Vijayanta at the MCEME Secunderabad Cantonment

A new war relic in Hyderabad. A number of Vijayanta tanks have made their appearance in Hyderabad over the few years. This one has been installed at the EME War Memorial along with another tank.

Centurion Tank at Chennai

A well preserved Centurion tank in some vivid Camo colours outside the main gate at Officers Training Academy in Madras. If you get down at the Airport and travel to the city, you will come across this just a few minutes from the airport. Taken from a taxicab.

When Angels Troop Down

Anil Warrier

When Angels Troop Down

B.S. Krishna Kumar, wing commander: Hero for his prompt reaction and brave risk-taking

JOHN MARY on B.S. Krishna Kumar
Wing Commander Krishna Kumar is sure he will be one of the very few pilots to ever have flown a rescue mission in a pyjama and a pair of borrowed slippers. It is a year after the tsunami and he can afford to joke. When the ocean bed went into paroxysms that morning, the islanders of Car Nicobar, India's eastern outpost where Kumar was stationed, were just stirring out after the previous night's X'mas revelry.

Kumar, woken up by his wife Bindu Lakshmi, first ignored the warning. The area was tremor-prone and small quakes were a norm. But within seconds, they heard a titanic rumble. When they picked up their children, Lakshmi Priya and Mukund, and managed to get out, Kumar couldn't believe his eyes. The beach, hardly 100 m from his residence, was inundated. Structures nearby had given way. His wife's shriek went up in the air: "The waves are coming".

Kumar describes it as "a Napoleonic invasion closing in on all sides". He turned back and headed for the airfield with wife and kids. In the scramble, an equally bewildered station chief, Group Captain V.V. Bandopadhyay, said: "Take off and see what's happening". Kumar, who commanded the MI-8 copter flight at Car Nicobar, was airborne in minutes with Flight Lt Vijay Kumar at the radio. "The start-up took less than 30 seconds. In an outpost like ours, the machine is kept ready all 24 hours," said Kumar.

They radioed Chennai, 1,500 km away, in what was later to be the first portent of the tragedy to strike the Indian peninsula. Giant trees floated on the beach. Waves had invaded more than a kilometre of land. He could only hope that his wife and kids were safe as he saw people crying for help. "The priority in such tragic hours is not one's own family but others in utmost distress," said Kumar.

During the five-and-a-half-hour operation, Kumar and crew ferried 352 people to the airfield which was on a 15-ft elevation. Often, he strained at the controls to keep balance as survivors clambered on to the winch in twos and threes. He hoped the winch would bear the weight because its permissible load was 150 kg. Half way through, still in his pyjamas and slippers, when the first copter ran short of fuel, he hopped on to the second. He hauled in a ladder from the fire tender and dropped it on the ramp, asking survivors to descend.

It was during the change of copter that one officer thumbed up to say Kumar's family was okay. That night iaf created yet another history, by night-flying the Bay of Bengal. Kumar and mates lit up the runway with kerosene lamps for the first relief plane to land.

Kumar was conferred the Kirti Chakra. There isn't much left of his material possessions in his quarters of the southern air command in Thiruvananthapuram. His costliest acquisition since the tsunami is a fridge. Of course, tsunami operation mementos fill the space.

Op Vijay medal

The Operation Vijay medal - given for being on the strength of the Armed Forces during the Kargil War

The Tank Destroyer from Chandigarh Rock Garden

☻- PARKING VOES - ☻
Originally uploaded by J I G I S H A.

a picture of the tank destroyer - atleast the obscene graffiti has been removed! :)

The Indian Air Force - Suryakiran Aerobatic Team (Music by Les Lewis)

The Suryakirans are a nine aircraft aerobatic team of the Indian Air Force operating the HAL HJT16 Kiran Jet Trainers. The team is based at Air Force Station Bidar and regularly undertakes aerobatics display at various events across India and other countries in Asia. This particular video was taken at the Combined Graduation Day parade at the Air Force Academy Dundigal in June 2005. The soundtrack is the excellent "Mission Udaan Theme Song" by noted musician/singer Les Lewis of India. The Mission Udaan song can be downloaded from the National Geographic India Website's Mission Udaan download page at http://www.nationalgeographic.co.in/explore/missionudaan/home.asp . More information on the Indian Air Force can be seen at http://www.bharatrakshak.com/IAF/ [Bharat Rakshak] Website.

Indian Air Force's MiG 21 Bison's get 1000 flying hours extension | India Defence

"These results
come after NAL's successful completion of Full-Scale Fatigue Testing (FSFT) on
the MiG 21 Bison Airframe C-2090. With this the IAF's Total
Technical Life Enhancement (TTLE) project has come to an end.

The Air
Force's Bison fleet is of 150 aircraft which originally had 2400 hours of flying
as per the Russian certification, however the Air Force went for the Life
Enhancement Test at NAL."

So thats one airframe that has been wringed out in fatigue tests.

The Class of 1965 : Indian Express Review of my book

Yesterday, 30th July 2006, Indian Express did a two page spread about our 65 Air War book - the first time that the main stream media devoted some space to us. And what a space - two whole pages is something I wouldnot have thought off! 

M48 Patton at Army HQ, Patiala

Tank
Originally uploaded by rohit_markande.

Rohit Markande's great photo on Flickr shows a M48 Patton at the ARmy HQ at Patiala.

Does anyone in East Godavari have any idea?

A great photograph from World War II, A Boulton-Paul Defiant named "East Godavari III" of the Madras Presidency Squadron (I forget the number).

Having travelled around East Godavari several times, I wonder if anyone in that district has any clue that a fighter took to the skies in Great Britain, with their Districts name emblazoned on it?

My friend answers me - the poor sods probably had to pay some tax or were forced to cough up the contribution by the Madras govt, so they would not even have bothered...!!!

But still its a fascinating discovery to find EAST GODAVARI III