<P> Tata was once again transferred to the more luxurious office of a colonel . After a 12 - month period of conscription in the French Army he wanted to proceed to Cambridge for further education, but his father decided to bring him back to India and he joined the Tata Company . </P> <P> In 1929, JRD renounced his French citizenship and became an Indian citizen, and started working at Tata . In 1930 JRD married Thelma Vicaji, the niece of Jack Vicaji, a colourful lawyer whom he hired to defend him on a charge of driving his Bugatti too fast along Bombay's main promenade, Marine Drive . Previously he had been engaged to Dinbai Mehta, the future mother of The Economist editor Shapur Kharegat . </P> <P> When J.R.D. Tata was in tour, he was inspired by his friend's father, pioneer Louis Blériot, the first Man to fly across the English Channel, and took to flying . On 10 February 1929, Tata obtained the first pilot licence issued in India . He later came to be known as the father of Indian civil aviation . He founded India's first commercial airline, Tata Airlines in 1932, which became Air India in 1946, now India's national airline . He and Nevill Vintcent worked together in building Tata Airlines . They were also good friends . In 1929, J.R. D became one of the first Indians to be granted a commercial pilot's license . In 1932 Tata Aviation Service, the forerunner to Tata Airline and Air India, took to the skies . </P> <P> The first flight in the history of Indian aviation lifted off from Drigh Road in Karachi with J.R. D at the controls of a Puss Moth . J.R. D nourished and nurtured his airline baby through to 1953, when the government of Jawaharlal Nehru nationalized Air India . It was a decision J.R. D had fought against tooth and nail . </P>

Who founded an airline in 1932 that became air indian in 1946