Apart from Sholavaram, it was also the venue of a desi Grand Prix, where the likes of Vijay Mallya raced their formula cars.
For Wing Commander D. Castalino, Flight Lieutenant Praveen, Flight Lieutenant T. Kapoor, Junior Warrant Officer A.K. Singh and Sergeant Sudhakar, Barrackpore was home, their posting in Eastern Command's 157 Helicopter Unit.
All five died on Tuesday, in the IAF's first recorded crash of the extraordinarily sturdy Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter. But they didn't die in or around Barrackpore. And they certainly didn't die in vain.
They died more than 10,000 feet above sea level, felled by a dense cloud in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath valley while returning from a rescue mission. With them died nine gallant men of the National Disaster Response Force and six tough-as-nails jawans of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
Tuesday's tragic crash only underlined the heroism and gallantry of the IAF as it continued to lead the gargantuan rescue effort.
Indeed, the Mi-17 crew was the flesh and blood of Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne's heartfelt vow of Monday, "Our helicopter rotors will not stop churning till such time we get each one of you out. Hang in there."
It's far from over, but the IAF's rescue effort has already scaled new heights in aviation history. Helicopters are flying well outside their safe envelopes, in treacherous weather conditions, and carrying dangerously excessive payloads.
The IAF's Operation Raahat has turned out to be the biggest ever airlift operation ever carried out in the country.
Flying in mountainous regions is not easy even in the best conditions but the IAF's helicopter crews have stretched the limits and forgone minimas - the conditions beyond which flying is not advisable.
Weather turning worse
The sense of urgency in evacuating as many people as possible was triggered by the warnings of the weather taking a turn for the worse in the coming days. The IAF's task force commander, Air Commodore Rajesh Issar, is an ace helicopter pilot himself.
He is managing the rescue mission from Dehradun's Jolly Grant airfield.
It was a logistical nightmare to begin with: few forward helipads and horribly stretched supply lines. But the IAF was soon in the driver's seat, establishing forward helicopter bases right in the centre of disaster zone at Guptkashi, Gauchar, Dharasu and Pithoragarh.The major challenge was to maintain a fuel supply at its forward bases to keep the operations going. This is where the Veiled Vipers stepped in, for that's what the IAF's 77 Squadron that flies the newly acquired C-130Js is called. The Vipers proved to be the gamechangers that kept Operation Raahat going.
The Vipers were entrusted with the task of landing at Dharasu, an unused airfield wrapped up deep and high in the mountains. Dharasu, at 3,000 feet above sea level, has 3,300 feet of airstrip which is not even wide enough to accommodate the wingspan of the Super Hercules, as the C-130J is called.
The C-130 is one of the most amazing transport planes ever made, but it does need 3,000 feet to land.
"We had never operated in the area. The airstrip was not only short but its width was not enough to accommodate large wingspan of the aircraft," said commanding officer of Veiled Vipers, Group Captain Tejbir Singh, who flew the first sortie himself on June 22.
The squadron had already come up with the innovative idea of transferring the fuel directly from the fuel tank into the waiting bowsers. Fuel is usually transported in barrels which have to be kept for several hours for sediment to settle.
The direct transfer trick meant crucial hours were saved, and hundreds more rescued. This is the first time in India when direct fuel transfer from aircraft's tank to the bowser was carried out, Singh said.
The army was a worthy compatriot on field. An army pilot also said their aircraft were being flown till their last endurance. The army is operating light helicopters in Uttarakhand.
Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/uttarakhand-iaf-rescue-efforts-new-aviation-records-india-today/1/285318.html
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