The much-awaited October 17 air show, the biggest till now to be staged in Mumbai, will commemorate the memory of two great sons of India - J R D Tata and Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, the pioneers of civil and military aviation, reports UNI. This year being the centenary year of the renowned industrialist and the golden jubilee of the first Indian head of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The two masters of aviation had many firsts to their credit, in fact, Tata was also an honorary Air Vice Marshal of the air force. Both have left an indelible imprint on the nation as visionaries, leaders and doyens of epoch-making endeavours with deep commitment to the country's development. Tata was the first civil person to be granted a flying' license in India. He had flown the first flight from Karachi to Mumbai on October 15, 1932, around 72 years ago. 

Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee, on the other hand, was the first Indian citizen to command a flight, a squadron, a station (Kohat) and eventually, the service itself. Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy Tata, popularly known as JRD, was born in July 29, 1904 in Paris seven months after Orville and Wilbur Wright flew the first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. In 1914. after the war broke out, the Tata family returned to Bombay. Over a decade later, on February 10, 1929, he joined the Bombay Flying Club and got his pilot's license, which bore the serial number 1.

"No document has ever given me a greater thrill than the little blue and gold certificate delivered to, me on February 10, 1929 by the Aero Club of India and Burma on behalf of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale...." he had told his biographer Russi Lala while recounting his unforgettable experience. Though JRD always nursed an interest in flying, his attention to civil aviation was kindled by , an RAF (Royal Air Force) pilot Nevill Vincent. On October 15,1932 he created history as he took off on a solo flight from Karachi via Ahmedabad to Bombay.