The main hub of Indian Air Force's operations in the north are the trio of states comprising of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. Before 1965, all the three states were under a single entity, Punjab State. All the IAF's oldest and major airbases - Like Ambala, Pathankot, Halwara, Adampur, Sirsa, Bhatinda, Rajasansi, Chandigarh etc are located in these three state areas.

Dharamsala

Dharamsala is the an innocuous town in the Himachal Pradesh state that acquired its fame as the capital of the Tibetan Government in Exile. The Holy Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetans had made Dharamsala his main base in India.

Folland Gnat IE-1062 is a surprise exhibit at the Martyr's memorial in the park in Dharamsala town. Pic Courtesy : Phil Hawks
	Another view of Folland Gnat IE-1062  in Dharamsala town. Pic Courtesy : Foto India.com

Phil Hawks, who maintains a site on Aviation photography sent us the above picture of a Gnat at the "Martyr's Memorial" in a park in Dharamsala. The Gnat, IE-1062 turns out to be one of the original batch of 23 acquired from Britain in 1957-60. It has the markings of No.2 Squadron on its nose.

Phil reports on the park and its exact location, ".... its in a fairly pleasant wooded park. It's located in the southern part of the town, on the main road to Delhi (unfortunately there are two roads that lead in this direction and I can't now remember which one it is, but if you walk for more than about 15 minutes from the fork in the road without seeing it, you're on the wrong one!)."

Faridabad

Faridabad , situated in Haryana State, south of Delhi is an industrial area. No Airforce institutions or establishments are there, but a lone Hawker Hunter adorns the Town Park in the city.

Mr. Indrajit Bhosle of Bangkok took this picture of himself with the Hawker Hunter from Faridabad Town park wayback in 1997. Pic Courtesy : Indrajit Bhosle Via Ashit Chakraborty

Faridkot

It has come to light that the erstwhile Maharaja of Faridkot was an avid afficianado of Vintage cars and had a collection of aircraft too. A recent video has shown a Stinson Sentinel, a Percival Proctor and a Fairchild aircraft. The report on this video is at this link. We are awaiting more details as well as on rumours of 'Crated Spitifres' stashed away somewhere.