Warbirds of India

Home Features Indian Warbird Census crosses 300 mark.

Indian Warbird Census crosses 300 mark.

E-mail Print

When this website started, we presented a list of known Indian Warbirds - and they numbered around 80 as on January 2001. Now thanks to our website visitors, contributions and personal efforts, our catalogue of preserved warbirds has crossed the 300 mark.  The current total is 306 identified and located warbirds. It should be pointed out that about 30 out of these 306 are either derelict or wreckages or training airframes which we have made note of. It should be pointed out here that the total does not include another 20 or so TS-11 Iskras expected to be sent for preservation in the near future.

Leading Populous Type : Gnat

Nagpur_Gnat03_Small.jpg (15413 bytes)Its no surprise that the Gnat / Ajeet combination leads the survey with nearly 39 aircraft identified around the country and more reports and sightings pouring in even as we speak. This also translates into a 12% survivor ratio of all the aircraft that served with the IAF.

The Hawker Hunter comes in second, with nearly 24 aircraft identified as preserved with a possible 12-15 in storage after their withdrawal from service a few years back. Third place goes to the MiG-21, 26 aircraft identified, but since 4 of these are relics or incomplete aircraft or wreckages, the net position is 26-4 = 22 - So Rank No.3

Survivor Ratio : Alize

In terms of 'Survivor Ratio', i.e Number of survivors in relation to the total number produced/inducted, The Breguet Alize of the Navy leads with 35% , five survivors out of Fourteen inducted. Next is the Navy's Sea Hawk fighter with a 15% ratio.

Surprisingly, The Sukhoi-7 in the IAF leads the Survivor ratio with about 12.5%. Followed by the homegrown HF-24 Marut with 10.5%. Gnats come in at 12% and most of the other types are around the 10% mean as can be seen below in the table.

The Warbird Survey

RankTypePrvdD/WSurvS/S
1HAL Gnat39112.0% 
2Hawker Hunter24    9.5%8
3MiG-21264   4.0%400
4HT-217 10.0% 
5HF-24 Marut16 10.5% 
6Sukhoi-716 12.5% 
7Hawker Seahawk11115.0% 
8Douglas Dakota112  7.0% 
9North American T6 Harvard92  2.0% 
10De Havilland Vampire7   2.0% 
11HAL Chetak71  
12Westland Seaking6115.0%20
13Mil Mi-461  
14Alize5 35.0% 
15Canberra5   4.0%9
16Mystere IVa5   4.5% 

Prvd - Numbers preserved
D/W - Derelict / Wreckage - may soon be scrapped
Surv - Ratio of Aircraft Survivors / Total acquired
S/S - Storage / in Service - either recently retired or still serving

World War Two aircraft population is made up of C-47s, Harvards etc. These are of 16 types and number 40. The listing is as follows:

The WW2 Warbird Survey

RankTypePrvdD/WRemarks
1C-47 Dakota112 
2North American Harvard9  
3Supermarine Spitfire4  
4Auster 3  
5B-24 Liberator1  
6De Havilland DH91  
7De Havilland DH 82 Tigermoth2  
8De Havilland DH85 Pussmoth1  
9Fairey Firefly1  
10Hawker Hurricane 11  
11Hawker Tempest II1  
12Percival Prentice21 
13Stinson L5 Sentinel32 
14Westland Lysander1  
15Westland Wapiti1  
16Yokosuka MXY7 Baka1  

Prvd - Numbers preserved
D/W - Derelict / Wreckage - may soon be scrapped

 

Random Image

Hyd_Iskra04_Small.jpg