Tributes from the “Dornier family”

We went a long way together. When I met Pushpindar Singh Chopra first, it is now nearly 40 years ago, my colleges at Dornier introduced me to “Pushy” and I soon understood that this nickname had a good reason. He pushed when others rested, he fought when others gave up, when there was success he planned already the next action.

He was obsessed with knowledge and with passing on this knowledge, I remember us visiting an aerospace museum in Bangalore and there was this class of 8 year old boys and girls with a teacher who obviously was not very knowing about the aircraft on display. Pushy took over and I have never seen young children listening with more attention to this man who was a stranger to them five minutes ago and explaining to them now not only technical items but also teaching them history.

Pushpindar was known not only all over India but also highly respected as aviation and history specialist in Europe and Germany. Without him the success story of the Dornier 228 would never have happened. This aircraft was his “baby” and there was no edition of his magazine “Vayu” without mentioning that another Dornier 228 has been handed over to the Indian Air Force, the Navy or the Coast Guard.

We all have lost a great man, an aviator, a historian. I have lost one of my best friends. He will live on in our memories.