Digital Desk: Dhira Chaliha Hazarika, Assam’s first woman pilot and recipient of the PRAG Prerona Award, took to the skies once again, more than 60 years after she first won her wings with the Assam Flying Club in 1961.
At the age of 85, she climbed into the open-air cockpit of an iconic World War 2 aircraft.
Her flight took her over the rolling English countryside of Berkshire and over the River Thames.
She flew with Captain John Towell, a former British Airways pilot, in his iconic yellow Tiger Moth G-ANFM, which has featured in Hollywood films such as The King’s Speech and Thunderbirds.
Descending from the cockpit at White Waltham Airfield, one of the most historic and best known airfields in the UK, she said, “It was absolutely marvellous, my memories of my flying days came flooding back. The last time I flew in a Tiger Moth, I was above the greenery of Assam and the River Brahmaputra. Today I was above England’s rolling fields and the River Thames.”
Dhira Chaliha Hazarika flew Tiger Moths and Pushpaks at the Assam Flying Club from 1959 to 1962, and she was awarded her Pilot’s A Licence in 1961.
Even after 64 years, her heart still beats for the skies. She is currently penning the autobiography of her flying years.
Dhira Chaliha Hazarika received the PRAG PRERONA AWARD in 2017.
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