Agra AFS

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.

One Lockheed Super Constellation (Ex No.6 MR Squadron) was also based there. When aviation photographers Simon Watson and Phil Camp recently visited the Agra Airbase, they photographed an unmarked Constellation in the airfield environs. The tail unit of this aircraft has been eaten away , but there was no way to id this aircraft. Initiallly it was thought that it was undergoing preservation for its final base at the IAF Museum in Palam. The aircraft has since dissappeared and is believed to have been scrapped.

This Unmarked Constellation was preserved at the Agra Air Force Station. The tail fins and rudder fins show extreme damage. Pic Courtesy : Simon Watson

It is also confirmed that there is an Mi-4 helicopter on display at one of the Air Force Stations gates. A Dakota fuselage is also said to be preserved, but this aircraft does not have wings and engines to it.