The Capital city of Chennai is the place to visit for warbirds.
Even though very few "Official" warbirds are there , many educational institutes
have examples lying with them. As you will see in the following pages, some of them are
quite rare.
The Airforce has Tambaram AFS ,
south of Chennai, which houses the Flying Instructors School, and the Navy has
estblishments like Arakonam etc where active flying is done. Arakonam is
home to INAS Rajali, which flies the Tu-142 Bears.
Pondicherry
Pondicherry is an ex French Colony
surrounded by Tamil Nadu. Officially a Union territory, the architecture as well as the
culture shows sign of french presecence. It is a popular destination to tourists, who
savour the french atmosphere as much as the tourists who visit Goa enjoy the Portugese
culture.
Andries Waardenburg of Netherlands visited
Pondicherry in 1993 and was pleasantly surprised to discover a HAL HT-2 in the local
Botanical Park. As the photograph of Andries shows, the HT-2, IX-476 is in
great condition. Andries has graciously consented to let us use the photo and he wonders
if the aircraft is still there? Let us know!
HAL HT-2 IX-476
in good condition at the Botanical gardens in Pondycherry. Pic Courtesy Andries
Waardenburg |
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Wellington
The Country's sole Staff College for Senior
officers of the Armed forces was set up at Wellington. The Defence
Services Staff College [DSSC] was set up in the wake of partition as
the sole Staff college at that time went to Pakistan due to its location in Quetta.
An Ajeet is on display at Wellington as shown here.
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The Gnat as preserved at the
Defence Services Staff College at Wellington in Tamil Nadu. The Pic was contributed by Varun Chakrapani |
| A clue to the aircraft's
identity is seen in this picture. The aircraft is definitely an Ajeet upgrade. The serial
number '49' can be seen on the undercarraige cover. Possibly the aircraft's identity is E-1049.
Photo Courtesy Varun Chakrapani |
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Also in Tamil nadu is Coimbatore.
Though it is located in Tamil Nadu, its nearer to the Kerala border. There are two
airstrips commissioned during World War 2, Peelamedu and Sulur, which
are today active as the Combatore airport and the Sulur AFS respectively. Its quite
possible the the Gnat at DSSC Wellington was transported from Sulur by road.
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