The Hindu : 1 Karnataka Air Squadron: A story of achievements

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 28, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

1 Karnataka Air Squadron: A story of achievements

By Rasheed Kappan

BANGALORE July 27. Over 75,000 glider launches, a national NCC record of 1,400 hours of microlite flying, 1,500 cadets, three microlite aircraft, and a glider. This is the remarkable story of the "1 Karnataka Air Squadron" of the National Cadet Corps (NCC), adjudged the best in the country at the Republic Day Parade last year.

Housed at the Jakkur airfield premises, this starting ground for a host of airlines pilots and Air Force officers has turned 50. From its modest beginnings on June 1, 1954, the squadron is today the torchbearer of a spirited, youthful ambition to fly high and touch the sky.

The squadron was first known as "9 Mysore Air Squadron NCC" before its renaming in 1973. In 1965, the squadron had only six junior divisions, a far cry from today's 14, representing schools from across the State, says Anup Kumar, the squadron's commanding officer.

Enrolment of girls began last year. Today, the squadron has 250 girls in its junior wing and 100 girls in the senior wing from different colleges in Bangalore. "Overall, there are 200 male and female cadets in the senior division and the wings,'' according to S. Madhavan. Flying Officer Paul Newman is the Associate NCC officer for Bangalore University colleges.

Microlite flying and gliding are the squadron's star activities. But emphasis is also on aeromodelling, parasailing, skeet-shooting, and .22 rifle firing besides the regular mountaineering and community development activities, says Wg. Cdr. Kumar.

To tide over the shortage of gliders and phasing out of old gliders, the squadron acquired a serviceable Ardhra glider in 1984. In 1997, a Chicknox Microlite aircraft was added to the squadron's fleet at a cost of Rs. 18 lakh.

An X-Air Microlite came in 1998 and a Zen-Air Microlite was added three years ago. Today, the squadron has three Zen Air microlites and the glider.

From its modest beginnings, the squadron has advanced to record an average of 1,500 glider launches and 400 hours of microlite flying in a year. "Over the last two years, all the 450 junior division troops have had air experience in microlite," Wg. Cdr. Kumar said.

Parasailing, with about 1,500 launches last year, is also part of the squadron story. "All Army units of the NCC in Bangalore were given a chance to parasail."

The squadron has shown its mettle in Aero-modelling (scale models of actual aircraft made of Balsa wood), winning gold medals at the All-India Vayu Sainik and Republic Day competitions for the past 25 years. The aero-modelling instructor, Gyana Subramani, is a 30-year veteran at his job.

Remote-controlled flying is another activity where the squadron has excelled. For the past 20 years, it has won gold medals in every contest. Skeet-shooting, an exclusive event for air wing cadets, where clay pigeons are the targets, is another activity.

The grounding of flights at the Government Flying Training School at Jakkur came as a big blow for the squadron.

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