March 29, 2024
Sometime prior to 2010 a Mikoyan MiG-29 [KB732] was installed on a pole at the NDA entrance gate at Pashan. It is one of the only two MiG-29s known to be gate guards in India. Air Marshal Subhash Bhojwani had contributed photographs of this aircraft from a recent visit to the Academy. 

Among the recent additions to the Warbird collection of the National Defence Academy is the MiG-29 “Baaz” twin engined air superiority fighter aircraft. The Academy is home to KB732, an early variant of the MiG-29 that was inducted into the IAF service in 1987. The aircraft was operated by Nos 28 and 47 Squadron in its early years.

KB732 01 Small  MiG-29 KB732 seen mounted on the pole at the Pashan Gate approach to the National Defence Academy. The empty engine nacelles present an incomplete and awkward look. Note the four Vijayanta tanks in the background. 

The aircraft is mounted on a pole at the Pashan Gate entrance of the Academy.  The Pashan Gate entrance is on an approach road to the North east of the Academy campus. In addition to the MiG, four Vijayanta tanks and a warship model representing the Navy, adorn the approaches to the gate.

  Another view of the aircraft – the rather short and stubby outlines of the engine intake and nacelles detract from the aircraft’s appearance.

KB732 has been stripped of its engines, ejection seat and possibly everything else internally. Since the MiG-29’s engine nozzles give the aircraft’s rear fuselage its distinctive outline, the missing engine/nozzles render the warbird incomplete, and presents a strange look. 

The engine nacelles are ‘blanked off’ with metal plates, as seen here. KB732 01 Small
The view from the rear!  KB732 01 Small

Since most of the MiG-29s have been slotted for upgradation, early variants of this type will be limited to this aircraft and the other example on display at the Maintenance Command HQ.

Perhaps at some point of time in the future – one of these aircraft will be unmounted and moved to a National Aerospace Museum as this will be a rare type to survive.

Photos Courtesy of Air Marshal (Retd) Subhash Bhojwani

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