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Naval Aviation History

The role of Maritime Reconnaissance (MR) was to search large sea areas by day and by night to locate and track enemy warships and merchant ships and home air strikes and naval ships against them. The MR arm of the Indian Air Force was formed from World War II Liberator aircraft. The first Liberator Squadron (No 5) was raised in November 1948. Though old and inadequately equipped for the task, Liberators did useful work as a MR squadron as well as Air Sea rescue. In 1961, the IAF acquired seven Super Constellation (Super Connie) aircraft from Air India for conversion to the MR role.

On 17 January 1959, the Fleet Requirement Unit (FRU) became the first unit to be commissioned as Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 550. It had ten amphibian Sealands, ten target towing Fireflies and three HT 2 trainer aircraft.

Since VIKRANT was going to operate jet aircraft, pilots had to undergo conversion. Three Vampire jet aircraft were acquired from HAL and one Vampire trainer was transferred from the Air Force. GARUDA's runway was not long enough to operate the Vam­pires. From September 1957 onwards, a `Naval Jet Flight' started operating from the longer airfield at Sulur near Coimbatore.

Helicopters first entered naval service with the VIKRANT's Sea Air Rescue (SAR) Flight whose primary role was to rescue ditched pilots. Helicopter pilots received their initial training with the Air Force and later in France. The two French Alouette helicopters obtained on loan for VIKRANT's work up in Malta were returned to France. Three Alouettes had been ordered from France for VIKRANT's SAR Flight but their delivery was expected only in 1964. To bridge the gap between 1961 and 1964, two American Sikorsky helicopters were obtained on loan from the Air Force.

In addition to the initial order of 23 Seahawks acquired with the VIKRANT. 23 more reconditioned Seahawks had been pur­chased from Britain - seven in 1962, ten in 1963 and six in 1964. In 1965, an agreement was signed for the purchase of 28 more Seahawks which were being phased out by the Federal German Navy.

With Seahawks having been phased out from the Royal Navy in the early 1960s, the Indian Navy was constantly on the look out for their replacements. The Indian Navy decided to await the developments of the Sea Harrier. In 1977, Government approved the acquisition of 8 Sea Harriers, including 2 trainers. The first British Sea Harrier flew in 1978.

After the 1971 war, in which KHUKRI was sunk by a Pakistan Navy submarine, the Navy pressed the requirement for a versatile MRASW aircraft which, with a good radar, could rapidly search a required area and be capable of attacking and sinking a submarine located by it. In February 1975, the agreement was signed for the acquisition of three IL 38s from Russia.

On 24 August 1991, the first naval Dornier arrived to re­place the Alizes in INAS 310. Thereafter additional Dorniers joined: one in 1991, two in 1992 and one in 1993, making a total induction of five Dorniers. The Dorniers were progressively fitted with the latest radar, electronic and sonobuoy systems for the surveillance and EW roles.

On 30 March 1988, the first three TU 142 M aircraft landed at HANSA after a non stop flight from Russia. Two more aircraft arrived on 13 April. The squadron was commissioned at HANSA on 16 April and designated INAS 312. The remaining three aircraft arrived between August and October 1988. The embarkation of helicopters in ships, which had started with the light Alouette IIIs in VIKRANT, DARSHAK and DEEPAK in the 1960's followed by the MATCH Alouettes in the first four Leander frigates in the 1970's, accelerated in the 1980s.

All new front line frigates and destroyers were designed to embark heavy helicopters. TARAGIRI and VINDHYA­GIRI had one Seaking each. The RAJPUT class frigates from Russia had one Kamov each. The GODAVARI class frigates of Project 16 had two Seakings each, as do the DELHI class destroyers of Project 15. The LST(L)'s were designed to embark the commando variant Seakings. All other frigate sized ships had the lighter Alouette IIIs (Chetaks) - TRISHUL and TALWAR after conversion, BRAH­MAPUTRA, BEAS and BETWA after conversion to the training role, the new training ship TIR, the new survey ships and the new KHUKRI class corvettes of Project 25.

With the commissioning of the new guided missile frigate INS RAJPUT in Russia in March 80, the first KA 25 helicopter entered service. On 11 Dec 80, the twin engined KA 25 helicopter squadron was commissioned at HANSA and designated INAS 333. In subsequent years, the KA 28s replaced the obsolescent KA 85s.