Remarkable story of the only Sikh to become RAF pilot during WWI: How Oxford graduate playing cricket for Sussex when war broke out flew in skies over Passchendaele - and wore helmet that fitted over his turban

Daily Mail ^ | 17 August 2022 | Harry Howard

[nickcarraway]

The remarkable little-known story of the only Sikh airman to become an RAF fighter pilot during the First World War is told in a new book.

Flying Officer Hardit Singh Malik, an Oxford University graduate, was playing county cricket for Sussex when war broke out.

He attempted to join the British Army but was denied entry because of his race, while his fellow students all went to the front line.

Still desperate to do his bit, he travelled to France to become an ambulance driver for the French Red Cross, and asked to join the French Air Force.

Irate that his former pupil was being discriminated against, his Oxford tutor Francis 'Sligger' Urquhart wrote to the head of the Royal Flying Corps - one of the precursors to the RAF - to tell them it was 'scandalous that the British armed forces had no use for him'.

This prompted a change of heart and Flying Officer Malik was accepted as a cadet, completing his flying training with the RFC in mid-1917.

He joined No 26 Squadron and took to the skies over Passchendaele and in other defining Great War battles.

Being a Sikh, he wore a specially designed flying helmet that fitted over his turban. It led to him gaining the nickname of the 'flying hobgoblin'.

He was one of four Indians who flew in the war and was among two who survived the conflict.

[Jonty30]

30,000 feet up and they expect to be protected by a helmet upon crashing.

I know it protects them from the bumps within the plane during sharp turns.

But the imagery of crashing plane and walking away strikes me as funny.

[SaveFerris]

Seinfeld: why wear a helmet when skydiving?

Can you (almost) make it?

[Inyo-Mono]

Not any better than my Dad’s leather helmet during WW II in a B-24.

[UNGN]

Most WWI plames maxed out at less than 110 mph with a min stall speed around 45 mph and top altitude was less than 8,000 feet. It wasn’t until the end of the war planes could hit 150 mph in a dive.

The rotary engines were 2 strokes (with off/on for a throttle) so the pilots were soaked in oil, while the gas tank was gravity feed right above them, so and burning to death was way more likely than a head injury.

[RedMonqey]

I image it was more about protection against the elements and the spray of oil coming off the Bi-planes engines which was substantial.
Like wearing leather helmets in a tank was more about bumping your head on hard metal surface’s than shedding flying shrapnel.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Once I made a parachute landing too close to a fence and whacked my head a good one on a post. I was glad to be wearing a helmet.

[SaveFerris]

Yikes!

[SaveFerris]

(gravity feed)

Guess that Immelmann better be executed quickly... before the fuel lines starve the engine.

[dainbramaged]

Sikhs are good people from what I’ve learned about them.

[Celerity]

I only clicked the link to see what a “helmet that fits over a turban” looks like.

Didn’t show it.

[Stosh]

Check out the very last picture in the article - the book jacket; I think the smaller picture of the dude shows him in the helmet (I went to the article for the same reason).

[Flag_This]

”Once I made a parachute landing too close to a fence and whacked my head a good one on a post. I was glad to be wearing a helmet.”

WWI French/American ace Raoul Lufbery jumped or fell from his crippled plane and hit a picket fence. His helmet didn’t help and he had no parachute.

[minnesota_bound]

Why do kamikaze pilots wear a helmet?....

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Yes, well, I did have a parachute. Helmets are like seat belts in that they can’t save you from everything, but they can help your chances in less catastrophic accidents.

[Hiddigeigei]

"But the imagery of crashing plane and walking away strikes me as funny."
It happen very frequently. My father crashed a PT-19 and walked away unhurt.

[Paal Gulli]

"The rotary engines were 2 strokes ... "

No they weren't.

This is the business end of a Sopwith Camel:

The engine's cylinders have external pushrod tubes. External pushrod tubes mean poppet valves and poppet valves mean 4-cycle.

Even the WWI radials that lacked external pushrod tubes still were 4-cycle.

This is an exploded diagram of the Oberursel UR.II engine as was used in some of the WWI Fokker fighters, including the Red baron's Dr.I. It lacks external pushrod tubes but this diagram shows two poppet valves, one for intake and one for exhaust poppet which, again, means it was a 4-cycle.

I'm unaware of any 2-cycle aircraft engine from that era apart the Roberts, which was an inline, not a radial, and AFAIK it only ever was used in a flying boat, never in a fighter.