The Story of Aviation in Jamshedpur
1934 – The Landing Ground
JRD Tata
In Jamshedpur, about 5 km North-west of the railway station,
the officers and others used to gather on weekends to bet at the horse racing ground,
a flat piece of land, overlooking the Dalma hills.This, the management decided,
would be the ideallanding ground for the nascent aviation movement.
A landing strip was then appropriately constructed. This was
very convenient for dignitaries like Governors and Rajas to visit the township.
It was also used as a technical halt for the historic Calcutta to Bombay
experimental flight in 1934. The “T” shaped landing ground was expanded from
550 yards to 1000 yards which would enable “even a KLM or Imperial Airmail
liner to land”.
How the first Aeroplane in Jamshedpur was acquired
Local legend suggests that a Scottish engineer wrote to the Board of Directors requesting that TISCO acquires a small plane. Since he had to travel regularly on dusty roads to the collieries, he offered to fund half its costs.
Jehangir Ghandy, Assistant General Manager, thought it was a reasonable request since a landing field already existed. The company decided to fund the entire cost. And with this began the exciting and colourful history of aviation in Jamshedpur. An aircraft with a larger capacity than the usual Puss Moth was considered.
TISCO began its historic aviation journey with the
Leopard Moth registered as VT-AHA in 1936
A British made De Havilland “Leopard Moth” monoplane made in the U.K. was delivered on the 22nd of April, 1936. With a 130 H.P. engine, it cruised comfortably at 100 MPH and could carry two passengers besides the pilot. Two days later on the 24th of AprilMr. Ghandy took the 7½ hour journey to Bombay and returned on the 27th of April, satisfied that this new acquisition could be profitably used in better time management for the officers. After that it was used regularly to visit the nearby collieries.
The first flight to Bombay
Waco 5 seater biplane
So
successful was the new venture that the management felt the need for a larger
aircraft to carry more than two passengers. By 1938, TISCO added a five seater
Bi-plane – the American Waco fitted with a Jacob’s Radial 285 BHP engine, with
a cruising speed of 140 MPH. This continued to be in service till the early
fifties. Important dignitaries thus found it more convenient to visit
Jamshedpur.
Aircraft of the local kingdoms
In 1941, Mr. Jehangir Ghandy stirred up the imagination of
the citizens of Jamshedpur by conducting a collection drive leading to donating
the proceeds of Rs 2,30,000/- to purchase two Spitfire fighters named Sakchi
and Golmori. He managed to gather the aircrafts of the local kingdoms and
ignited the imagination of the local people with aerobatics, low flying and
even steep dives !
Growth from the late fifties
Since then the company continued to acquire a wide variety of
interesting and modern aircraft from the Beechcraft, Cessna and the Pilatus
range.
Tata Steel continued to upgrade its
fleet. The Beechcraft, considered to be the Mercedes of executive planes,
continued to be its favourite. There is a twin prop aircraft for long
distances. For short hauls and to ferry company executives there are the two
single prop STOL Pilatus and also the three Bell 429 helicopters.
The
current range of aircraft
Flying for the citizens
Commercial Flights
In the
fifties, private airlines like JamAir and ACC began commercial flights to Dum
Dum, Calcutta, using the war horse of World War II – DC3 Dakotas.
Next, Vayudoot introduced the F-27 Fokker Friendship and sustained the service successfully for a few years. After that, a few private airlines like Kingfisher, Air Deccan and MDLR attempted service to Jamshedpur but gave up after a few months. Others also have, for a short time, attempted to own and operate aircrafts.
-
