March 29, 2024
First discovered via Google Maps, the warbird is visited in person by Dipalay Dey who brings back these exclusive photographs... and the story of the bird..

In June 2022, Amartya Ghose on Twitter reported this strangely painted aircraft – at Meri College in Rohtak. The aircraft was actually a Sukhoi-7 BMK that featured a dummy nosecone and had ‘windows’ painted the side of it..

This prompted Dipalay Dey to make the journey to Meri College. With permission from the college management, he got the inside scoop on this strangely painted war veteran.

The college apparently procured this airframe from a scrap dealer back in 2005-2006 period, with plans to use it for an aeronautical engineering program. However the plans were scrapped, but the airframe remained with the college. The original Lyulka-Saturn AL-41 engine came with the airframe and is stored within the college premises.

As mentioned multiple times the “Civilian” paint scheme with the fuselage painted on windows was the main distracting feature of the display. A fake radome attached to the nose was another. Perhaps this was made up when the aircraft was set up.

A little sleuthing by Dipalay revealed the numbers “812” painted on the ejection seat inside the cockpit, suggesting “B812” as a possible id for the aircraft. Ejection seats could end up being exchanged between aircraft, but more likely than not, they tend to be with the original aircraft they were installed in.

As Dipalay noted: ” It’s always amazing to see the Russian made Sukhoi Su7 which was one of the prime aircraft of the Indian Air Force during the 1971 India – Pakistan war both in the West & East zone & the fleet of Su7s provided a much needed boost to our defence forces along with the MiG21s. Would like to thank the Director of the college for allowing me to personally see the aircraft and also for all the hospitality.”


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