I have always wondered as to when precisely air travel facilities began in Madras. The maiden flight by D’Angelis in 1910 is well known, and he had his hangar in Pallavaram. None other than Subramania Bharathi wrote of the engine for this aircraft being assembled by Tamil workers at Simpsons’ factory.
In 1911, Jules Tyck undertook demonstration flights at Island Grounds. It is said he took people over George Town and Mount Road. And in 1914, J.W. Madeley flew in an assembled aircraft over the Red Hills reservoir to assess the work. It is ironic that a man who flew is remembered in a subway.
And with that, we were formally airborne, so to speak. If we were to overlook military, civil, and commercial flight history, and just focus on private initiative in our city, we would still have an impressive story.
The Madras Flying Club (MFC) was established in 1930, with William Maurice Browning of Burmah Shell being the prime mover. But, it was Sir Gerald Hodgson of Parry who took it to great heights (no pun intended) by flying from Madras to Cuddalore without warning, much to the terror of laidback employees in the latter town. Hodgson’s adventures in the air over Madras are legendary, including one incident where a goat kept charging at the landing aircraft and prevented him from touching down.
Capt. V. Sundaram, and his wife Usha, who became India’s first woman pilot. Between them, they established a record – a 27-hour flight from London to Madras.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
The MFC saw several Indians, including Rm. Avudaiyappa Chettiar, S.A.A. Annamalai Chettiar, and Solaiyappa Chettiar, take to the air.
The first Indian to get a pilot’s licence was Capt. V. Sundaram, and his wife Usha became India’s first woman pilot. Between them, they established a record – a 27-hour flight from London to Madras in a de-Havilland Dove.
My favourite story of personal flights is in S. Muthiah’s Parrys 200. Sometime in the 1930s, Steve Maritz and M.J. Edwards, both of Parry’s, decided to fly to Cuddalore and back the same day. The return journey was late. It was quite dark and they flew by instinct till they saw the lights of the Perambur Railway Workshop.
They debated on whether they could land on The Island or the Marina but ruled out both, the latter particularly because it would have been hell of a job fishing the aircraft out of the sand. Finally, they saw the lights of Mount Road, were guided by them and managed to avoid St. Thomas Mount, finally landing in Meenambakkam, “trembling like a leaf”.
KV AL RM Alagappa Chettiar’s who launched Jupiter Airways in 1949. The service was nationalised in 1953.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu Archives
It was only recently that I got to know that Madras had an Air Taxi Service in the 1930s. On Tuesday, August 1, 1933, The Hindu’s front page carried an advertisement launching this. The offices were located at Narayan Baugh, Cathedral Post, property of the Rajah of Bobbili, and therefore, next to where the TVS workshops were on Anna Salai.
Founded by I.V. Krishna Rao and I.V. Bhujanga Rao, the Madras Air Taxi Service had three aircraft – a single-, a two-, and a three-seater, ready to be booked from Madras to “anywhere in India and Burma.” Madras to Bombay cost ₹510 per person (The Hindu on August 2, 1933). The first Madras to Calcutta flight, via Visakhapatnam and Puri, took place on November 16, 1933, with The Hindu reporting on it. The service seems to have flourished till 1935.
A passenger flight taking off at the Chennai International Airport.
| Photo Credit:
B. Velankanni Raj
Like the Madras Air Taxi, scarcely remembered today is KV AL RM Alagappa Chettiar’s Jupiter Airways, launched in 1949, and nationalised in 1953.
Sitting in traffic, I sometimes wonder if what Madras/Chennai really needs is a hovercraft service. Sure, it would not be public transport of the affordable kind but flying is never cheap anyway.
Published – August 22, 2026 05:45 am IST
