On Oct. 15, 1932, a 28-year-old JRD Tata took off from Karachi in a single-engine de Havilland Puss Moth loaded with mail, bound for Bombay, now Mumbai, according to Smithsonian's Air & Space magazine and PTI.

The flight opened India's first regularly scheduled airmail service, Air & Space reported. It was meant to start a month earlier, on Sept. 15. But heavy monsoon rains turned the Juhu airfield in Bombay, little more than a mud flat by the sea, into a swamp.

Tata had spent three years lobbying the British colonial government for the service, Air & Space reported. He carried only a pair of goggles and the slide rule he used to navigate, both outlets reported.

PTI said the plane carried 25 kilograms of airmail. Air & Space put the load at 120 pounds of mail.

Tata stopped halfway in Ahmedabad, where the plane was refueled from tins brought to the airfield by bullock cart, Air & Space reported. "My only thought was to be on my way as quickly as possible so as to reach Juhu on schedule," Tata recalled, according to Tata archives cited by the magazine.

The trip was "bumpy and hot," and a bird flew into the cabin, Air & Space reported. Tata then landed on the Juhu mud flats.

The service grew into the airline that became Air India in 1946, PTI reported. In October 2021, the Tata group agreed to pay about 18,000 crore rupees to bring the debt-laden airline back into the group, PTI reported.

Tata recreated the flight in 1962 and again in 1982, at age 78, PTI reported. Air India Express marked the 90th anniversary in 2022 with a special announcement on a flight, The Indian Express reported.

"Little did we know then that this historic moment would be a precursor to the launch of India's iconic carrier Air India," the pilot said, according to The Indian Express.

What we know: Tata's Oct. 15, 1932, mail flight from Karachi to Bombay began the service that became Air India.
What we don't: Exactly how much mail was on board, since the accounts give different weights.