The region of Uttar Pradesh is now divided into the freshly created state of Uttaranchal and Uttar Pradesh .   The Indian Air Force has establishments at Hindon (near Delhi), Agra,  Dehradun, Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Bakshi-Ka-Talab and Gorakhpur.

Uttarpradesh would have been a hotbed of flying during the Second World War and there are several airfields that dot its landscape.

Bareilly

Bareilly is located in the northern portions of Uttarpradesh, right on the border with the newly created state of Uttaranchal. Bareilly had been the location for the Air Force Base established under Central Air Command in the mid 60s. It had always housed the most secretive of the aircraft of the IAF - starting with the Sukhoi-7s, the EW Squadron with MiG-21Ms and Canberras and finally the No.102 Squadron Trisonics, flying the MiG-25Rs.

The airfield has atleast one Canberra T.4 variant preserved on the tarmac. First observed when President KR Narayanan visited the airbase to present colors to No.35 Squadron, the aircraft was photographed recently during the phase out of the MiG-25Rs. The aircraft is a rare example as there are no T.4 variants in preservation anywhere.

This Canberra T.4 trainer variant can be distinguished by the "solid" nose and the bubble canopy. Pic Courtesy : Sanjay Simha

As per Google Earth, there are atleast three more Canberras which are lying around in one of the blast pens. It is not known if they are still there or if there are any plans to preserve them.  Sanjay Simha, who took the above picture has mentioned he had seen one more Canberra lying around during the MiG-25 ceremony.

The IAF has indicated that atleast one MiG-25 airframe will be preserved on the airbase.  It is believed that this will most probably be KP-3106, an airframe that has been grounded at Bareilly for quite some time.

Varanasi (Benares)

Benares, otherwise known as Varanasi , sprung up on the warbirds map of India in 2001 when a mystery vintage aircraft was exported by a British collector. The Benares Hindu University's Engineering College (BENCO) sold the derelict aircraft that was lying on its campus to englishman Peter Vacher. After a three year marathon restoration effort to make it airworthy, the Hurricane, R-4118 has taken to the air after a complete restoration. 

Varanasi was also home to the No.1 Air Force Selection Board, tasked with selection of Officer Cadets for the IAF. Recently Dennis Duis, passing through the city discovered a HAL Ajeet mounted on a pole outside the AFSB. The location is quite close to the railway station.

The pole mounted Ajeet E-1964 in Varanasi. Pic Courtesy : Dennis Duis via Hans van herk

The photograph promptly found its way to us via Hans van herk. The Ajeet is serialled E-1964 and is one of the few Ajeets to feature an all silver nosecone.