Thunder-heart
Since this Issue is Yelahanka–centric, it is appropriate to record the presence of some historic personalities at this Air Force Station. So, here too, was this RAF Sergeant Pilot from Palestine, during World War II, who converted to fly the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt at this Station and recalled with much nostalgia his time at RAF Yelahanka. Apart from flying training, he had developed a certain fondness for the daughter of an owner of a nearby bakery. When this gentleman re-visited Yelahanka half a century later, a red carpet was laid out by the Government of India, but his wish to locate that young lady was not fulfilled. Alas, the bakery had long closed and so eventually did this chapter of his life.
He was none other than Ezer Weizman, the seventh President of Israel, before which he was Commander of the Israeli Air Force and Minister of Defence, making a state visit to India in 1994.
Amigos Novamente
Nothing remains permanent ! For decades after ‘Operation Vijay’, the liberation of Portuguese Goa by India’s Armed Forces in December 1961, the two countries ostensibly remained at a ‘state of war’ but this finally only faded away some decades later. Interesting then that the Governments of India and Portugal have just signed an MoU on Defence Cooperation during the recent visit to India of Portugal’s Goa-origin PM Antonio Costa. Vida Cie !
An aside : India’s erstwhile Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, who was then young boy in 1961, recalls that his father’s lorry had been ‘ commandeered’ by the Indian Army during that brief Operation. Hope it was eventually returned to the owner !
Extra-terrestrials and Sir Winston
Britain’s Prime Minister during World War II, Sir Winston Churchill, is certainly known for his resolute leadership in the face of daunting odds during the ‘Battle for Britain’ . Less known is his conviction that there was life on other planets. Over 50 years before the discovery of exoplanets, Churchill considered likelihood that other stars would host planets concluding that a large fraction of these distant worlds “will be the right size to keep on their surface water and possibly an atmosphere of some sort”.
Battles well beyond Britain ?
Standing room only !
That the sector Karachi-Medina is highly overbooked, is no exaggeration ! On one of PIA’s recent flights (PK-743), this was so and thus on this Boeing 777, half a dozen passengers were given hand-written passes for standing in the aisle during the three hour flight. PIA’s Boeing 777 has a seating capacity of 409 including jump seats for the staff, but PK-743 actually carried 416 passengers. Although the harassed senior cabin attendant informed the Commander of “chaos” in the cabin, she was advised to “adjust” them in any which way.
That the aeroplane (and its passengers) landed safely is tribute to both the aircraft manufacturer and the intrepid crew that (wo)man it !
Taking no chances !
From the internet, following the altercation on an Air India Airbus flight.