Down the memory lane -Last fifty Five years of Indian Helicopter>>

55 Years of Helicopters in Service of the Nation

CIVIL

Captain RUSTOM CAPTAIN, CHPL No. 1 and the first commercial helicopter pilot in India. He is now settled in Canada. The picture of shows him in his Hiller UH12B with Nehru and Morarji Desai on board. The flight was from Nariman Point to Vaitarna Dam in late 1953.

Military

The Indian Air Force was the first to acquire rotary wing aircraft in the Military. 25 Mar 54 was indeed a ‘red letter day’ in the history of IAF as the first helicopter wearing IAF markings appeared at Palam in the form of a Sikorsky, S-55. Purchased in USA, these general purpose/utility helicopters were used to equip One - O - Four, the first of the IAF’s dedicated rotary wing operating formations. The first flight was undertaken in a Sikorsky-55 (IZ 648) by then Flt Lt S.K.Majumdar & Flt Lt.A.N.Todd on 01 Apr 54 from Palam to Tilpat Range with Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister on board.