Early career In 1931, Engineer entered the
Royal Air Force College Cranwell. At Cranwell, he was awarded the Grove's Memorial Flying prize for the best all-round pilot during his term. He was commissioned as a pilot and joined the newly formed
No. 1 Squadron IAF. The No. 1 Squadron had only one
flight and was then stationed in
Drigh Road,
Karachi. The flight was equipped with four Westland Wapiti biplanes. As part of the 'A' flight of the squadron, Engineer flew a
Westland Wapiti and saw action in the
Waziristan campaign (1936–1939). In 1938, for action against the tribals, he became the first IAF officer to be
mentioned in dispatches. In July 1938, three flights of the No. 1 Squadron IAF were formed and Engineer took command of the flight. He was one of the three flying officers of the three flights of No. 1 Squadron, the other two being
Subroto Mukerjee and
Karun Krishna Majumdar. Engineer led the squadron in operations in the
Tochi Valley. In December 1942, Engineer was mentioned in dispatches for the second time and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for distinguished services in Waziristan. In late 1942, he relinquished command of No. 2 Squadron, handing over to Squadron Leader Habib Ullah Khan. He subsequently held staff appointments at Air Headquarters. In December 1944, he was promoted to the acting rank of
Wing Commander and took command of
Air Force Station Kohat from
Subroto Mukerjee. After commanding the airbase for over a year, Engineer was selected to attend the
RAF Staff College, Bracknell. On his return to India in November 1946, he was promoted to the acting rank of
Group Captain and then moved to Air HQ as the Air Officer-in-Charge Administration (AOA). The assets of the Indian Air Force (like other branches of the military) had to be divided between the Dominions of India and Pakistan. Subroto Mukerjee and Engineer led the air force part of this committee. In September 1948, he assumed command of the
No. 1 Operational Group (later rechristened Western Air Command) from Air Commodore
Mehar Singh. As the
Air Officer Commanding (AOC), he led the
group to support ground troops in
Jammu and Kashmir during the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. In July 1949, the group was renamed Operational Command. He was promoted to the rank of
air vice marshal on 1 October 1954. In November 1954, he led the Air Force in a goodwill mission to
Indonesia. Engineer was deputed to the
Hindustan Aircraft Limited (HAL) for a period of three years in 1958. On 28 May, he took over as the
General Manager of HAL. On 23 May 1959, he became the second Indian to be promoted to the rank of air marshal.
Chief of Air Staff In November 1960,
Air India inaugurated its service to
Tokyo, Japan. Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee, CAS and Air Commodore (later
ACM)
Pratap Chandra Lal, then
General Manager of the
Indian Airlines Corporation were passengers on this flight. After landing in Tokyo, on 8 November 1960, Mukerjee was having a meal in a restaurant with a friend, an officer in the
Indian Navy. A piece of food got lodged in his
windpipe,
choking him to death before a doctor could be called for. The next day, his body was flown to
Palam Airport,
New Delhi. After Mukerjee's untimely demise, Engineer was appointed the next Air Chief in late November. On 1 December 1960, he took over as the second Indian Chief of the Air Staff. His rise to become the second Indian Chief of Air Staff inspired a generation of Parsi officers. A broader historical review of Parsi representation in the IAF, including Engineer’s role, is chronicled in this essay on community contributions to Indian military aviation. ==Awards and decorations==