The Indian Gun That Inspired Arsenal’s Badge

Words by David Jesudason

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The first flight that ever resembled what we now know as cargo service was back in 1911 when aircraft was used to transport only mail. However, after WW1 Britain wanted to build a cargo plane that can transport soldiers and equipment. The Vickers Vernon aircraft (shown in the images and poster) was delivered to the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1921 but it wasn't until two years later that the aircraft was deployed to transport 280 Sikh troops from Kingarban to Kirkuk in Iraq, helping to quash a Kurdish uprising against the British mandate in the region. This was the first time in the regiment's history that troops had been deployed by air and therefore the first ever military airlift operation. Their journey received worldwide attention. Here is a poster of the front page of the French newspaper Le Petit Journal from May 6, 1923 which features the first British air trooping operation. (Available as print)

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Britain’s First Desi Pubs

Why Eating with your Hands in America has Become Political

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The Indian Gun That Inspired Arsenal’s Badge

In an army barracks in the South West England county of Wiltshire sits a spoil of war that seems both alien and familiar to any members of the British Army’s 14th Regiment Royal Artillery that may come across it.

Officers at this base in Larkhill walk past the Bhurtpore Gun every day on the way to the mess and if they look closely they will see ornate elephant and lion engravings on its carriage which hint at its distant origins.

They might also be struck by how similar the 17th century gun looks to the Arsenal football club badge.