[Exhaust_Note]

Is the Vikrant not set up as a floating Museum off the Mumbai coast? It was for sure, am not aware if she has been scrapped.

If true that she has been scrapped, it would be an unpardonable sin.

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by Exhaust_Note

Is the Vikrant not set up as a floating Museum off the Mumbai coast? It was for sure, am not aware if she has been scrapped.

If true that she has been scrapped, it would be an unpardonable sin.

Refer to the below images from Google on the scraping of INS Vikrant

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=in...FVaRjgod5o8Mug

Heart wrenching images for anybody who cares 2 hoots about our national heritage and legacies.

All photos are from Google and copyright to each indivudal photographer

Regards
Dieseltuned

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by Dieselritzer

some more pictures.

This chopper was such a bad ass machine, like they showed in Rambo. Loved it.

Nice Pictures I visited this place on my first and only trip to Goa and December 2014 and was pleasantly surprised to see the variety of aircraft.

I don't know which Rambo movie you are referring to but both Rambo II and Rambo III had Russian Mi-24 Hind helicopters which are ground attack helicopters and not the Kamaov Ka-25 which is displayed and is primarily a Naval helicopter.

In reality the Mi-24s in the movies are really Aérospatiale Pumas mocked-up to look like the real Soviet gunships since getting real Russian helicopters was impossible during the cold war.

Originally Posted by Exhaust_Note

Is the Vikrant not set up as a floating Museum off the Mumbai coast? It was for sure, am not aware if she has been scrapped.

If true that she has been scrapped, it would be an unpardonable sin.

Vikrant was scrapped last year

http://indianexpress.com/article/ind...ikrant-begins/

[Dieselritzer]

Originally Posted by Foxbat

...

I don't know which Rambo movie you are referring to but both Rambo II and Rambo III had Russian Mi-24 Hind helicopters which are ground attack helicopters and not the Kamaov Ka-25 which is displayed and is primarily a Naval helicopter.

In reality the Mi-24s in the movies are really Aérospatiale Pumas mocked-up to look like the real Soviet gunships since getting real Russian helicopters was impossible during the cold war.

HI, i just mentioned Rambo movie type seeing the size and dimensions and the macho look of the chopper

[Prabal]

Originally Posted by Exhaust_Note

Awesome. And to think of it I live 5 KMs from this place and it never occurred to me to open this thread.

Coming to ejection seats, a well known Naval Pilot (I cannot recall the name) took off from the deck of INS Vikrant and could not pull through and dropped into the ocean. As the airplane sunk (Alize IIRC), he did not eject in a hurry. The ejection seat company had it such that if you eject from a certain depth, the parachute would NOT open and the pilot of softly pop to the surface. He waited for that depth and tried this. It was successful and something that had never been field tested before.

I live in Goa too, and every friend/relative/acquaintance who comes to town, or anybody I know who lives in Goa and wants recommendation about places to visit is invariably directed to the Naval Museum at Bogmalo/Dabolim.

About the ejection incident that you mention, well...it happened on 04th March, 1976. The kite was a Hawker Sea Hawk (a Breguet Alize was next in line to take off, but eventually didn't as the following maneuvers were called off!) that rolled off INS Vikrant (due to failure of the hold-back unit on the catapult system) and ditched into the sea ahead of it. The pilot was Cdr. (Commander) Peter Debras, who later retired from a flag rank (can't remember exactly now - either as a Commodore or Rear Admiral), and he set a world record for the deepest, successful underwater ejection when he waited for the aircraft carrier to first pass overhead as his kite kept sinking, before pressing eject to come up safely, from well-behind the propellers! He was picked up by the crew of a Chetak 'copter that always hovered beside the carrier during flight-deck ops. Cmdr. Debras settled down in Goa after retirement.

The commander of INS Vikrant at that time was Captain (Naval equivalent of Colonel) RH Tahiliani, who later went on to become Admiral and the 13th Chief of Naval Staff. Admiral Tahiliani's son is the well-known fashion designer, Tarun Tahiliani.

Btw, a lil' OT trivia - Sea Hawk's were powered by engines by Rolls Royce named Nene's (various iterations over the years). Might be of interest to Madhuri Dixit fans!

[mpksuhas]

Great to see a separate thread on Naval museum. I came to know about this place from posts of TBHPian Dhanush Menon. Was able to visit the place last year when I visited Goa. Adding few pics from my side. Link

[Dieselritzer]

Wow the information about the ejector seat is just so amazing, i wish this information was mentioned at the museum. This is what troubles me, i am sure every equipment and aircraft kept there would have some interesting story about it but its mentioned no where at all.

By the way, the blog below gave me information about this place and it also covers more interesting places in Goa.

http://wannabemaven.com/

[sinhavivek]

Nice find in Goa!

Really sad to see the sorry state of these machines, once the vital parts of national security. Converting INS Vikrant into Museum would have been an economically sustainable feasibility, if cleverly planned and executed.

Last week visited INS Tarkash, a Talwar class Frigate in Mumbai, as it was thrown open to public during Navy week. Looking at the sheer number of people turning up and waiting for a couple of hours in queue to see the warships on a balmy weekend afternoon, I can vouch that Vikrant as museum would have been a huge success. It would have been a shot in the arm for Navy's PR, which is trying hard in showcasing a great career in Navy among youth.

Many thanks for sharing.

[Dieselritzer]

I have a feeling that even keeping Viraat as a Museum would be an extremely expensive affair for its maintenance. Aircraft carriers are huge and without proper maintenance it will rust. It then becomes a matter of head than the heart even for the government to take such hard calls like scrapping a historic aircraft carrier.

[Dieseltuned]

Originally Posted by Dieselritzer

I have a feeling that even keeping Viraat as a Museum would be an extremely expensive affair for its maintenance. Aircraft carriers are huge and without proper maintenance it will rust. It then becomes a matter of head than the heart even for the government to take such hard calls like scrapping a historic aircraft carrier.

With due respect, I disagree. Look at the way the submarine mueseum is done in Vizag

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=su...HbWTBlIQsAQINA

All photos from google and credit to respective photographers

A dry piece of land a good coat of paint would have surely elongated the life of the hull outside the salty sea water.

Was it so difficult to find a strip of land to keep the mother of all ships ?

Regards
Dieseltuned

[Dieselritzer]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

With due respect, I disagree. Look at the way the submarine mueseum is done in Vizag

https://www.google.co.in/search?q=su...HbWTBlIQsAQINA

All photos from google and credit to respective photographers

A dry piece of land a good coat of paint would have surely elongated the life of the hull outside the salty sea water.

Was it so difficult to find a strip of land to keep the mother of all ships ?

Regards
Dieseltuned

That is also true. But yes it was sad to know that the ship was broken down into pieces. I regret not seeing it while it was a museum.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

With due respect, I disagree. Look at the way the submarine mueseum is done in Vizag

Very nice! Have to go and see. Mind you preserving a carrier is quite a bit more difficult and requires a lot more then a Submarine.

There are many submarine museum and places around the world where you can find submarines like this one. I must have visited at least 10-12 in various places all over the world. Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, the USA.

But there are very few places you can actually see a (museum) carrier. There are a few. There is one in NewYork and one in California. Visited both. Very impressive.

Of course, there are fewer carriers then subs around to start with.

Jeroen

[ameet_pv]

thanks for your efforts to compile the virtual tour of the often forgotten museum. The trivia that follows the post is what make it more interesting and shows the wealth of knowledge that members of our forum have.

[dhanushmenon]

Nice effort there. I agree that the place deserves a little bit of renovation and upgrade. AFAIK, part of the renovation was undertaken. The remaining was to be done in 2020; when unfortunately COVID-19 struck. With financial austerity measures on the anvil and expenditure cuts, I am not sure whether renovation of Naval Aviation Museum will be in the list of priorities.