Erroll Chunder Sen

Sen was born in Calcutta to an Indian father and English mother. His grandfather was the philosopher and social reformer Keshab Chandra Sen; and his aunt was Suniti Devi, the Maharani of Cooch Behar. At an early age, he moved with his mother, brother and sister to England. ==First World War==

Sen applied for a commission in the Royal Flying Corps in November 1916, but his application was rejected as he was under age. After a period working in a bank, He was ordered to report to the No. 1 School of Military Aeronautics at Reading from the same date. A month later, on 14 September, while taking part in an offensive patrol, Sen experienced engine failure and dropped behind the rest of his patrol. As he stated later in a deposition for the War Office, "...in attempting to catch up [with the remainder of the patrol, I] was lost in a cloud. Coming out [I] was attacked by 4 enemy machines. Both [fuel] tanks [were] hit & [I] crashed outside Menin. Unwounded." He was eventually repatriated to the UK on 14 December 1918. ==Postwar years==

Following his repatriation, Sen was promoted lieutenant on 17 April 1919, and was transferred to the unemployed list of the RAF on 23 May. He returned to India and joined the Indian Imperial Police as an assistant superintendent (junior scale, on probation) with effect from 20 September 1921. By 1925, he was serving in eastern Bengal in the Comilla District (now in Bangladesh). Sen and his brother subsequently relocated to Rangoon, Burma, where they found work. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Sen re-enlisted in the RAF, but was unable to find a means to leave Burma. He tried to walk out of the country, and is believed to have died in the attempt. ==References==