devi Sunity Devi CIE (30 September 1864 – 10 November 1932) was the Maharani of the princely state of Cooch Behar, British India. Early life She was a daughter of the renowned Brahmo Samaj reformist, Keshub Chandra Sen of Calcutta. She was m ...

, the Maharani of Cooch Behar. At an early age, he moved with his mother, brother and sister to England. He was educated at

Rossall School Rossall School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for 0–18 year olds, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College ...

in Fleetwood, Lancashire, where he joined its unit of the Officers' Training Corps.

First World War

Sen applied for a commission in the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

in November 1916, but his application was rejected as he was under age. After a period working in a bank, and having now turned 18, he made a second attempt in early 1917. This time he was successful, and he was awarded a temporary honorary commission in the RFC as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

, with effect from 24 April 1917. He was ordered to report to the No. 1 School of Military Aeronautics at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

from the same date. 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 Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

. He was assigned to

No. 70 Squadron RFC No.70 or LXX Squadron RAF provides strategic transport. History First World War The squadron was formed on 22 April 1916 at Farnborough, and was equipped with the Sopwith 1½ Strutter. The squadron was posted to France, and in 1917 re-equipp ...

, based at Poperinge in West Flanders,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

and equipped with the Sopwith Camel. On 7 August 1917, he was appointed a Flying Officer in the RFC with the temporary rank of second lieutenant. 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 The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD ...

, "...in attempting to catch up

ith the remainder of the patrol, I The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediat ...

was lost in a cloud. Coming out was attacked by 4 enemy machines. Both ueltanks erehit & crashed outside Menin. Unwounded." 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. He was eventually repatriated to the UK on 14 December 1918.

Postwar years

Following his repatriation, Sen was promoted lieutenant on 17 April 1919, and was transferred to the unemployed list of the RAF on 23 May. He returned to India and joined the

Indian Imperial Police The Indian Imperial Police, referred to variously as the Imperial Police or simply the Indian Police or, by 1905, Imperial Police, was part of the Indian Police Services, the uniform system of police administration in British Raj, as established by ...

as an assistant superintendent (junior scale, on probation) with effect from 20 September 1921. By 1925, he was serving in eastern Bengal in the Comilla District (now in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...

). Sen and his brother subsequently relocated to

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military governme ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, where they found work. Following the

Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ...

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.

References

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