Management Guru of the Week                                     

 In 1930 a gentleman from India, Purshottam Meghji Kabali , took delivery of Spartan VT-AAT(c/n 31), with the intention of flying the aircraft home to India.

Mr Kabali is believed to have been the first Indian pilot and subsequently went on to fly for "Air Services of India Ltd",which    operated Dragon Rapides and Dc-3s in the forties and early fifties before merging into Indian Airlines Corporation in 1953.

Mr Kabali was attempting a very long flight in a very small aeroplane at a time when such flights were still far from commonplace.

He named the aircraft "Feather of the Dawn" and a religious ceremony was carried out at Croydon Airport before departure    (Picture below).In the picture Kabali is by the nose of the aircraft, the lady is Sarojini Naidu , author of a book of poems by the same name as the aircraft.She was a prominent member of the Indian independence movement and was arrested and   imprisoned shortly after   the event shown   in the photo.   She later  became Governor of Uttar Pradesh - India's first woman governor .Other guests at the ceremony were the Maharani (Queen) of Cooch Behar (a princely state in India), Ex-British Prime Minister Lloyd George, Sir Dorab Tata father of J.R.D. Tata founder and Chairman of Air India , and his wife Lady Rattan Tata.,