Indian Air Force Ajeets at Air Force Station Kalaikunda in November 1990

[Basilisk]

After photographing two HAL Ajeets from No.2 Squadron "Winged Arrows" at Ambala Air Force station, I received the go-ahead for a second Indian Air Force visit six weeks later which included a visit at Kalaikunda Air Force Station, the home of the "Winged Arrows" and also the home of the last Hawker Hunters from HOFTU (Hunter Operational Flying Training Unit) and TTF (Target Towing Flight) and MiG-21FL from No.8 Squadron "Eight Pursoots".

 

 

Seeing the flightline of five Ajeet Mk.I and one of only three Ajeet Mk.II Trainer at Kalaikunda was beyond my expectations and I had no idea that the last Ajeet flight occurred only four month later. Each aircraft had a unique paint scheme and of interest is the substantially longer fuselage of the Trainer (by 1.4m).

 

The brake chute is as tine as the aircraft! E1979 still exists and is currently preserved at the Faculty of Aeronautical Engine at Hyderabad.

 

 

 

 

 

E1997 had an interesting "Aggressor" tail marking. This aircraft also had the blade areal behind the cockpit like E1996.

 

 

E2022 was in the standard silver scheme, but unlike E1979, also had the #2 on the rudder. Of interest are the names SENGER on E2022 and MURALI on E2024 which are only on the port side applied.

 

 

 

 

 

E2024 had an interesting "Aggressor" marking and a white squadron batch on the nose.

 

 

 

E2035 was another Ajeet in a camouflage scheme applied over the silver finish like E1996.

 

The Ajeet Mk.II Trainer was unfortunately not airworthy when I visited Kalaikunda, but a start-up procedure gave some nice photo opportunity.

 

 

 

 

 

Of interest is that the No.18 Squadron "Flying Bullets" marking are still visible on the starboard side underneath the newly applied No.2 Squadron "Winged Arrows" squadron batch, but have been completely removed on the port side!

 

If you don't have enough by now, there are more Ajeet pictures from Ambala and Kalaikunda in my flickr Album.

 

Thanks for looking and I hope these pictures are of interest to some.
Cheers, Peter

Edited December 24, 2024 by Basilisk

[exdraken]

Again, what a treat!

 

Those jets fo look battered! 

 

Those photos are real jems, probably the only opeky available professional IAF ones from back then!

 

 

Looking forward to more !

 

[RidgeRunner]

Magnificent,  yet again, Peter!

 

I’m always an admirer of your work!

 

Martin

[stevehnz]

Those a superb Peter, thanks, I've been really enjoying your photo sets. Might one ask what you were in to take the airborne shots?

Steve.

[tomthounaojam]

Beautiful pictures, thank you once again, cheers.

[Aww94]

These are superb photos. Thank you so much for sharing them 👍

[Tim R-T-C]

Amazing shots, what detail on those paint schemes, not one alike.

[Basilisk]

On 12/22/2024 at 9:50 PM, exdraken said:

Again, what a treat!

 

Those jets fo look battered! 

 

Those photos are real jems, probably the only opeky available professional IAF ones from back then!

 

 

Looking forward to more !

 

Indeed, but t that gives them lots of individuality!

 

On 12/23/2024 at 10:17 AM, RidgeRunner said:

Magnificent,  yet again, Peter!

 

I’m always an admirer of your work!

 

Martin

Thanks Martin. There is more to come.

 

On 12/23/2024 at 10:43 AM, stevehnz said:

Those a superb Peter, thanks, I've been really enjoying your photo sets. Might one ask what you were in to take the airborne shots?

Steve.

Thanks Steve. I flew in U460, a MiG-21U from No 8 Squadron "Eight Pursoots" as the Ajeet Traner wasn't airworthy at the time.

I took this picture of U460 after the completion of the photo flight as a souvenir for myself. It was a lengthy flight as we met up with the four Ajeets as shown here, but also with four Hunters and three MiG-21FL.

 

On 12/23/2024 at 1:27 PM, tomthounaojam said:

Beautiful pictures, thank you once again, cheers.

Pleasure, glad you like them.

 

On 12/23/2024 at 6:58 PM, Aww94 said:

These are superb photos. Thank you so much for sharing them 👍

I am glad they are appreciated.

 

On 12/23/2024 at 7:26 PM, Tim R-T-C said:

Amazing shots, what detail on those paint schemes, not one alike.

Indeed none are alike. Also of interest is the difference in the fin flashes. the single seaters have a fin flash with a narrower white center strip, but they are all equally spaced on the trainer.

 

Cheers, Peter

[RidgeRunner]

5 hours ago, Basilisk said:

Thanks Steve. I flew in U460, a MiG-21U from No 8 Squadron "Eight Pursoots" as the Ajeet Traner wasn't airworthy at the time.

Fantastic!

[ForestFan]

Absolutely superb, thanks for posting these

[stevehnz]

8 hours ago, Basilisk said:

Thanks Steve. I flew in U460, a MiG-21U from No 8 Squadron "Eight Pursoots" as the Ajeet Traner wasn't airworthy at the time.

Thanks Peter, after I'd finished going 'oh wow!', I had a chuckle & thought of the old saying. A crappy job but someone had to do it. Lucky someone & lucky us to share the results.

Steve.

[ColinChipmunkfan]

Fantastic photos Peter, the formation shots are excellent.  Thank you for posting.  I wonder if any Ajeets will make it onto the warbird scene?

Colin

[Basilisk]

On 12/25/2024 at 6:15 AM, stevehnz said:

Thanks Peter, after I'd finished going 'oh wow!', I had a chuckle & thought of the old saying. A crappy job but someone had to do it. Lucky someone & lucky us to share the results.

Steve.

The only thing crappy was the pay... The rest I certainly don't complain about.

 

On 12/25/2024 at 7:18 PM, ColinChipmunkfan said:

Fantastic photos Peter, the formation shots are excellent.  Thank you for posting.  I wonder if any Ajeets will make it onto the warbird scene?

Colin

Unlikely, but there are at least three Ajeets in the US of A of which two are on static display.

https://abpic.co.uk/pictures/model/HAL Ajeet F.1

https://www.historicalaircraftsquadron.org/project-folland-gnat.html#:~:text=At the present time%2C a,of The Royal Air Force.

 

The IAF Historic flight had one airworthy HAL Gnat during my visit in late 1990, but unfortunately in a "fantasy" paint scheme.

E265 is now on display in the IAF Museum at Palam (New Delhi), but most likely no longer airworthy as it is now mounted on a pole.

https://www.jetphotos.com/registration/E265

 

Cheers, Peter

[Jagan]

Fantastic Pictures Peter. I am quite sure the names on the aircraft are the names of the Pilots in the Squadron. Some of the photos are 'known' but its great to see many previously unseen photos here. Please keep them coming.

 

-Jagan

[Greg B]

On 22/12/2024 at 21:24, Basilisk said:

 

 

Thanks for looking and I hope these pictures are of interest to some.
Cheers, Peter

 

Excellent set of images. I can't believe how battered they are. I've seen wheelbarrows on a construction site with better paintwork! Gawd knows what the internal condition was like. 

 

Some really nice post processing as well, I like the cool tones of your images. Must see how to achieve that with fully digital.

Edited January 12 by Greg B

[Rob Sutto]

Again, wonderful pictures, Peter. The state of E2035 is truly something. Definitely one for the "No crew chief..." guys to take a good look at 

[Basilisk]

15 hours ago, Jagan said:

Fantastic Pictures Peter. I am quite sure the names on the aircraft are the names of the Pilots in the Squadron. Some of the photos are 'known' but its great to see many previously unseen photos here. Please keep them coming.

Thanks. Does make sense that they are names - or part of a name.

 

12 hours ago, Greg B said:

 

Excellent set of images. I can't believe how battered they are. I've seen wheelbarrows on a construction site with better paintwork! Gawd knows what the internal condition was like. 

 

Some really nice post processing as well, I like the cool tones of your images. Must see how to achieve that with fully digital.

Thanks. I actually feel that these images are a bit too cool. It is tricky to scan Kodachrome slides which has cool colours to start with, but also has sometimes some unpleasant magenta casts. and the silver aircraft do not help. The biggest challenge is to get the colours look more or less the same in a series of pictures as the hues on the original slides can be different from film to film.

 

Changing temperature on a digital image should be straight forward as most image processing software have a temperature slider - yellow for warm and blue for cool.

 

5 hours ago, Bobby No Mac said:

Again, wonderful pictures, Peter. The state of E2035 is truly something. Definitely one for the "No crew chief..." guys to take a good look at 

Thanks. The IAF had a "unique" approach on maintaining aircraft at the time and the condition of the paint wasn't part of it! I spent 6 weeks with them and flew in many aircraft types with up to 3 flights a day and never experienced any technical issues in all these flights in aircraft I flew with and aircraft I photographed. And as the Ajeets retired four months later, a repaint was no longer a priority.

 

Cheers, Peter