The Anglo Sikh Heritage Trail with The Sikh Art & Film Foundation presents  Flying Sikhs: A History of Sikh Fighter Pilots  


“We owe our lives to those who wear the turban.” Winston Churchill

Flying Sikhs provides an intimate portrait of the Sikh pilots who valiantly contributed to British success in both world wars. The history of the Sikhs who flew in the Royal Flying Corps, the Royal Air Force and the Indian Air Force has been forgotten, yet their bravery was recognised widely both within the armed services and the public during the dark days of the Blitz and the brutal Japanese invasion of south east Asia.

Flying Sikhs was written and directed by Navdeep Singh Kandola, an award-winning filmmaker specialising in ecology, ethnicity and Punjabi culture in a career spanning over twenty years. Included are interviews with the last remaining Sikh pilots from WWII, Air Chief Marshal Arjan Singh DFC and Mohinder Singh Pujji DFC, who are both now in their nineties.

Flying Sikhs will be followed by a short documentary produced by Sikhpoint.com: A Prisoner’s Song by Michael Singh (20 mins). In 1916 German scientists made an 80-second audio recording of a Sikh soldier captured at the Battle of Flanders during WWI. The starving soldier, Mal Singh, yearns to return to his home in the Punjab, the "land of butter and milk".

Source: http://www.the-drum.org.uk/event/flying-sikhs-a-history-of-sikh-fighter-pilots