By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: “I am delighted that this legendary aircraft of Biju Babu has finally returned to Odisha. He had many historic exploits in this aircraft, the greatest of which was when he flew to Indonesia through the Dutch locations and the only other person in the aircraft was my mother who was his co-pilot. He flew to Indonesia to rescue the independence leaders during their freedom struggle. That was his greatest adventure on this aircraft,” Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said after the iconic Dakota aircraft of former Chief Minister Biju Patnaik, an ace pilot, reached the capital city here from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Wednesday.
The dismantled aircraft would be reassembled and displayed in front of BPIA, which has been named after the legendary leader. The Airport Authority of India has allocated 1.1 acre land near BPIA for the purpose, sources said.
The former CM Biju Patnaik had used this Dokata plane to rescue the then Prime Minister of Indonesia Sutan Sjahrir in 1947, even though , it was not in use since then, and parked in unused condition, the aircraft still enjoys popularity in Odisha , which was evident from fact that after a large gathering was seen on Wednesday in Capital City of Bbubaneswar, when it arrived in dismantle condition by road on three trailers from Netaji Subash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.
After arriving in Bhubaneswar, it has been placed as a memorial at the airport named after Biju Patnaik. It will be assembled at State government’s hanger in the airport. The historical aircraft had been lying in a dilapidated condition for decades at the airport in Kolkata.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has already allotted 1.1 acres of land where the Dakota plane will be displayed for public viewing.
Officials at Odisha’s commerce and transport department said that a four-member team has been assigned to dismantle the Dakota (DC-3) VT-AUI aircraft, which is about 64 feet 8 inches long with its wings stretching to 95 feet.
The team will restore, reassemble and do the renovation work at the airport here, the officials said.
Biju Patnaik, had set up Kalinga Airlines that operated from Kolkata. The private airline operated nearly a dozen airplanes, including Dakotas. The aircraft, which is 64 feet and 8 inches long, with its wings stretching to 95 feet, had to dismantled for transportation by road to Bhubaneswar from the Kolkata airport.
