Warbirds of India

Two Views of the Dassault Ouragan IC-567 from Sainik School, Lucknow. The aircraft has its Canopy in the open position and it looks like that the plexiglass canopy has shattered long time back. The aircraft retains its wingtip fuel tanks.

There is a Sainik School in Sarojini Nagar in Lucknow city. Located on the Lucknow-Kanpur Road, the School is home to a Dassault Ouragan on thier premises. Donated by the IAF the Ouragan is maintained as a motivational monument for young students to inspire them to join the IAF.

Kanpur's Aviation history owes much to it being a major Maintenance depot during the Second World War. Chakeri airfield near Kanpur was a Major operational airfield for the Royal Air Force during World War 2. It was the base for the 322 Care and Maintenance Unit RAF and was used to overhaul a good number of aircraft during the operations.

After Independence, Chakeri was the HQ of Maintenance Command before it shifted to Nagpur, and even today it houses the No 1 and No 4 Base Repair Depots of the Maintenance Command which deal with overhaul of transport aircraft of Russian origins.

 

Kanpur was the place where the IAF had salvaged more than 40 B-24 Liberator bombers in the early fifties. These bombers were flying well into the seventies and it is possible a good number of wrecks and relics exist with the BRDs in Kanpur.

The Kanpur-II BR-461 as seen today at the IIT Hangar at Kanpur. The aircraft is without its wings and doors and most of its metal skin has been stripped away to enable students to learn about its internal construction.

Joint Warbird Discovery of the Year 2004
Indian Air Force Kanpur-II[BR-461]

One of the many initiatives of AVM Harjinder Singh, AOC-in-C Maint Command, was the construction of an aircraft at IAF Station Kanpur in early 1958. It was probably flown on its maiden flight by Sqn Ldr BK Ghosh, test pilot, around March 1958. The aircraft was appropriately called Kanpur I. It was powered by a Lycoming 180 hp engine. This was the first aircraft ever manufactured by IAF. Later, AVM Harjinder Singh then made Kanpur II [BR-461] powered by a Lycoming 250 hp engine. It was the same class as HAL’s Krishak. The Kanpur II competed with the Krishak to become the Indian Army's replacement for the Auster AOP aircraft, and was rejected by the evaluation commitee. The Kanpur II ended up at IIT Kanpur. And it can still be seen there.

 

HAL Gnat [IE-1241] which is of an Ajeet configuration on display at Doon School in Dehradun. Pic Courtesy : Doon School Official Website

The hill city of Dehradun, now the capital of the newly formed Uttaranchal State houses two of the most premier training establishments for the Indian Armed Forces. The Indian Military Academy (IMA) and the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC). In addition to the above, Dehradun is also the HQ for the Survey of India (SoI), a civilian organisation with a high degree of participation of Indian Army Officers deputed to the service.

Allahabad has the honour of being the first place in the Indian Sub Continent to witness powered heavier than air flight, when in 10th Dec 1910, Englishman Keith Davis flew a Bleriot aeroplane from the pologrounds. Allahabad is home to the Central Air Command Headquarters which is located at Bamrauli. The responsibility of CAC HQ is to undertake supply and support operations for the border areas along Uttar Pradesh and Bihar along the Chinese Nepalese border.

Hawker Hunter BA-360A is displayed magnificiently outside the Headquarters building of Central Air Command at Bamrauli in Allahabad. Pic Courtesy: (Left) Indian Air Force - Sentinels of the Sky. (Right) Arun Sharma

The Indian Air Force presence started in Allahabad with the establishment of the Pilot Training Establishment (PTE) at Bamrauli Air Field. Part of the flying training was shared with the old WW2 airfield at Phaphamau which was located south of Allahabad. After the establishment of the Air Force Academy at Dundigal, the PTE was winded up.

Agra is located south of the capital city of New Delhi. It is the home of the Paratroopers Training School. Aviation came to Agra with the reestablishment of the PTS in the year 1949 . Since then, scores of soldiers and NCC Cadets have undergone jump training from aircraft starting with the venerable Douglas Dakota to the Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar (Packet). In the Eighties, the Packets were replaced with the Antonov-32 .

A Pair of Fairchild C-119 Packets flying over the Taj Mahal at Agra. Packets were a familiar sight over this city from the late fifties to the early Eighties.

At the PTS at Agra are reported to be stored examples of two Fairchild Packet aircraft and a Dakota. Also reported at Agra was an unconfirmed sighting of two grounded Canberra Bombers lying in the airbase premises. One Marut (D 1277) can be seen at the Air Force School in the premises of the Air Force Station.

Benares, otherwise known as Varanasi , sprung up on the warbirds map of India in 2001 when a mystery vintage aircraft was exported by a British collector. The Benares Hindu University's Engineering College (BENCO) sold the derelict aircraft that was lying on its campus to englishman Peter Vacher. After a three year marathon restoration effort to make it airworthy, the Hurricane, R-4118 has taken to the air after a complete restoration.

Varanasi was also home to the No.1 Air Force Selection Board, tasked with selection of Officer Cadets for the IAF. Recently Dennis Duis, passing through the city discovered a HAL Ajeet mounted on a pole outside the AFSB. The location is quite close to the railway station.

Bareilly is located in the northern portions of Uttarpradesh, right on the border with the newly created state of Uttaranchal. Bareilly had been the location for the Air Force Base established under Central Air Command in the mid 60s. It had always housed the most secretive of the aircraft of the IAF - starting with the Sukhoi-7s, the EW Squadron with MiG-21Ms and Canberras and finally the No.102 Squadron Trisonics, flying the MiG-25Rs.

The airfield has atleast one Canberra T.4 variant preserved on the tarmac. First observed when President KR Narayanan visited the airbase to present colors to No.35 Squadron, the aircraft was photographed recently during the phase out of the MiG-25Rs. The aircraft is a rare example as there are no T.4 variants in preservation anywhere.