Sharing the space in front of the AFA Museum along with the Harvard is a HAL HT-2 [IX-718] . The HT-2 flew till the late seventies at the AFA as the ab-initio trainer for flying cadets till its replacement by the HPT-32. The aircraft was daunting to fly for new cadets, “If you can fly the HT-2, Then you can fly anything with wings” being the comment of one pilot. It can be safely assumed that IX-718 probably formed one of the last aircraft to be in the inventory of the AFA.
Similar to the Harvard, the HT-2 received a new paint job. Though not much changes can be observed, the description label on the fuselage of the aircraft was removed and a yellow stripe of paint was added on the rear fuselage in lines with the paint schemes of those days.
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| THEN AND NOW: The HT-2 as seen three years back, covered against the elements by the sheet. As can be seen in the picture, even the display platform and the lawn surrounding it were in a bad shape. Today the surroundings have been repaired. The aircraft had received a fresh coat of paint and recognition stripes of yellow on the rear fuselage and wings. | |
| The HT-2 sans its cockpit canopy tarpaulin. As compared to the picture above, the addition of the cover hardly detracts from the appearance of the aircraft. Pic Courtesy AVM S Bhojwani. |  |
The wings too received the ‘recognition’ yellow stripes. The major challenge of the HT-2 restoration was the propeller. The wooden propeller had deteriorated over the years and had to be treated and restored to look good again.
A Canopy cover was ‘stitched’ and painted to represent the Canopy frame from a distance.
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| The HT-2 seen in December 2005. | |
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