Commercial and civil aviation in India

The history of commercial and civil aviation in India dates back to 18 February 1911. Frenchman Henri Pequet flew a biplane from Allahabad to Naini with about 6,500 letters to deliver. He covered the 10-km distance between the two cities in 13 minutes. This is considered the world’s first official airmail service.

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Rocketgrams were launched in India to deliver mail and parcels

Rocketgrams are mail delivered by firing crude rockets towards their destinations. Stephen Hector Taylor-Smith, an Indian aerospace engineer, launched the first rocketgram in the 1930s. In the ten-year span of his experiments he made around 270 launches.  The first successful livestock dispatch was of a cock and a hen, Adam and Eve, across the Damodar River near Burnpur in West Bengal.

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