The BBC has reported plans to erect a statue of Lieutenant/Flying Officer (and honorary IAF Gp Capt) Hardit Singh Malik CIE OBE late RFC and RAF. Graduating in History in 1915 from Balliol College, Oxford; in 1917 he was the first Indian pilot to be commissioned by the Royal Flying Corps (Temp. Hon. 2nd Lt), he had previously been turned down on ethnic grounds but the possibility of him serving in the French Air Force changed minds. He went to work for the French Red Cross when he was first turned down. He played first class cricket for Oxford University and Sussex. He went on to have a distingushed career as a public servant for the (British) Indian Civil Service and the post independence Indian Foreign Service including as first High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to France. He was made an honorary Group Captain of the Indian Air Force in 1975, He died in 1985, three weeks before his 91st birthday.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-56250914
The planned memorial to Hardit Singh Malik is to be dedicated to the black and ethnic minority service personnel who lost their lives in the two world wars.
He served with 62 and 28 Squadrons RFC achieving several kills before being shot down and injured. He landed on the allied side of the lines, 450 hits were counted on his aircraft. On leaving hospital he returned to 28 and later served with 141 and 11 squadrons, resigning his commission in 1919.
"As an observant Sikh, he wore a turban instead of a helmet, and later wore a specially designed flying helmet that fitted over his turban."
His service record can be viewed on line:
https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/...air-76-331.pdf