Vintage Dakota to be showcased at Aero India 2019

A vintage Douglas DC — 3, ‘Dakota’ made its maiden landing at Air Force Station Ojhar on 08 February 2019. The aircraft will proceed to Bangalore for Aero India 2019 (20–24 Feb) to be showcased there.

The aircraft, rechristened Parashurama after being restored to flying condition in the United Kingdom, can be flown by only a few pilots in IAF. It was flown by Group Captain Ajay Menon who is the Chief Test Pilot posted at Air Force Station Ojhar (Nashik District, Maharashtra).

It is a fixed wing propeller driven airliner and twin engine metal monoplane with a tail wheel type landing gear that revolutionised air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its ability to operate from short runways made it the most versatile transport aircraft that period.

The Dakota was inducted in the Indian Air Force in 1944 as its first major transport aircraft. It was used extensively during the first Indo-Pak conflict of 1947 and it was among the first aircraft to go into the conflict.

On 27 Oct 1947, the first three Dakotas of the No 12 Squadron took off from Safdarjung Airfield for Srinagar carrying troops of the first battalion of the Sikh Regiment.

On 30 May 1948, Air Commodore Mehar Singh MVC DSO created aviation history when he flew a Dakota with no deicing facilities, no pressurisation and no route maps and landed at Leh on a sandy stripe next to the Indus River at the height of 11,540 feet. During that period, there were no landing facilities in Leh, other than the 2300 yard airstrip made in April 1948 and the risks involved in landing were enormous.

Air Commodore Mehar Singh also undertook the conversion of Dakotas into Bombers. The Dakotas were modified to carry bombs in their cargo bay and cargo handlers were trained to roll out the bombs out of the doors onto the target below.

On 13 Feb 2018, the Chief of Air Staff ceremonially accepted the aircraft into the IAF from Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) Rajiv Chandrasekhar, son of Air Commodore MK Chandrasekhar (Retd) who was a Dakota pilot in the IAF.

Air Commodore Samir V Borade VSM, Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station Ojhar, said that the old warhorse, being made flyworthy, as a mark of respect to the flying machines which have served the country, was in keeping with the best tradition of Indian Air Force.