A century of aviation in Sri Lanka

12 September 1911: The first aeroplane arrives in Colombo by sea in a ship called ‘Rebenfels’ for the use of an Englishman named Colin Brown. Built in France it was known as a Bleriot named after Louis Bleriot who successfully flew it across the English Channel from Calais to Dover in July 1909.

December 1911: A German pilot named Fransz Oster arrives bringing with him a monoplane called an Etrich Taube (Taubeis a word for a pigeon in German), an Austrian machine looking like a dove designed by Igo Etrich of Austrian-Hungarian origin.

7 December 1912: Early morning two Frenchmen – Georges Verminck and Mare Pourpre – take off from the Colombo Racecourse in the Bleriot aircraft, fly and land safely.

This marked the first flight in the skies of Sri Lanka after efforts to fly the earlier mentioned aircrafts prove a failure after several attempts.

The historic event has been commemorated one hundred years later with the release of four stamps. The bulletin issued to mark the commemorative issue carries a comprehensive account of Sri Lanka’s aviation history by H.M.C. Nimalasiri, Director-General of Civil Aviation.

Although the first flight was made in December 1912, it was only in 1934 that a coconut plantation with an extent of 242 acres at Ratmalana was acquired by the government to build an air strip of 600 yards. On 27 November 1935, the first plane, a De Havilland Puss Moth piloted by Flt.Lt. Harold Tyndale-Biscoe, the chief flying instructor of the Madras Flying School landed on the new air strip.

28 February 1938: The Ratmalana Airport was opened by Governor Sir Andrew Caldecott on the invitation of Sir John Kotelawela, Minister of Communications and Works for civil aviation. It was also the inauguration of the first direct regular airmail service from Sri Lanka under the British Empire Air Mail Service (AMS). Governor Caldecott handed over three mail bags containing messages to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the Governors of Bombay & Madras to the captain of the American Waco 4-seater aircraft operated by Tata Sons Ltd., Bombay to inaugurate the service.

With the escalation of World War II (1939-45) in the early 1940s, allied military came over and established air strips at Katunayake, Vavuniya, Puttalam, Trincomalee and Palaly. A sea plane base was set up at Koggala for the operation of military aircraft.

The year 1947 saw the creation of the Civil Aviation Department with two distinguished civil servants L S B Perera and M Chamdrasoma as its head and assistant respectively. . Three Douglas DC 3 Dakota aeroplanes were purchased the same year. They were named after ancient queens – Sita Devi, Viharamaha Devi and Sunethra Devi and were extensively used for the training of pilots and for route proving duties.

Minister Kotelawela took a personal interest in the development of aviation in the country. On his initiative, Viharamaha Devi was sent to London in June 1947 to bring the electoral registers for the upcoming general election. It was a nine-day flight for the DC 3.

10 December 1947 marked another landmark. Captain Peter Fernando piloted Sita Devi with 16 passengers to Palaly launching Air Ceylon’s commercial flights. From Palaly it took off to Madras and returned taking the same route. Air Ceylon’s receptionist Mavis Wijeratne has the distinction of becoming the first air hostess of Air Ceylon.

Air Ceylon also has the record of not having a single passenger fatality during its 32-year history even though there was an accident in December 1949 when a Douglas DC 4 aircraft crash landed at the Tiruchirapalli airport. All 21 passengers and three-member crew survived. The plane was a write-off.

After the takeover of the British air base at Katunayake, it was developed as an international airport in 1963 with the assistance of the Canadian Government. The runway was extended from 1,840 metres to 3,368 metres and a terminal building with a capacity of 150,000 passengers per year was constructed. Katunayake was opened for international flights on 15 November 1968.  Air Ceylon entered into partnership with at least four international airlines and two Avro aeroplanes were bought in addition to Douglas DC 8 planes. However, by 1977 it was apparent that all was not well and when authorities in Europe impounded a DC 8 for non-payment of fuel bills, international flights were suspended. A bomb explosion in an Avro in September 1978 was a fatal blow which marked the end of Air Ceylon.

In July 1979 Air Lanka was set up as a Government venture until it was part-privatised in 1998 to the Dubai-based Emirates Group. It was then re-branded as SriLankan Airlines.