There he was selected for fighter training and subsequently spent the summer of 1941 protecting convoys through the English Channel and flying Hurricanes with No.

He served in North Africa and the Middle-East in the latter part of that year before returning to India to join No.

Later, in a senior post at the Operational group, Dutt led several air missions in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948.

[2] He was educated at Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College, Dehradun, India.

[4] The youngest of the batch, he later admitted that he submitted an incorrect date of birth in order to qualify for the place.

[3] The P&O liner SS Strathallan's passenger list records the group's arrival at Liverpool, England, on 6 October 1940.

[5] On arrival at London on 8 October, Dutt and his group were welcomed by the Air Minister, Sir Archibald Sinclair, who handed each a note concluding "we shall be proud to have you fighting by our side".

9 Service Flying Training School at RAF Hullavington, Wiltshire, and received his wings on 16 April 1941.

[4] Subsequently, he spent near four months protecting convoys through the English Channel and flying Hurricanes with No.

[8][9] Along with Mahinder Singh Pujji, Mian Mohd Latif and Edwin Nazirullah from his initial group, he served in North Africa and the Middle-East in the latter part of 1941.

4 Squadron was officially formed on 1 February 1942 and at first consisted largely of some of that first batch of 24 Indian pilots of 1940; Pujji, Latif, Nazirullah, Shiv Dev Singh, and Om Prakash Sanghi.

[11] In August 1945, after completing a flight leader course at RAF Tangmere in the UK, Dutt joined No.

1 Operational group at Palam; he led several air missions in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947–1948,[10] including a strike sortie on Kishanganga Bridge.

Group Captain (Now Air Vice Marshal) Ranjan Dutt (1594), while serving as S.A.S.O Headquarters No.

The first attack resulted in temporary stoppage of movement of enemy troops and supplies over the bridge.

When movement again resumed after the bridge had been repaired, reinforced with heavy protective medium 'Flak' he led another formation for the second time.

In spite of his aircraft being hit by enemy fire, he attacked with precision and knocked out one of the gun positions.

After the mission, by great skill, he brought his badly damaged aircraft back safely to the base.

For the outstanding services rendered by him during the Kashmir Operations, he has been awarded the Vir Chakra.On 1 July 1951, Dutt was appointed Commanding Officer of the No.

By the end of the year, Dutt was appointed the managing director of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).