Using period accounts, war diaries and official WW-II publicity publications, this book traces the genesis and development of India's Air Force, from its early days as a single squadron, flying antediluvian Westland Wapitis in operations on the North West Frontier, to its emergence as the battle-hardened service of a young republic. The book covers the R.I.A.F.'s rapid expansion following the onset of the Second World War. Its role in the Burma campaign, in the Arakan, and the battles for Imphal, Kohima and Central Burma; as well as post-war occupation duties in Japan, the trauma of partition, the first Kashmir conflict 1947-48 and the police action in Hyderabad 1948, all form the subject of individual chapters.