Sam Sekhar’s Kahanis from the Marut Handi – XII

WAH WAH PEDAL AND BONDED LABOR

In the sixties the “FUNK BROTHERS” wrote most of the lyrics and the music for the MOTOWN SOUND. They were also the inventors of the “WA WA PEDAL”. This electronic foot pedal was attached to the lead guitar and when depressed gave the guitar a very distinct and melodious sound.

Air Mshl SJ Dastur RIP

 

 

Air Mshl Dastur was actively associated with the Marut in its initial stages. Could not do better than paste Gp Capt Bhargava’s tribute to him at the IAF History Group site, for those who are not members there.

Sam Sekhar’s KAHANIS FROM THE MARUT HANDI – VIII

EXERCISE ANNIHILATE

This Command had just come into existence and the Boss with his Operations staff elected to have an air exercise to show the powers that be(both military and civilian)that the Air Defence of the sector was in safe hands. The aim was to show that any air threat would be well detected in time and would be annihilated well before coming close to the target. he Ops 1 A/B/C/D/Z got busy and wrote out the Preamble-Aim-Mission-100% Kill Rate and concluded that all enemy aircraft that dared to strike were shot down, with ZERO losses from the Air Defence Element.

Sam Sekhar’s KAHANIS FROM THE MARUT HANDI – V

AN OFFICER AND GENTLEMAN PAR EXCELLENCE

 This officer held two disciplines. His qualifications were longer than a yard arm. He rose to great heights in service and in civvy streets. He was and is a well liked gentleman.

From Groupie Bhargava’s Blog

Groupie Bhargava has sent two interesting links to his blog, tracing the origins of aviation in India. Since the articles also have a lot of very informative comments, it would be best to read them in their entirety on the blog itself.

Aviation in India – A Peep Into Its Early History

and

Aviation in India – A Peep Into Its Early History – An Update

SK’s story : How I flew the HF-24 backwards -and lived to talk about it.

I really don’t know as to how many people are going to believe this incident/story . Very few, perhaps be the people who have flown with me and know me as person of integrity, at least as far as flying was concerned. To the layman it may be quite uninteresting, if not downright meaningless, but to the Aviator it would be of considerable interest because they would be in a position to not only imagine what it must have been like inside the cockpit but also in the pilot’s mind at each step of the flight profile. Plus, they would be able to understand the Aerodynamic situation and how true it could or could not be. So the credibility would also be better understood by them.

In any case it is to this lot of people that this story is being addressed to. The heading  should  give a lot of hints of things to come. If they can follow me at each step of the way they too would have felt a sense of good fortune that accompanied me at each step, all the way, and also perhaps remind them of several such incidents in their flying career which they never spoke about. And to all of them I would request that they too should come out with stories and incidents that they have been keeping in their ‘closets’ so far.

India In The Sky

Got this in a mail.

Maybe this is old hat to many of you. It’s the first time I’ve seen it. All I can say is that “I am pretty damn impressed”

Bangalore:The Last Lap – III

Saturday the 18th June, was a much awaited clear day in view of the fact that we were all looking forward to the air display.The good weather was the first thing people commented over breakfast. Having mentioned breakfast though, a brief digression.

HF-24 Problems From Its Design

By Group Captain Kapil Bhargava VM (Retd)

 

This is the third and final part of my personal story of Design & Development of the HF-24. My earlier caution declared before the text of Part 1 stands for this Part 3 as well, hopefully the last one on the subject. To remind, this is also from memory and should be taken as my personal and coloured views. Please do not treat any of these articles as authentic history of the HF-24 project.

Bangalore: D – Day 17 Jun – II

The official function to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Marut was held at the Ghatge Convention Centre on the morning of 17 Jun 11.  Air Mshl KJ Mathews was the Chief Guest. He is one of our own – an old Marut hand. There were also, perhaps, the last lot of serving Air Marshals from the Maruts present, it made us proud to see them there keeping the flag flying. The audience also included some of the real great names involved with the early Marut development and testing – Inder Mohan Chopra, Groupie Keshu, Kapil Bhargava, Chuchu Tilak, Babi Dey and the like.