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10th April 2009, 23:35
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| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| 'Xing'ing around ! - HAL Aerospace Museum & Heritage Center. Bangalore. Gave the Xing for a service today. After a 'not so good' experience with my regular service center last time, I decided to head over to the Advaith service center in Whitefield for this service. Left home post breakfast and reached Whitefield by around 10.00am. Gave the service rep a list of stuff that needed to be taken care of. Since today was a holiday for me but not for Sangeetha, my original plan was to stay at the workshop to check out the work being done and get the car back. However there were already a few cars ahead of mine and work would not start till afternoon. So no point in waiting there... Got into a bus and was contemplating on 'things to do' for the day, considering that the Xing would not be back till tomorrow... and the bus slowed down near the HAL area. I could see the HAL Aero Museum close by and on a whim I got down at the next stop and headed towards the museum. I had been there once earlier, a couple of years ago, shortly after the museum was opened and work was still going on at that time... and I had been planning to revisit sometime... and today was as good a day as any! How to get there:  While driving on old-airport road, towards Marathahalli, just keep looking towards your left after crossing the old airport, you'll see the museum a little before you enter the Marathahalli area. Entry fee is very reasonable, Rs.25 for adults + Rs.10 for a camera ticket. This place is open 9.00 to 17.00 every day. Kids will enjoy this place, as will adults with a fascination for airplanes and stuff. You can't miss this place on old-airport road, it is well marked.    One of the first out-door displays you'll come across; scale models of the GSLV (Geo-synchronous Launch Vehicle) and the LCA (Light Combat Aircraft).  There are two main display halls / buildings; the first one is a circular building with photos and scale models, showing HAL's evolution over the decades...       Fighters manufactured or assembled by HAL over the decades...  Transport aircraft...  Helicopters...  There are some very interesting photos on display here. This one shows a 'sea-plane' channel that was built into the Bellandur lake in the 1940s (The lake is adjacent to the HAL airport)...  And the first plane that was overhauled at the HAL facilities was a Catalina sea-plane...  A WW-II Walrus sea-plane...  Some interesting notes from HAL's history, apart from aircraft, HAL also helped design and build India's first all-metal rail-coach...  And bus-bodies...   And incredibly a HAL Car! I tried to check if any further info is available on this project and what happened to the prototype etc. Need to ask HAL old-timers if there have any clues...  Another interesting pic...  An old time-keeper machine from the 1940's. I found a mention that the HAL facilities were taken over by the US Air force in the 40s during WW-II. This time-keeper provides a reference to that period. If you look closely at the serial number plate, it mentions 'Property of USAAF'.   There are also a couple of simulators in one of the buildings. Not exactly state of the art stuff, just a couple of boxes with air-craft type seats in them and a CRT monitor + joystick setup, connected to a computer running a simulator PC game. Anyway, small kids might still enjoy this...   A model of the LOH (Light Observation Helicopter) in the indoor display hall...  The indoor display hall...  A Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engine from a DC-3 'Dakota' aircraft. This was a twin-row, 14 cylinder, air-cooled radial engine. With a 30Liter displacement (yes! That's 30,000cc) and producing up to 1200hp.  There are a few other cut-away engine models on display, which provide a glimpse into the inner workings of an aircraft power plant.  Contd... Last edited by Rehaan : 11th April 2009 at 12:31. Reason: On request - "The museum is on the left side, not right." |
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10th April 2009, 23:46
| #2 |
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| HAL Museum Contd... Hindustan HA-31 'Basant', designed for agricultural spraying. Manufactured in the 1970s, apparently 39 such aircraft were built...  Displays of an aircraft ejection seat and a Hindustan HUL-26 'Pushpak', which was built in the 1950s to be used for pilot training in flying clubs...  Another out-doors display. A heat-shield from the PSLV (Polar satellite launch vehicle).  Inside the heat-shield...  The museum has some well-maintained lawns and shady trees too...  There are several aircraft in the outdoor display areas...  The Hansa, an all-composite low wing two-seater designed by the National Aerospace Laboratories of India, with assistance from HAL. Currently being manufactured by Taneja Aerospace & Aviation for flying club and other general usage...  A Hindustan Trainer - HT2...  A HAL HJT-16 'Kiran', two-seat basic jet trainer. These are also used by the Indian Air Force aerobatic team 'Surya Kiran'...  A de-Havilland DH.104 Dove transport aircraft that was in use with the Indian Air force...  Air air-traffic control Radar antenna has been installed on the lawns and it keeps revolving slowly just as a functional one would do...  The ALH (Advanced Light Helicopter)  A giant 'Sea-King' naval helicopter...   A 'Canberra' aircraft. A first-generation jet-powered light bomber built in the 1950s, also used for reconnaissance activities. They were being used by our Air force till March 2007...  A 'Lakshya' pilotless aircraft (Drone)...  The LCA - Light Combat Aircraft...  The Hindustan Jet Trainer-36 (HJT-36), an Intermediate Jet trainer aircraft being developed by HAL...  The Mig-21, manufactured by HAL under license from Mikoyan-Gurevich. Apparently this aircraft holds quite a few records such as the most produced supersonic jet aircraft in aviation history and it has had the longest production run of a combat aircraft (1959 to 1985) over all variants across the world...  The landing gear compartment of the HF-24 'Marut' (1964) .By the way, this was the first fighter jet aircraft that was designed and built in India, The first prototype flew in 1961. Interestingly it was designed by the famed German designer Kurt Tank, who also designed several important German fighters used in World-war-II, such as the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Kurt moved to India in the 1950's and worked for HAL, designing the Marut, which was retired from active service from the Air force in 1985. Though the aircraft was a very capable platform, it could never reach it's full potential as it was always saddled with underpowered engines.  A better pic of the HF-24 'Marut' from Wikimedia. This is a Marut displayed in a air-museum in Germany.  On the whole, this place makes for a good weekend visit, with about an hour or two’s worth of things to see. |
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11th April 2009, 00:08
| #3 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Pune
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11th April 2009, 00:32
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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11th April 2009, 00:33
| #5 | ||
| BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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| Correction! Quote:
Quote:
Last edited by hotstuff : 11th April 2009 at 00:36. | ||
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11th April 2009, 07:50
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| Senior - BHPian  | |
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11th April 2009, 09:02
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| Distinguished - BHPian   | |
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11th April 2009, 10:07
| #8 |
| BHPian  | |
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11th April 2009, 10:24
| #9 |
| Distinguished - BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Gurgaon
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11th April 2009, 22:10
| #10 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bangalore
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11th April 2009, 22:40
| #11 | |
| BHPian  | Quote:
 That is an amazing piece of history they got there. Like hotstuff says, we would really appreciate anybody posting some more info on this car and its current condition  , though, considering our general bureaucratic insensitivity, it would have been scrapped long ago, rather than being preserved. | |
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17th April 2009, 14:16
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17th April 2009, 17:20
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| Senior - BHPian  | It is really nice to see the namma bengaluru's HAL. I had passed through this way numerous time but never bothered to get inside to see it. Quote:
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17th April 2009, 17:32
| #14 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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25th November 2010, 06:31
| #15 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bangalore
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| Do you folks know that this museum was once upon a time our own 'HAL CINEMA THEATER'. Watched all my childhood movies here. All the Bachan, Dilip kumar, Rajesh Khanna, Rajanna, Vishnu vardhan, James bond, Bruce lee, Jet lee etc.. etc.. And on a Ramzan day during the second show the theater caught fire, no fatalities though. And then it never recovered till finally it was converted to this present museum.  |
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