An Aeroplane named ‘ The Jaffna ’

• The two-seater biplane called ‘The Jaffna’ was used as a fighter and a bomber where the gunner threw bombs aimed at targets below
• The Jaffna Tamil community of Malaya, extended their generosity to the British Government by collecting money to pay for a fighter aeroplane. The cost was a tidy sum of 2,250 Sterling Pounds

Some years ago, I was writing a book for the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka. They were commemorating 100 years of aviation in our skies. I was collecting information from every possible source, from people who remembered and from people who had heard stories of yesteryear connected to Ceylon. That’s when I came to know of ‘The Jaffna’ which sure has its own fascinating story.   

The year was 1915. A group of Jaffna Tamil people who had migrated to Malaya, played the lead role to relate an unusual tale about a British Royal Flying Corps (R.F.C.) fighter plane bearing a Sri Lankan name.   

Native people of countries conquered by the British Empire were called to serve in the war against Germany. Many joined and witnessed action both on land and sea. Efforts were also made to collect funds for the military treasury. Special requests were sent out to colonial communities to sponsor the cost of aeroplanes.   
The Jaffna Tamil community of Malaya, extended their generosity to the British Government by collecting money to pay for a fighter aeroplane. The cost was a tidy sum of 2,250 Sterling Pounds.   

Having the choice to name the plane they gifted to the war effort, the Tamil community in Malaya chose to call it ‘The Jaffna.’ It was in remembrance of a birthplace in a far-away land, of which their heartstrings may have often resonated nostalgic bells.   

The gift was made on the 22nd of December 1915.   

The aeroplane, so paid for, was a F.E. 2b (original design by Geoffrey de Havilland) which was fitted with a 120 HP Beardmore engine. The Jaffna was a two-seater which could carry a pilot and a gunner. It was known as a ‘pusher’ with the prop being fixed behind the occupants. This arrangement made the front vision great and gave the machine gun mounted in the fore nacelle wide angles of maneuverability. In this era, only the German Luftstreitkrafte operated Anthony Fokker’s invention of firing through a rotating propeller. The two-seater biplane called ‘The Jaffna’ was used as a fighter and a bomber where the gunner threw bombs aimed at targets below.   

These aeroplanes flew against the famed squadron of German ace Max Immelman. ‘The Jaffna’ too flew in that same sky.   

As the world got older and aviation flourished in Sri Lanka, the locally registered aeroplanes in commercial service were named after prominent royalty and renowned cities: King Vijaya, Viharamaha Devi, City of Anuradhapura, City of Colombo, etc. All of these, plus a host of others, flew the skies, brandishing their Sri Lankan heritage with boldly-painted names. But the first gift to the sky was the little fighter plane ‘The Jaffna,’ certainly lesser-known, but very much in the annals of aviation. It did fly in some war-torn sky, in formation or in dogfight. Then she went into oblivion leaving me to do the reminiscence.   

What I wrote is the truth as I know it. In Melbourne, in Point Cook Air Force Museum, there is a replica of this aeroplane. I don’t think the Point Cook people know about ‘The Jaffna.’ I wish more light is shed by people who may know of this story. I am sure it is even possible to trace which squadron was home to this aeroplane.   

(Capt Elmo Jayawardena can be reached at [email protected])