This is really sad news. Though I have not met him personally, his posts were always good to read and he was always polite honest and humble.

It is very tragic to hear about his passing away in the accident. What can I say!..

R.I.P Steve.

A few more shots

1. A flyby showing the NAA avros in the lower left corner
2. A close up of the liberator shows a Canberra by its side at the iAF museum
3. 3-4 Do228s seemed to be dumped at IGI
4. three Avros of the NAA fleet
5. A Dakota without wings – The shadow reveals its nose high attitude
6. Another Dakota at the IGI Airport

7. Pragathi Maidan – You can see a MiG-21 on display
8. Subroto Park, there is a Mystere and the shadow of a Gnat that can be seen
9. A Hawker Hunter at Modern school at Barakhamba Road

Krishna,

Thanks for the detailed review. I appreciate it.

Transall,

1. Unfortunately the book does not have maps. It requires two maps – one of the western border and the other of the eastern border. Unfortunately we could not get the out on time for publication.

While it is is a major drawback for anyone buying a book on India Pakistan the first time. But if you have had other India Pak books in your library before, the lack of maps wont be missed.

2. Alfred Cooke is an anglo indian name.

Is that a vernon or a Valencia (or both??!!)

My finds are not exactly finds – but mere rediscoveries of already existing aircraft. The Gulbarga Messerschmitt and the Bangalore Vampire F3 come to my mind as the most significant.

Snoopy

Thanks for bringing this to the attention of the forum. The already slim ranks of WW2 RIAF veterans have been further dimnished with his passing away.

I understand he had been ailing for a long time. And inspite of his illness he never refused to answer the various queries sent by us through Amit (the author of those photo pages) . Most recently, in June 1st week, he answered several questions on 22AACU, No.2 Squadron etc.

I also had the privilege of browsing thru his logbook and holding his medals up close – via his family. I will try and post a good picture of his DFC so that we know where all he served.

He will be missed..RIP Pandit sir.

Jagan

JT-082 – means atleast 13 more new Jags since JT-069 seen at Aero India?

I heard this story before – maybe on the older WIX, with the same kind of detail (or maybe a different details). Basically the gist of the story was the same. I am not sure if he older version is archived anywhere or not..

Gee thanks guys, it really is nice to have something to show in hand for all the hobby madness we have.. and it certainly helps when supreme command starts nagging me for wasting too much time on airplanes – I can always say, Look this is serious stuff!

Mark, yes plenty of new historic aviation stuff that has always been misreported or underreported from the Indian view point. Most of the information today on that war is based on what was published in the 70s and which was not too accurate. So this was our chance to set things right. There is quite some stuff related to British Aviation – mostly the usage of the Brit Classic jets – The Vampire, Gnat, Hunter and Canberra. I am sure that any new books that are going to come out on these aircraft will start re-writing the indian involvements altogether. The Pakistani view point on the other hand has been adequately reported and written about..

Moggy, yes its reallly been ten years (maybe more) since this started . I still got my original Wordstar 4.0 files (in DOS) in which the initial chapters were written to prove that 🙂 not to mention the sheafs of typewritten pages using my dad’s portable type machine..