Warbirds of India

HAL Gnat E261 seen at the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum.

Located in the heart of Thiruvanathapuram, in Vikaspuram area, is the Kerala State Science & Technology Museum (KSSTM). KSSTM is an autonomous organisation, setup by the Government of Kerala in 1984. It functions as a Science Museum, and is also a study cum recreation centre and an important tourist attraction. KSSTM has in its possession a solitary HAL Gnat that is displayed outside the main building.

The following was posted on the Bharat Rakshak Forums.

Harry passed away in May 2007. Cause is heart attack. Link to the news item I was his classmate in college. He did have an amazing knowledge about military technology as ascertained from his interaction with a defense scientist at the IIT-Madras tech seminar on the LCA in 2004.Â

B Harry (Harish Balaji Kannan) was a regular contributor to this website as well. He was one of the few Indians to have an interest in Warbirds and thus he would regularly go out on Warbird Hunts. Dozens of his photos can be found in the Chennai section and other places.  He went "off the scope" in May 2007. Harry valued his privacy very much. So much that he was accessible only by email or by IM. The result was that his demise went unnoticed for so long. and Sadly, we found out about this only now.

RIP Harry.

 

Akkulam is home to the Indian Air Force's Southern Air Command Headquarters (SAC HQ). SAC was set up in 1984 just before the sector became active with the IPKF deployment in 1987. Initially it was in Belhaven Palace in Trivandrum City. In 1996 it moved to Akkulam, just outside the city.

The pole mounted Gnat at the Southern Air Command HQ at Akkulam. Drop tanks in place, with the HQ Building in the background.

For years,  we thought that the state of Orissa was barren in terms of warbirds. Despite the presence of an engine manufacturing plant at Koraput and a hush hush aviation base at Charbatia, no confirmed reports of warbirds ever existed.

A well preserved Beech 18 seen at Hotel Mayfair International in the heart of Bhubhaneswar. Capt Gireesh Kumar poses by the aircraft.

Certainly the most highly visible [and as a result -  the most well known] warbird in Bangalore is the HAL Ajeet [E-1083] displayed on a pole/pylon at the war memorial park at Cubbon Road. One of the busiest traffic junctions in the city,   E-1083's location is significant as it is just besides the corporate Head Quarters of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.

The HAL Ajeet Prototype  E-1083 during its roll out ceremony in the Seventies at HAL.

The Hindu reported in May that an aircraft engine was fished out by fishermen off the Beypore coast at Kochi in Kerala. The Radial Engine, which appears to have come  off either an Avenger, Hellcat or a Corsair was later heli-lifted by the Navy to one of their bases.