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WHAT'S NEW @ THE IAF

01 December 2004

IAF Gallantry and Service Awards Database goes live!. All Gallantry awards including over 800 VMs listed can be queried thru special pages.

Flying the Spitfire Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava on his training days on the Supermarine Spitfire.

LCA's First Flight is recounted by Air Marshal Philip Rajkumar. See the First Flight Videos released by ADA!

Anatomy of a Tac Recce Sortie - Get the feel of flying a sortie in this account of a Hurricane mission flown by Air Cmde Shitoley

Air Commodore NK Shitoley DFC Mukund Murty writes in detail about another Veteran with a DFC from No.1 Squadron in WW2.

Jumbo Majumdar's Typhoon FR IB by Polly Singh. The Tiffie at D-Day, based on research by Colin Ford.

Patch Gallery Images of Twelve new patches - 22 Sqn, 37 Sqn, 47 Sqn, 118 HU, 153 HU, 2201 Sqn, MiG23 BN, Jaguar, MOFTU, Air Devils

SDThyagarajan_Small.jpg (31870 bytes) Updated Pages:
ť Indians in RAF
ť Presentation Aircraft
ť 4 Squadron
ť 47 Squadron
ť Micky Blake 48
ť Aloysius Barrette 48
ť Crests
ť Fleet
ť Air Force Stations
ť Training Establishments
ť Officers

05 November 2004

25 Years of the Jaguar Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava writes in AirForces Monthly on the Jaguar's quarter century.

Documents and Photographs of Sqn Ldr Keki Burjorji Commissariat, One of the first IAFVR entrants.

Download : Flying Review - A 1.2MB PDF article that appeared in 1945 issue of 'Flying Review'

Bombay Air Show - Various contributors showcase their photos of the Static Display and Flypast.

Patch Gallery Images of Six new patches - 23 Sqn, 32 Sqn, Suryakirans, SAIII , a Missile Squadron from Kapil Chandni.

Other Updated Pages:
ť Squadrons
ť Fleet
ť Officers
ť IL Roy's SE 5A

08 October 2004 [AIR FORCE DAY UPDATES]

Delayed Concluding part of Air Marshal YV Malse's Trilogy - " A Tale of three wars" chronicles experiences in the 1962,65 and 71 wars

Exclusive Second World War Photographs of No.1 Squadron at Trichy from a former airchief's collection

Sekhon's Gnat - Polly Singh narrates some tidbits on what happened that fateful day, rounded up by a build of Sekhon's Gnat in 1/72 Scale.

The Memoirs of Wg Cdr Locksley Fegredo - one of the first officers from the Signals Stream in the Technical Branch.

Exercise Garuda Revisted - Nine new photos by Simon Watson of the aircraft at Gwalior.

Museums of WAC - A 12MB PDF e-book that details the Unit and Base Museums under Western Air command.

Modeling Update: Rupesh Santoshi's makes a debut with his MiG-21Bis of the Flying Lances.

A Proposal for the Air Force Museum - Dream or a Possibility? Two presentations on a futuristic Museum

12th September 2004

The Siachen Pioneers The complete History of 114 HU - The longest serving unit in the Siachen Glacier area.

Visit to the 114 HU Visiting the Heliunit at Leh - Exclusive photographs of the Squadron, and its Homebase

Frozen, Mid-Flight A tribute to late Flt Cdt MJS Bains, the only U/T cadet to be awarded the Shaurya Chakra.

Philately Section Three new FDCs on AirHQ Sqn, Colors to 27 Sqn and 114HU and on 31 MCU

World War Two Photo Galleries Updated and Rearranged. Eight New Photographs previously unseen.

9 New photos of Il-76 , Il-78 and Jaguars on way to Cope Thunder by Jorge Manuel Antao Ruivo

15th August 2004

Sadatullah01_Small.jpg (18194 bytes) Air Marshal YV Malse's Post WW2 story continues in Part 2 of our trilogy in "Dakotas of the North East"

Micky Blake writes about his 1947-48 War Experiences with No.8 Squadron as a Flight Cdr.

Wg Cdr Charlie Fernandez and his command of the Black Archers - No.47 Squadron at Baghdogra in the North East

Cope India Report The extracted pictures and text from the 27MB MS-Word document from the Official IAF site

The Raid on Peshawar - Looking at a famous tail chase from the opposite sides of the fence.

The Tradition of Saluting - Polly Singh writes about the Origins and details of Saluting Customs of the IAF and how they evolved over time.

Modeling MANIA with a Capital M. The section has five new models. Choose from Erik Kidd, Shekar K Rao, Murli Rajan and Raja Bose

New photos of Il-76 , Il-78 and Jaguars on way to Cope Thunder by Richard Barsby at Edmonton.

Other Updates:
ť New FDC in the Philately Section
ť New WW2 Photos in Malse and Blake
ť New An-12 image in Classic Transports

1st July 2004

I was there First Person accounts by Wg Cdr AK Sinha and Flt Lt K Nachiketa - Revamped Kargil section

Mi-17s at Mohanbari. 42 Wing at Mohanbari is visited by noted journalists Phil Camp and Simon Watson.

Aviation Accidents G/C AG Bewoor writes on the many myths prevalent about IAF accidents

V E T E R A N S P R O J E C T	Malse's Story Air Marshal YV Malse's WW2 experiences retold in in "Another Tiger Pilot remembers" - the first in a three part profile.
	Odds and Ends - All those tiny WW2 pages that we didn't know where to keep, now collected at this link.
	Air Cmde PM Wilsons Cadet Days Photo Album and the Congo Album - Exclusive and Rare Photos.

Modeling mania Mukul Krishnas Spitfire VIII, features nose art, based on a pic from BR.

Thunderbolt. This is not just another modelling article, if you want to know more on the Thunderbolts, look no further,

ť Mil 8 ť TACDE page
ť MBE Awards ťTACDE Patches

1st June 2004

LCA / Tejas and the Second IJT pics

Photo Albums of Sqn Ldr PC Chopra VrC. Photos spanning two decades of service in the IAF. 69FP, 4, 1, 8, 101 Sqns

Hurricane Tales Gp Capt MPO Blake in a short story recalls the day he belly landed a Hurricane in no-mans land, and other memories from that period.

Flt Lt AW Barrett VrC - A profile of the only Pilot who was posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra in the 1947-48 Operations.

MiG Mania - Four MiG-21s (Polly Singh) and MiG-27 (MurliRajan) in our modelling the IAF section

Other Updates:
ť LCA Painting
ť WW2 Photos Updated
ť 1948 VrC Awards Updated

1st May 2004

Visit to 11 BRD Vayu Aerospace Review covers the activities of 11 Base Repair Depot at Ojhar AFB

Indian Gift Squadrons A number of RAF Squadrons and aircraft in WW2 were raised on the money collected in India.

MiG-25 Foxbat The 'Garuda' is now added to the Virtual Museum of IAF Models in our 'Modeling the IAF' Section.

Uniform Insignia RIAF , PJI, Para, Gunner wings Patch Update 3, 23 , 221and 321 Sqn.

Image Galleries Classic (Canberras, Transports) and Current Galleries (Su-30, Mi8) updated

Other Updates:
ť Air Cmde Ratnagar's Part 1 and II
ť Top Officers List updated
ť RIAF Officers List enhanced

1st April 2004

War Memorials A new section on the War memorials of the Indian Air Force at various AF establishments.

Air Shows 2004 GR Reddy's Coverage of the Sarang Display at Singapore

Image Galleries Mirages , MiG-27 , Sukhoi, Do228 in Current An-12 in Classic updated

VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT

Battle Damage! Flg Offr Don Michael's Experiences in the 1947-48 Operations - and ten exclusive pictures from those days.

Exercise Shiksha by Wg Cdr Michael tells the story of the Indo US Exercises forty years ago in 1963

Wg Cdr KS Suresh - a photo Album - Tribute and Photos by Dr Shiv Shankar Sastry and WgCoSuresh' family

3-View Drawings . Shekar Rao of Bangalore showcases his excellent three view drawings of IAF aircraft. We start with the MiG-29 this month.

1965 Air War Page -More Pictures from the 65 War that were not previously published on the net. Including a couple of rare color images.

IAF Crests Squadrons 42-78 Added in the heraldry section with details on raising dates, mottos and translations. All crests , translations by Arun Vishwakarma

1st March 2004

Cope India 2004 A detailed look into the Indo US Exercise - Great Digitial Photographs from both USAF and the IAF!

The Sarangs - Three exclusive pictures of the first Indian helicopter display team which debuted in Singapore.

Tezgaon Surrender A Selection of photographs from Tezgaon airfield, from the day after the surrender.

Panther Boss - Continuing the profile of Wg Cdr CHL Digby - Part IV deals with his command of No.23 Squadron - with some classic pictures

Panther Portraits - An impressive display of photographs of the young men who made the Panthers, No.23 Squadron , IAF in 1958.

Senior Officer - Concluding Part of Wg Cdr Digby's Story, tracing his last years in the Air Force to his retirement in 1967.

Tribute to Wg Cdr KS Suresh This tribute is to Late Wg Cdr Kukke Suresh, decorated war veteran from the 71 Ops

1965 Air War Page -updated with Nine rare mages that have not been published on the Internet before. Photos of No.31 Sqn, PS Pingale, DP Chinoy etc

Hurricane II Koel LE-146 modeled by Polly Singh in his own 'Air Force Museum'

1st February 2004

The Red Arrows at Hindon. 13 Oct 03 at Hindon, the Red Arrows and the Surya kirans teamed up together.

Back to India- Ratnagar's story continues after independence, from CO 2 Wing to the AOC of the College of Air Warfare.

India's Reclaimed Bombers - The Story of the B-24 Liberator by Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava

Final Flights: Arun S Vishwakarma pays tribute to former cchief of air staff Air Chief Marshal Surinder Kumar "Polly" Mehra , who died in December 2003.

Four FDCs on IPKF, 60th Anniv, PTS , PVC added in the Philately Section and new stamps added.

Model Update: Westland Lysander and Wapiti IIa by Polly Singh , both in No.1 Tiger Squadron Markings and in 1/72 Scale.

New WW2 Photos of IAF disp flt, DH86, Tigermoths and trg. New 1930s Pics incl Wapiti Photos

Classic Image Galleries C-47, Connie, Il-14 and B-24 Pics. Current Galleries with pictures of Mi-17 1Vs

Other Updates:
ť New Photo of Ivelaw-Chapman
ť New Mirage Painting by Polly Singh
ť Two new photos in Westland Wapiti Page

1st January 2004

VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT

The Photo Albums of Air Marshal AR Pandit PVSM AVSM DFC - Courtesy of Amit Javadekar. The first are his WW2 Photos

Independence and After Albums traces AM Pandits career after the Second World War till the late 1960s.

Air Marshal and VCAS Albums traces AM Pandits career at Air HQ , first as a Senior Officer and then as the Vice Chief of Air Staff.

Sqn Ldr Ian S Loughran's Paintings! Another new Aviation Artist's portfolio is presented on Bharat Rakshak Gallery.

SPECIAL UPDATES

Lysanders to Hurris- The story of Air Cmde Ratnagar who was one of the pioneer Lysander pilots and his WW2 experiences.

Tales of Vengeance Mukund Murty writes about his interactions with Veterans who flew the Vengeance Dive Bomber in Burma.

Hakimpet and the 58 Pilots Course A set of wonderful pictures from Hakimpet and Begumpet in the early 50s.

Sqn Service & Instructional duties - K S Nair continues the story of Wg Cdr CHL Digby's story as an Instructor.

CURRENT STUFF

Official Unit Crests! - A New section on the Official Unit Crests of various units of the Indian Air Force. This section is under construction and currently - the Crests

UAV Operations in the IAF An Exclusive gallery of Indian Air Force Searcher II UAVs and details of their operations

Image Galleries updated. New Mirage, Chetak, Mi-26, C-47 Dakota and Il-78 Air to Air refuelling pix in the galleries.

Other Updates:
ť Photos of Atlantique Shootdown
ť Photos of Ivelaw-Chapman
ť Updated Fleet Page
ť Updated Top Brass Page
ť Updated Specs Page (Mi-26 & Mi-17)
OK enough updates - Come back on 1st Feb