Books on Air-India

​The Story of an Airline, 1932 - 1953. Published in 1953, by Air-India International, this book gives an insiders view of the evolution of the group. Starting with Tata Air Lines, growing into Air-India and finally Air-India International. Rare photographs, and history recorded as it was happening. A must read for all Air-India collectors.

I am very grateful to the Tata Central Archives, Pune for providing me a B&W xerox copy of this publication. This book was never sold, and meant for distribution only. Not too many copies are known to survive.


​​Air and Space age. Publised in 1956 by Maneckji. 


A Labour of Love. Text speech given by Mr. S.K. Kooka, Commercial Director of Air-India at the annual convention of the American Association of Advertising Agencies at Pebble Beach, California on November 3, 1965.
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The Sorrow and the Terror by Clark Blaise & Bharati Mukherjee. Published in 1987, this is about the haunting legacy of the Air-India tragedy in which 307 passengers and 22 crew members perished in a terrorist act which blew up AI 182 from Toronto and Montreal to Bombay.

Disaster in the Air: The Crash of the Kashmir Princess, 1955. Colonel A. K. Mitra's first hand account, Published in 2001, about the conspiracy to assassinate the Chinese premier, Chou-en Lai who was to fly the chartered Air-India Lockheed Constellation L-749, the Kashmir Princess from Peking to Jakarta. The author was the Military, Naval and Air Force Attache to the Embassy of India in Indonesia, and a member of the International Commission of Investigation into the Air Crash. While never proven, this was widely suspected to be a CIA plot.


​Gypsies to Jets. Memories of Capt. Kaki R. Gazder, Capt., Air-India. Published in November 2001His memories of a life long affair with flying, right from the pioneer days to the Boeing 707.


​Oceans and Clouds by C. N. Bhade. Published in 2002, this is a book by a man who served in Air-India for many years. His reminiscences make fascinating reading, and it is easy to understand how the culture at the airline got the best out of people and made it truly great.
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​Million Mile Pilot by Jaiboy Joseph. Published in 2005, this is the story of K M (Matt) Matthen, a senior pilot with Air India. Biographical in nature, the book captures a collection of facts, memories and anecdotes that recall the life and considerable contribution of Capt. Matthen.

​The Air India Art Collection published in 2008 by Air India is a compilation of important items in the huge collection the airline has built up over the years. This book have been curated by experts, Kalpana Desai, Gautam Hemmady, Ratnottama Sengupta and Jeet Thayil.


​​JRD as Air-Indians Remember by M. S. Kohli. Published in 2010. A compilation of memoirs from various persons associated with the airline and rare photos and letters.


​The Descent of Air-India by Jitender Bhargava. Published in 2013, the author served the airline for over 20 years, and writes candidly about his observations. The title says it all.
Air-India Art Collection. Curated by Prof. Rajeev Lochan. 2013. Air-India Salutes Indian Masters. A catalogue of art from the Air-India Collection exhibited in the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi in 2013.
On the right, an interesting trophy with the Maharajah adorned in an artist's smock with a paintbrush and palette in hand, and what looks like labels with names of various recipients of this award.
EN AVION TINTIN Published in 2014, the Air India International Constellation and the Air India Ltd DC-3 were featured prominently in the Tin Tin adventure, Tin Tin in Tibet. This book (in French) records the painstaking research by Herge which brought the flying experience to life.



​Air-India Travel guide book "Come Ind is waiting".


​Trek the Himalayas by Capt. M. S. Kohli, the award winning mountain climber and Air-India employee. This book is about trekking. It does not contain any information on Air-India, but since the airline sponsored the book, they have the Maharajah on the cover.