Friday 17 May 2013

When a PM's plane forcelanded

It was around 10 a.m., and a Principal of a school was busy with his work in a village near Yeramaras, on the outskirts of Raichur, a historic City ion Karnataka.
The Principal, Sheshachar Hunisigi of the Secondary Teachers’ Basic Training (STBT) School, was busy with his work. The work load was heavy as Karnataka had come into being just five months ago-November 1, 1956.
It was February 26, 1957 and Mr. Hunisigi was deeply engrossed in his work. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming near and when he looked up, he almost froze for before him stood the Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nehru looked slightly flustered but he was easily recognizable in his trademark jacket and kurta. With him were a few officials, who also appeared equally flustered and disoriented.
The Principal stood up and quickly offered his seat to the Prime Minister. Nehru casually looked around and took the seat and began a polite conversation with the dumb struck Principal.
By then, other teachers and students of the institution realized the presence of the Prime Minister and rushed towards the Principal’s chamber.
Even as the conversation progresses, officials in the entrouge of the Prime Minister got in touch with the officials, including the district administration.
When news broke that the Prime Minister was in a school building near Raichur, a stunned Deputy Commissioner, K R Ramachandran, the Superintendent of Police, Subramanyam and Tahsildar Narasimhachar N Kathavi rushed post haste to the school.
Apart from these officials, the Mayor of Raichur, A Gurunath Rao, and several advocates came to the school and among them were Raghottama Rao and D R Vittal Rao, who later became a judge of the Karnataka High Court. He was then a 27-year-old practising lawyer in Raichur.
(Incidentally, Vittal Rao and another Judge, M.N. Venkatachalaiah sitting in a Division Bench  heard the first public interest litigation- PIL- filed in the Karnataka High Court against the demolition of the iconic High Court structure during the Chief Ministership of Ramakrishna Hedge in 1982.)
When the crowd around the school grew, officials accompanying the Prime Minister told the gathering that their plane (WIP IL-14) had developed a snag and one of the engines had caught fire. The pilot, Squadron Leader Reginald Azariah (R A) Rufus who was commissioned on February 25, 1946, had landed the aircraft at an abandoned airfield at Yeramaras, seven kilometers from Raichur.
Yeramaras was used by the British during the world war as an air strip. It was built in 1942 and was abandoned soon after the war and neither the Centre nor the State had made any effort to develop it. The airfield was in disuse and it still is.
Pandit Nehru, meanwhile, was on an election campaign. He had campaigned for the Congress Party in Kerala and he had come to Mangalore.
Nehru had left Mangalore at 8-05 a.m., and his next stop was Raipur in Madhya Pradesh where he was scheduled to address an election rally. He was not slated to stop anywhere else in Karnataka.
Nehru was using an Illushin aircraft of Indian Air Force (IAF) which was named as Meghadoot. The twin engined Illushin plane had been gifted by the Soviets to Nehru on December 23, 1955 by the Russian Ambassador in Delhi on December 23, 1955 on behalf of the Russian premier Bulganin and Communist Party Secretary Nikita Krushchev (who later became President of the USSR).  Nehru had himself christened the aircraft as Meghadoot-the messenger of the clouds.   
The right engine of the plane caught fire in mid air and the pilot, made an emergency landing at the deserted airstrip. The pilot feathered the engine and though the plane tilted to one side, he managed to land the craft. The Prime Minister appeared calm and he inspected the damaged engine and congratulated the pilot for making a landing with only one engine and without any support from the ATC.
When the aircraft force landed it was a little after 9-30 a.m., and Nehru and his party of officials and Congressmen walked towards the school. He looked at the still smoking port side engine which was emitting smoke and walked off still reading the text of Foreign Minister V.K. Krishna Menon’s speech at the United Nations Security Council on the Kashmir issue. Menon had made a marathon speech which had gone on for seven hours  and newspapers had covered it extensively.
With Nehru sitting in the school premises, the officials immediately contacted Hyderabad from where another aircraft was flown to Raichur and Nehru continued his onward journey.
The Meghdoot remained at the airstrip for more than a week and very soon it became a tourist attraction. When news of the force landing reached the Soviets, they offered a new Ilyshin aircraft to Nehru which the Prime Minister accepted. Russian engineers visited the Yeramaras airstrip and conducted an enquiry into the issue of engine failure.
Incidentally, this was Nehru’s second visit to Raichur. Earlier, during the 1952 general elections,  he had had come to Raichur along with his sister Vijayalakashmi Pandit.
Later, Sqn Ldr RA Rufus, an Anglo-Indian, was awarded the Ashok Chakra for his presence of mind and
It was around 10 a.m., and a Principal of a school was busy with his work in a village near Yeramaras, on the outskirts of Raichur, a historic City ion Karnataka.
The Principal, Sheshachar Hunisigi of the Secondary Teachers’ Basic Training (STBT) School, was busy with his work. The work load was heavy as Karnataka had come into being just five months ago-November 1, 1956.
It was February 26, 1957 and Mr. Hunisigi was deeply engrossed in his work. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming near and when he looked up, he almost froze for before him stood the Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
Nehru looked slightly flustered but he was easily recognizable in his trademark jacket and kurta. With him were a few officials, who also appeared equally flustered and disoriented.
The Principal stood up and quickly offered his seat to the Prime Minister. Nehru casually looked around and took the seat and began a polite conversation with the dumb struck Principal.
By then, other teachers and students of the institution realized the presence of the Prime Minister and rushed towards the Principal’s chamber.
Even as the conversation progresses, officials in the entrouge of the Prime Minister got in touch with the officials, including the district administration.
When news broke that the Prime Minister was in a school building near Raichur, a stunned Deputy Commissioner, K R Ramachandran, the Superintendent of Police, Subramanyam and Tahsildar Narasimhachar N Kathavi rushed post haste to the school.
Apart from these officials, the Mayor of Raichur, A Gurunath Rao, and several advocates came to the school and among them were Raghottama Rao and D R Vittal Rao, who later became a judge of the Karnataka High Court. He was then a 27-year-old practising lawyer in Raichur.
(Incidentally, Vittal Rao and another Judge, M.N. Venkatachalaiah sitting in a Division Bench  heard the first public interest litigation- PIL- filed in the Karnataka High Court against the demolition of the iconic High Court structure during the Chief Ministership of Ramakrishna Hedge in 1982.)
When the crowd around the school grew, officials accompanying the Prime Minister told the gathering that their plane (WIP IL-14) had developed a snag and one of the engines had caught fire. The pilot, Squadron Leader Reginald Azariah (R A) Rufus who was commissioned on February 25, 1946, had landed the aircraft at an abandoned airfield at Yeramaras, seven kilometers from Raichur.
Yeramaras was used by the British during the world war as an air strip. It was built in 1942 and was abandoned soon after the war and neither the Centre nor the State had made any effort to develop it. The airfield was in disuse and it still is.
Pandit Nehru, meanwhile, was on an election campaign. He had campaigned for the Congress Party in Kerala and he had come to Mangalore.
Nehru had left Mangalore at 8-05 a.m., and his next stop was Raipur in Madhya Pradesh where he was scheduled to address an election rally. He was not slated to stop anywhere else in Karnataka.
Nehru was using an Illushin aircraft of Indian Air Force (IAF) which was named as Meghadoot. The twin engined Illushin plane had been gifted by the Soviets to Nehru on December 23, 1955 by the Russian Ambassador in Delhi on December 23, 1955 on behalf of the Russian premier Bulganin and Communist Party Secretary Nikita Krushchev (who later became President of the USSR).  Nehru had himself christened the aircraft as Meghadoot-the messenger of the clouds.   
The right engine of the plane caught fire in mid air and the pilot, made an emergency landing at the deserted airstrip. The pilot feathered the engine and though the plane tilted to one side, he managed to land the craft. The Prime Minister appeared calm and he inspected the damaged engine and congratulated the pilot for making a landing with only one engine and without any support from the ATC.
When the aircraft force landed it was a little after 9-30 a.m., and Nehru and his party of officials and Congressmen walked towards the school. He looked at the still smoking port side engine which was emitting smoke and walked off still reading the text of Foreign Minister V.K. Krishna Menon’s speech at the United Nations Security Council on the Kashmir issue. Menon had made a marathon speech which had gone on for seven hours  and newspapers had covered it extensively.
With Nehru sitting in the school premises, the officials immediately contacted Hyderabad from where another aircraft was flown to Raichur and Nehru continued his onward journey.
The Meghdoot remained at the airstrip for more than a week and very soon it became a tourist attraction. When news of the force landing reached the Soviets, they offered a new Ilyshin aircraft to Nehru which the Prime Minister accepted. Russian engineers visited the Yeramaras airstrip and conducted an enquiry into the issue of engine failure.
Incidentally, this was Nehru’s second visit to Raichur. Earlier, during the 1952 general elections,  he had had come to Raichur along with his sister Vijayalakashmi Pandit.
Later, Rufus was awarded the Ashoka Chakra for his presence of mind. He was an instructor in Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) Jodhpur and Transport Training Centre in Hyderabad. He commanded a Squadron on AN-12s and retired as Wing Commander.
He later joined Air India and flew Boeing 707 and 747 aircraft.
(This post was written after one of the readers-Skyflash- pointed the incident of the force landing of Nehru's plane. Thank you, Skyflash)
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2 comments:

  1. Hi,

    Excellent..the complete story..thanks alot and you are most welcome for the reminder...

    just one thing..the article is kinda broken and then restarts in the middle..you might want to check it again..

    Any info on the yemaras train wreck of 1917?

    ReplyDelete
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