Sabre-killer Gnat to Sukhoi: Air Force heritage centre to open in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: The country’s first Indian Air Force Heritage Centre has come up in Chandigarh’s Sector 18 and will be inaugurated by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on January 31. Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan and IAF chief VR Chaudhari will be present at the event. The biggest draw will be flight simulators which will be installed at the centre, besides five fighter aircraft of  MiG 21 and MiG 23 models.

The centre will comprise artifacts, simulators, and interactive boards in order to highlight the various facets of IAF operations. It will showcase the significant roles played by the IAF for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief besides its combat capabilities. It will also house various vintage aircraft. “The purpose is to motivate the youth in making a career in the IAF,” said an IAF officer.

Sources said the centre will house five planes – the Gnat, known as the Sabre killer for fighter’s daredevilry in the 1971 war, MiG 21, MiG 23, trainer aircraft HPT-32 Deepak and Air Force’s Kanpur-1 vintage prototype aircraft, a rare single-engine machine designed and built by late Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh in 1958.

The centre will display all vintage planes in a mural form starting from Wapiti aircraft up to MiG 23. There will be an augmented reality enclosure, besides a virtual reality enclosure to show the theme of the historic Battle of Longewala. An audio-visual gallery will showcase role of IAF in various wars will be shown. A hologram will show various aircraft interceptions.