Dad's Air Force Yarns:FEARLESS PILOT, WAR HERO, CHIEF MINISTER AND STATESMAN:

A tribute to both Biju Patnaik and the DC-3 Dakota: FEARLESS PILOT, WAR HERO, CHIEF MINISTER AND STATESMAN:

On a cold rainy July night, - 23^rd. July, 1947 to be precise,  Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru called his friend, a Hero of the War that just ended, a pilot, now with his own private Air Line – Kalinga Airways.

“Bucky old chap,” said the PM Designate of free India, “I want you to fly out to Indonesia on a dangerous mission and you’re the only man I know who can do it.”

“Panditji, you know for you I’ll risk anything, “ replied Biju Patnaik, Ace Spitfire Pilot, a expert on DC-3 (Dakota) or its USAF equivalent, the Douglas C-47. “I’ll be ready within the hour.”

During the WAR (WW II), Biju had first flown as a RIAF Pilot. Operating from forward bases in Assam, he had flown hundreds of sorties over the “Hump” a huge swath of Japanese Occupied Burma, - thickly forested, mountainous and remote - to the last rearguard bases of Chang Kai Sheiks’ rebel Army at Chungking. He had ferried supplies, food, weapons and ammunition. He had also flown hundreds of missions deep into Jap-occupied Burma, helping the guerilla force of Brigadier Orme Wingate and the “CHINDITS”, landing at secret Jungle Airstrips with quaint names like “Broadway”, “Picadally Circus” and “Trafalgar Square”! He rose to become head of transport operations in the Burma sector. He then left the Air Force to set up his own civilian airline with a few war surplus DC-3s and C-47s. Till the end of the war his planes were leased by the SEAC for what were essentially combat missions.

Taking off from a drizzly, windy, Safdarjung Aerodrome in New Delhi, Biju’s co passenger was his wife – another fearless woman who would not miss the thrills of this adventure for anything.

The mission this night could decide the direction of the Indonesian Independence Movement. The colonial Dutch rulers had clamped down extensively on the freedom fighter on the 21^st of July. Sukarno, who would become the President, wanted to send the former prime minister Sultan Sjahrir to attend the first Inter-Asia Conference organized by Nehru. Here he was to present his people’s case and foment international public opinion against the Dutch. But the Dutch controlled all the sea and air routes out of Java and did not give Sjahrir a ticket.

Hopping via Kolkotta, Port Bliar and Singapore, Biju finally landed at Djakarta in Java and brought out both Sultan Sjahrir and his wife to Delhi.

A few months later, India got Independence. The Dogra Raja of Jammu and Kashmir had not yet signed the Instrument of Accession to the Indian Union. But hordes of raiders had already entered the Kashmir Valley, and were ready to overrun Srinagar. The Indian Air Force could not be officially flown in, so Jawarhalal Nehru turned to his old Pilot friend again.

Just before dawn on 27^th.October, 1947, Biju took off from Palam in his signature Dakota in the colors of Kalinga Airways. Biju Patnaik was at once, Owner, Managing Director and Chief Pilot. He often flew himself – especially important missions.

The Dakota climbed over the 20,000 feet high ridges of the mighty Pir Panjal range – a flight path that pushed the Aircraft to its most stretched “Envelope”. And, the plane was quite laden up with cargo and passengers. In the bay were Lt. Col. Diwan Ranjit Rai and 17 soldiers of the 1^st. Sikh Regiment with all their armament. They were the vanguard of a force being moved in to secure the Srinagar Airfield.

Having crossed the mountains, Biju dropped 10,000 feet into the valley, twice he flew low over the run way scanning for any Pakistani Raiders. He had been warned that the reception committee would give him a very hot welcome, if the raiders had captured the airfield.

There was not a soul on the field. The raiders were too busy, hundreds of miles away, busy raping the population and town of Baramulla. Biju landed, off loaded his cargo and almost immediately took off on the back journey to fly in more troops.

That is how Biju Patnaik saved Kashmir for the Indian Union. A few weeks later, Biju flew another spectacular sortie flying in Brig. Sparrow to Leh. He carried one tank, dismantled to fit in, and in a few weeks, the Indian Army could secure the Srinagar-Dras-Kargil-Leh road with Tanks!!

Kalinga Airways continued operations with a fleet of  15 DC-3s / C-47s. till it was nationalized and amalgamated with several similar private airlines to become Indian Airlines.

In Independent India, Biju joined active politics, first with the Congress Party and after 1975 with Jai Prakash Narayanan’s Janatha Party. He was one of the first leaders jailed by Indira Gandhi, who with singular ingratitude forgot the close relationship Biju had with her father. He served two terms as Chief Minister of Orissa. Till the end he was a member of the 11^th. Lok Sabha and he passed on to the other life on 17^th. April, 1997. Strangely, when asked how he would like to die, Biju had said : “In a spectacular air crash. Death is final and instantaneous.” Biju Patnaik’s legacy lives on in his son, current Chief Minister of Odisha State, Mr. Navin Patnaik.

About the old “Dak”, I am afraid there is very little I can add about this, the most successful transport plane ever. There already are volumes written about her. Suffice it to say, that even 80 years after the first Dakotas flew, there are still planes rendering service – most remote parts of the Amazon in Brazil, Peru, Columbia and Venezuela are still connected only by air – mostly Dakotas. So too, in the deep rain forest jungles of the Congo and West Africa.  And, of course, Dakotas are the still the main carriers for Central American Drug Smuggling Cartels.

At AIR COMMODORE AERO MODELS, we celebrate both Biju Patnaik and that iconic plane the Dakota in a 23” wingspan model in the original colors of Kalinga Airways.