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.
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.
![]() |
![]() |
The HT-2 seen in December 2005. |
{mosmap width=’100%’|height=’300’|lat=’17.63702347436283’|lon=’78.40388774871826’|zoom=’18’|zoomType=’Large’|zoomNew=’0’|mapType=’Satellite’|showMaptype=’1’|overview=’0’|tooltip=’HAL HT-2 [IX718]’|marker=’1’|align=’left’}</p>
‘