Curtain falls on full dress rehearsal, next show on air force day
NEW DELHI, Oct 5 (UNI) : The Surya Kiran Aerobatics team of the Indian Air Force, for the first time before the public, today displayed some nick of time air manoeuvre stunts, including the Cupids Arrow and Bomb-burst formations.
In all, 40 aircraft performed the fly past on the occasion of full dress rehearsal at the Palam Air Force station parade grounds here, before the main show on air force day on October 8.
The chief guest on the IAFs 68th anniversary, which will see all the three service chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces present on the occasion, will be the chief of South African air force staff Lt Gen R J Beukes.
The South African Air Force, the second oldest air force in the world, this year celebrated its 80th anniversary, which was attended by chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal A Y Tipnis.
During the investiture ceremony, Air Chief Marshal Tipnis will award the best fighter, transport, helicopter, missile and radar, squadron trophies, and the best parade contingent trophy.
Of the total 77 awardees, only 69 will turn up this time, as some are deployed in conflict regions like Sierra Leone, while some are involved in studies.
A First day cover and special cancellation stamp will be also released.
This year, the first day cover is on five air force Kargil war heroes - Sq Ldr Ajay Ahuja, Sq Ldr Pundir, Flight Lt Muttiah, Flight Lt Sajan Prasad and Sergeant Sahu.
Sq Ldr Ajay Ahuja died in the Kargil war on May 27 last year in the Batalik sector, when his MIG-21 was shot down, while the others were part of the MI-17 helicopter team, which too was shot down near the Tololing peak in Drass sector on May 28.
Among the aircraft and other weapon utilities on display on the fringes of the parade ground are the MIG-27 ml, Mirage 2000, MIG-21m, OSA-cv, which has a missile flight time of 25 seconds and a maximum height of destruction up to five km, Sam VIII, Pechora Missiles, Jaguar, MIG-23 BN, SU30, MIG-29, and the light utility helicopter for communication, evacuation, search and rescue - Cheetah.
Earlier, after the VIC formation fly past by the MI-8, three MI-35 helicopters moved in the same formation.
This was followed by the big boy formation, 300 metres above the ground, by one IL-76, two AN-32s and two dorniers.
Within split seconds, the arrow head formations were carried out by one canberra, four MIG-29s, five Mirage 2000s, five MIG-23s, one SU-30 and four Jaguars respectively.
But the amazing of all the air stunts was that of the Surya Kiran team, which took off from the Palam grounds this time.
The nine kirans rendered the barrel roll in diamond formation, a horizontal break, wherein two of the aircraft cross over each other and the others scattered away from near collision range.
Then in another dare-devil stunt, two Kirans come from opposite directions and crossed each other with lesser degree of space left between the both.
A Cupids arrow, though the image somewhat dissipated due to bad weather, was also formed by three Kiran trainers.
Two of the aircraft first created a hearts image in the sky, while a third one surpassed the heart like a cupids arrow.
The finale was the bomb-burst formation, where it seemed as if all the aircraft were frittering away.
All the aircraft will repeat the thrilling air show on October 8 as per the schedule.
The parade fall-in is to begin at 0745 hrs, followed by the chief of air staffs address at 0908 hrs and the fly past and aerobatics from 0923 hrs.
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