IAF at 89: Touching the sky with glory – Quite Literally!

Every year on 8 October, the Indian Air Force Day is celebrated and this year IAF marked its 89th anniversary since it was officially founded in 1932. The special day was celebrated at Hindon Airbase (Ghaziabad city of Uttar Pradesh) and held in the presence of senior officials of the three Armed Forces; Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh and Chief of Army Staff General MM Naravane while the new IAF Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari inspected the parade.

Vintage aircraft were flown and put up a magnificent show to celebrate the occasion. The show started at 8am with ten paratroopers of the Akash Ganga Team jumping from an An-32 immediately followed by three paratroopers carrying the Indian tricolour together with the IAF flag. This was a depiction of the Tangail airdrop operation, mounted during the 1971 war. In the re-enactment of the famous operation, three paratroopers, including one from the Army, jumped from a vintage Dakota transport aircraft. It was a sight to behold!

Following the paradrop, we witnessed 3 Mi-17V5s carrying Indian flag in VIC formation. Few minutes later, five ALH Mark IV helicopters flew in the same VIC formation. This was followed by the arrival of guests, the parade, medal ceremony and the IAF chief’s speech. The whole presentation lasted for about 45 minutes.

Now, it was time for the excitement. The flying display began with two LCA Tejas, call sign Sekhon 1 and 2 take off and perform some very amazing manoeuvres. Then came in the Mi-17s followed by Chinooks, carrying howitzer guns. After that, Mi-17s along with AH-64 Apaches marked their presence. Then came in one of the mammoth workhorses of the Indian Air Force the C-130J Hercules.

The ‘big daddy’: After that, another giant of the IAFC-17 flew in with Su-30MKIs. I cannot explain the excitement in the crowd when the jets rolled in. It was difficult even for me! The Bisons came rushing. There’s a reason they are called ‘Fast Interceptors’. They were so fast that my camera couldn’t focus on them before they disappeared in the sky. Following the MiG-21s, were the Jaguars, MiG 29s, another batch of Su-30s. All of them flew in VIC formation, deploying flares.

We also saw a flypast from the DC-3 Dakota along with Dorniers. After this, the viewers witnessed the most awaited flypast as the newly inducted Rafale flew in nose up, low height, slow speed formation along with Su-30MKIs. If my memory serves me right, due to their airframe design with canards, these are the only two jets that can pull this off.

We also saw some superb acrobatic manoeuvres from the very skilled Surya Kiran Team who flew the Hawk jets, along with nicely timed display from the Sarang Helicopter (ALH) aerobatics team. The final show was a combination of synchronised flying between LCA, Rafales and Su-30s, performing Vertical Charlies while deploying flares. What an amazing view it was. I told my friends who accompanied me, that only the IAF knew how to end a show!