In the 1940’s, Appusamy had the opportunity to go for specialized practical training in England sponsored by the British Empire. Specialized practical training was connected with defense work for WWII. He was one of the 50 engineers selected from the whole country to undergo this training. All these 50 engineers were to go on a commercial civilian ship from India to England.
In those days, it took 12 days to travel by ship from India to England. The path they were to take was via the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean Sea, Strait of Gibraltar, and then to the north. On the day of the departure, all the engineers gathered in Bombay, boarded the ship, and left in great excitement. They were stopped right outside of Bombay for 15 days. He and the other members on the ship did not know what was happening. When they were finally informed, they were told that the Suez Canal was bombed and was not navigable anymore. Therefore, there was no way of passing the Mediterranean Sea, and the only other route to England by ship was to go from Bombay down south to South Africa, around the cape of Good Hope, and then proceed across the Atlantic Ocean to England.
After 10 more days in Bombay, they departed from there, and moved on to Durban, South Africa. Once again they were stopped for 10 days for strategic reasons. Finally, they moved on from Durban to Cape Town, South Africa, and spent a week there. When they were proceeding along the West Coast of Africa and approached Freetown, they learned that the German Ship Bismark was very active in the Northern Atlantic and many ships had been sunk, so being a civilian ship, they should proceed directly to the west towards the Caribbean.
They proceeded directly west to the Caribbean Islands, to British Guyana, and then to the Virgin Islands. They stopped at the Virgin Islands because the ship received a message asking them to load 500 tons of sugar, to be taken to England. After loading the sugar, they started to move up north. Suddenly, one of the engineers developed a serious appendix problem. The ship’s doctor examined this man and said that unless the man was operated on within 24-48 hours, he would not survive. They rushed the ship to the Bermudas, which was the nearest place. In the Bermudas, they off loaded the ill man. The ship then proceeded up north to Halifax, Canada and stayed there for 5 days. They were then told that they would be proceeding to England with a convoy of about 40 ships, out of which 5 or 6 were passenger ships, and the remaining were cargo ships, and they were being escorted by one British cruiser ship, 2 destroyers, and one aircraft carrier. All those ships were carrying important materials for England and the ship they were on was protected by the 40 ships.
Twice when they were crossing the North Atlantic, their ship convoy was bombed, but fortunately, none of the passenger ships were hit. Only one cargo ship was hit and sunk. Then they all proceeded to Belfast in England, and then from Belfast to Liverpool, England, their destination, exactly 94 days after they left Bombay.
During his stay in England Mr. Appusamy traveled all over the country. He was send to many factories of avionics since he specialized in that subject. After Mr. Appusamy received his training in England, he returned to India and then worked with the Government for the defense assistance and support. He was offered a position to maintain planes in the eastern region of India, where the war was going on with the Japanese. He accepted the job with the Government. He was stationed in a city called Calcutta (in India), which had a large American base and the Royal Airforce base. They had planes stationed there, which were going on sorties or attacks to bomb the Japanese in the neighboring country, Burma. He was responsible for maintaining the airplanes everyday. While he was working there, the war was in progress. In fact, when he was in Calcutta the town was bombed 2 or 3 times by the Japanese, but he was not injured because the bombing was mostly in the port and dock areas. When the WWII ended, his contract was completed.
The next job he took was as aircraft maintenance engineer, which authorized him to maintain civilian aircrafts. The first airline in India was started by an industrialist named J.R.D. Tata. The airline started off with the name Tata Airlines and the name was changed in 1946 to Air India International. Mr. Tata was offering jobs, so Mr.Appusamy applied, and was selected because he had all the requirements for the job.
Appusamy started in 1946 with the Airlines as a Maintenance Engineer. After that, he rose to Chief of Quality Control, then to Deputy Engineering Manager in Maintenance Departments, then to Deputy Managing Director, and finally to Managing Director/Chief Executive. He also held charge as Chairman of the Board. In 1979, he resigned from Air India.
After his resignation from Air India, he worked as a World bank Consultant in Washington and was then posted to Jamaica as a Consultant to the Jamaican Government to reorganize their Aviation Division. He was a Consultant for their airline, Air Jamaica, from 1985 to 1989.
Appusamy, out of many life experiences, had 2 very important highlights in his life. One highlight would be when he was selected in 1940 by the British government to go and study avionics in England on a scholarship. This was important to him because he was one of the 50 people in India to be accepted for this course. The other highlight would be when he joined Air India, in a junior-most engineer job and steadily rose to become the Chairman and managing director of this airline. When this was announced, he was very delighted and happy.