Bharat Rakshak:Indian Air Force

POW Repatriation by MI-4s

The following photos are taken from Nitin Gokhale's NewsWarrior Blog

Nitin Gokhale is currently the Security and Strategic Affairs Editor with NDTV. He has over three decades of experience across mediums--print, web and broadcast journalism, and has reported from and on India's north-east between 1983 and 2006, based in Guwahati before taking up the current assignment with NDTV. he had written three books, and continue to teach at various journalism institutes and Defence Institutions across the country. He blogs regularly at NewsWarrior

In October 2012, Nitin posted about 65 rare photographs dating back to the 1962 India-China War - dug out of archives by his friend Nitin Shastri. These photographs were mostly never seen before and offer a rare glimpse into the Indian Air Force's operations at that time.

Nitin posted:

"A friend in Pune, Nitin Shastri, has painstakingly collected these photographs by cajoling and persuading functionaries at the Defence Public Relations and Films Division. I am putting up these rare photographs in a hope that we will remember those grim days and take appropriate lessons from those years laeding up to the border clash that has left a deep scar on the collective Indian psyche."

The photographs show IAF Mi-4 helicopters and the rare Allouette III sporting Red Cross markings - implying that this was a post-war photograph showing sick POW repatriations. The numbers on the helicopters indicate that this was from No.110 Helicopter Unit, which as we know operated extensively in the North East in the Tawang sector.