[apachelongbow]

Our sole aim in controlling the seas should be to choke China in war times. When they attack us on land, if our navy can cutoff their sea routes, it will help a great deal in homeland defence. The idea of two carriers and a couple of nuclear subs should do the trick. Crudely put, China's balls are in the straits of Malacca and south china seas, a vice grip there will cripple them. Gwadar port is also easily blockable from the arabian sea end, and when the indian army cuts of pok, Gwadar is useless

[V.Narayan]

First women combat pilot for Indian Navy's Air Arm

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/natio...edium=referral

Seventy years after independence, Shubhangi Swaroop has made history by becoming the first woman to be inducted into the Indian Navy as a pilot. Shubhangi, a native of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, was part of the first batch of female officers to graduate from the Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, Kerala. A biotechnology engineer from VIT, she is also a national taekwondo champion. Apart from making history, this achievement also holds personal value, for she has now followed in the footsteps of her father Commander Gyan Swaroop, a serving Naval officer. She shall continue with her flying training with both the Indian Navy and at the IAF's flying school near Hyderabad before being posted to a maritime reconnaissance squadron.


Nice to see the Navy is sailing with the times.


For those interested the first Indian women to qualify as a pilot was Sarla Thakral who obtained her pilot's license in 1936 as a 21 year old. She passed away in 2008 at the age of 95.

[V.Narayan]

New INS Vikrant's commissioning pushed out to 2020 due to supply chain problems with Russia

Delays of supplies from Russia has become a permanent problem. We faced it with the Delhi class destroyers, then the Shivalik class frigates and now this. The old USSR-India relationship has changed beyond all recognition - I miss it.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/nationa...le22474986.ece

After several delays, the Indian Navy is confident of commissioning Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC-1) Vikrant, currently under construction at Kochi, by October 2020, a senior officer said on Friday. “IAC-I is expected to join the Navy in October 2020. All trial schedules have been worked out. We are going to sign advanced contracts with Cochin Shipyard Limited very soon,” said Commodore J. Chowdhary, principal director of naval design. He was speaking at a media briefing on the Navy’s Republic Day contingents. The theme of this year’s Navy tableau is centred around a model of Vikrant being built at the shipyard.

The IAC-I project has been delayed due to hold-ups in procurement especially of 18 major equipment related to aviation complex, including the arrestor and the withstanding gear, from Russia, Cdre. Chowdhary said. “There were licencing issues which have been resolved.”

Sea trials

The carrier is likely to be handed over to the Navy by December 2018 after which it will be put through harbour and sea trials before commissioning.
Vikrant borrows its name from India’s first aircraft carrier, the 20,000-tonne INS Vikrant purchased from the U.K. India currently operates the 44,500-tonne INS Vikramaditya procured from Russia.

Like INS Vikramaditya, Vikrant too would employ the STOBAR (Short Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) mechanism with a ski-jump and arrestor cables to launch and recover aircraft. It can operate 20 fighter jets and 10 other aircraft. The Mig-29K fighters currently in service with the Navy would also be on the deck of Vikrant. Initially the plan was to have a mix of Mig-29K and the naval variant of the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas.
The IAC-I project was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in 2003 and the keel for the 260-metre ship was laid in 2009. The CCS had initially sanctioned ₹3,200 crore, which was subsequently revised to ₹19,341 crore.

In a 2016 report, the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) said that the “delivery of the carrier with completion of all activities is likely to be achieved only by 2023.” But Navy officials stated that all issues have now been resolved and the ship would join the Navy in 2020. The Navy has already set sights on the IAC-II, which it envisages to be conventionally powered and displace 65,000 tonnes with an advanced Catapult-based Aircraft Launch Mechanism (CATOBAR) similar to the U.S. Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) for aircraft launch and recovery.

Meantime we don’t seem to be the only ones facing challenges. The new British carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth II has a leak in one of its propeller seals that is causing the ship to take in 200 litres of water an hour. Not totally unexpected in a machine of its size and complexity. I am sure the British will fix it soon enough.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...rier-has-leak/


Vikrant II in 2015 while under construction


Vikrant II - artist's rendition

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

[b]
Attachment 1721346
Vikrant II - artist's rendition

One major problem in the artist's rendition: It has a F-15 taking off

F-15s don't operate from Carriers nor does India have them or will get them in the future.

[travancore]

The Fairey Firefly - a not often mentioned chapter in our naval aviation annals.

Interesting to see a kit in Indian livery.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by travancore

The Fairey Firefly - a not often mentioned chapter in our naval aviation annals.
Interesting to see a kit in Indian livery.

Travancore, Thank you for sharing both points. I had all but forgotten about the Fairey's being used as target tugs in the 1950s. So much so they did not feature in the main article on page 1! Another buzzard of the 1950s in the IN was the omnipresent de Havilland Vampire T55 which was used for training the first crop of IN pilots in the art of jet flying before getting out to the UK to learn how to handle Sea Hawks and obtain their deck landing qualification.

All,

The de Havilland Vampire shown below was the first aircraft design that displayed the understanding that jet propulsion could mean that the parts of the aircraft could be arranged in a new and possibly more effective way. de Havilland placed the engine at the aerodynamic and gravitational centre and then fitted the twin boom tailplane and cockpit behind and forward with the engine efflux blasting between and just below the tails. This design also ensured minimum loss of power with a short tailpipe. The Vampire was a stable and forgiving aircraft with many credits to its name including conducting the first jet aircraft landing and take-off from an aircraft carrier in 1946 and setting the world altitude record of 59,400 feet in 1948. The machine was powered by a 1500 kgf turbojet and could clock a top speed of ~880 kmph at altitude. Today a basic jet trainer would have those numbers. But in its day this fine machine was state of the art and 3200+ examples served with 31 air arms world over.


Relatively rare high quality picture from 1950s showing the twin tail booms and centre mounted engine to good effect. The armament was four 20mm cannons in the nose World War II style. The Vampire was assembled in India by HAL for the IAF and the IN


Old airframe at the Naval Museum, Goa.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by travancore

Attachment 1729237

Attachment 1729238

The Fairey Firefly - a not often mentioned chapter in our naval aviation annals.

Interesting to see a kit in Indian livery.

One example survives at the Naval Air Museum in Goa, although appears to be in a sad state.



Edit: Seems to have been refurbished

[travancore]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

The Vampire was assembled in India by HAL for the IAF and the IN

Thanks for the writeup, Narayanan.

A few pictures showing the Vampire and Percival Prentice "Assembly Line" at "Hindustan Aircraft"

Some of the hybrid / composite [plywood + aluminium] construction aspects of the Vampire can be seen.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by travancore

A few pictures showing the Vampire and Percival Prentice "Assembly Line" at "Hindustan Aircraft"

Some of the hybrid / composite [plywood + aluminium] construction aspects of the Vampire can be seen.

Wow. Travancore I am amazed at your collection of historical photos on the Navy and the IAF. Congratulations and thanks for sharing them. These are treasures. The wood-aluminum structures were the direct grandparents of todays carbon fibre. Both are aimed at getting the same physical quality of strength & flexibility at a low weight. I have many books and photos but have never seen these two before. Bring on some more.

For everyone's enjoyment a few from my side.....


Harrier and the Tri-colour. One of my faviourties


The Tupolev Tu-142M. The one and only. Largest aircraft to ever serve in any Indian air arm. Sorry IAF! The take off warm up sequence was unique and terribly noisy. It took about 2 to 3 hours to warm up, start and then bring the engines to optimum temperature and RPM to ready them for the typical 12 to 16 hour flights.


The old INS Vikrant's aft elevator well with Seahawks in the background with wings folded at roughly 1/3rd span. The tractor lends a cute period touch.


Hawker Seahawk at UAE. Refueling stop on delivery route from England to India.

[himanshugoswami]

Originally Posted by travancore

Attachment 1730369

Attachment 1730370

Thanks for the writeup, Narayanan.

A few pictures showing the Vampire and Percival Prentice "Assembly Line" at "Hindustan Aircraft"

Some of the hybrid / composite [plywood + aluminium] construction aspects of the Vampire can be seen.

This beautiful pic brings out the humble beginnings of our aviation industry- Bullock carts for water and oil tanks! One should feel proud of our progress since then. Although we have many a mile to go yet.

Sharing a similar pic w.r.t. ISRO- humble beginnings to world leaders today

[travancore]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

This beautiful pic brings out the humble beginnings of our aviation industry- Bullock carts for water and oil tanks! One should feel proud of our progress since then. Although we have many a mile to go yet.

Sharing a similar pic w.r.t. ISRO- humble beginnings to world leaders today

Thanks for the nostalgia. I started my career at ISRO; and there will still many people around who were part of the old Sarabhai / "Bicycle" rocket transporter days. We have come far indeed.

Interesting to note the oil / fuel spills on the tarmac in the Vampire photos - environmentalists of today would fall over and die!

[ads11]

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

This beautiful pic brings out the humble beginnings of our aviation industry- Bullock carts for water and oil tanks! One should feel proud of our progress since then. Although we have many a mile to go yet.

Sharing a similar pic w.r.t. ISRO- humble beginnings to world leaders today

No way!! Is that a satellite being lugged by a bullock cart?! On one level it's almost what one imagines ignorant detractors of ISRO must state, but at the same time, wow, what a way to show how quickly and how far they've progressed. Not to hijack the thread but I'm curious how ISRO will respond in time to SpaceX's great leaps into the market. I mean ISRO has done brilliantly to supplement itself financially through offering cheap and reliable haulage services but with every big step SpaceX makes, it's difficult to see how the traditional rocket companies respond. This of course applies just as much to United Launch Alliance, Roscosmos, etc.

Coming back on point: Is the Tu-142 really the largest Indian military aircraft flown? That's an interesting factoid. I guess the current title must belong to the C-17 Globemasters.

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by ads11

No way!! Is that a satellite being lugged by a bullock cart?!

Yup. It must have been the most practical way to move the satellite/device. This photo I think is from the 1970s.

Coming back on point: Is the Tu-142 really the largest Indian military aircraft flown? That's an interesting factoid. I guess the current title must belong to the C-17 Globemasters.

The Tu-142 had a wing span of 167 feet and a wing area of 3350 sq feet and a maximum take off weight of 185 tonnes. The first runner up was the Ilyushyn IL-76 of the IAF with a wing span of 165 feet, a wing area of 3320 sq feet and a maximum take off weight of 170 tonnes. You are right the new big boy is the C-17 that weighs in at 265 tonnes and has a wing area of ~3800 sq feet.

Originally Posted by himanshugoswami

This beautiful pic brings out the humble beginnings of our aviation industry- Bullock carts for water and oil tanks! One should feel proud of our progress since then. Although we have many a mile to go yet.
Sharing a similar pic w.r.t. ISRO- humble beginnings to world leaders today

Share your sentiments exactly. I can never understand the cynicism in some members of our forum on problems in India and the things that don't work. I roll my eyes and think - you started working when economic growth got going 15 to 20 odd years back. Boy, you aint seen what tough was!

Originally Posted by travancore

Thanks for the nostalgia. I started my career at ISRO; and there will still many people around who were part of the old Sarabhai / "Bicycle" rocket transporter days. We have come far indeed.
Interesting to note the oil / fuel spills on the tarmac in the Vampire photos - environmentalists of today would fall over and die!

Thank you for sharing this. Bet you have a treasure of ISRO photos of yore tucked in somewhere.

For the enthusiasts:


A Supermarine Walrus sea plane of a British Fleet Air Arm squadron posted in India being helped along by 1 EP (elephant power)!


A famous photo of the Westland Wapiti circa late 1930s - the IAF's first ever aircraft that equipped Nos 1 Squadron. The Wapiti was powered by a 420 hp 9-cyclinder air-cooled rotary engine that pushed it along at a top speed of ~200 kmph. All up weight was ~2500 kgs. Interestingly the wing area of this bi-plane was 488 sq feet...almost twice that of the Mig-21's 247 sq feet!! Today the Squadron flies the Mirage 2000H. That's New Delhi under construction down there. You can see the round parliament building on the right.


Hawker Seahawk's getting ready for a morning launch. The pilots are already strapped in. Note the port side mirror landing sight between the second and third aircraft.

[travancore]

Pre-delivery, 1953




Joint Exercises with the Royal Navy, Ceylon 1957

---------------------------------------------------------------------




Bicycle days ca 1964 - at TERLS (Thumba Equitorial Rocket Launching Station)

[travancore]

More on the Sealand. I do apologize, if posted before.