INS Kadamba or Naval Base Karwar or Project Seabird is an Indian Navy base located near Karwar in Karnataka. The first phase of construction of the base, code-named Project Seabird, was completed in 2005 and the base was commissioned on 31 May 2005. INS Kadamba is currently the third largest Indian naval base. The Navy’s aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya is based at Karwar.
The Naval base is home to a preserved Sea King Mk42 – IN510 which is parked with its main rotors in the stowed position. The helicopter is placed in front of the HQ Building.
The aircraft is painted in the original navy-blue-white paint scheme that the early Sea Kings sported when they were inducted in 1970s.
IN510 was previously seen in 2007 on the INS Vikrant aircraft carrier which was temporarily used as a floating museum. After the museum was decommissioned, the fate of the aircraft was not known till its recent ‘spotting’ on Twitter.
As of 2022, it is the only ‘warbird’ on the Naval base.
Looking at Google Earth, you can see its first appearance in fron of the HQ Building in January 2016.