The Dakota DC-3 aircraft that the late Biju Patnaik had commandeered to Indonesia to fly two resistance leaders out of the clutches of Dutch colonialists in 1947 has reached Bhubaneswar after 76 years.
It will now remain permanently at Biju Patnaik Airport here and will be displayed for public viewing from March 5, the former chief minister’s birth anniversary.
The Dakota, which lay “in a precarious condition” at the isolation bay of Calcutta airport, was dismantled and arrived by truck at Bhubaneswar airport on Wednesday evening.
It will be reassembled before being put on display. Biju was 31 when, on a request from Jawaharlal Nehru, he had flown the plane to Indonesia and landed it on a makeshift airfield in Jakarta, evading the Dutch. He flew out with Vice-President Md Hatta and Prime Minister Sutan Sjahrir.
Biju later became a friend of Sukarno, independent Indonesia’s President, and was awarded that country’s highest civilian title of Bhoomi Putra. Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik — Biju’s son — was at the airport to receive the dismantled aircraft.
“I am happy that the Dakota flown by Biju Babu has reached Bhubaneswar. He had undertaken several daring operations with this aircraft,” Naveen said.
“His most daredevil act was the rescue of Indonesian freedom fighters from the control of Dutch forces. My mother Gyan Patnaik was the co-pilot of Biju Babu on that Dakota.”
The aircraft was part of a fleet of 18 owned by Dakota Kalinga Airlines, which Biju had founded and operated from Calcutta since Odisha had no airports then. He was the chief pilot. His Dakotas flew several sorties into Indonesia, carrying medical assistance and various supplies.
In July 1947 the Dutch shot down a Douglas C-47B-20 Dakota that Biju had lent to the Indonesian Red Cross for the transport of humanitarian aid.
The Dakotas of Kalinga Airlines were also used during the 1947-48 conflict with Pakistan to ferry troops, medical personnel and supplies to Srinagar. Biju called the Dakotas “Gooney Birds”.
In 1953, Kalinga Airlines and seven other private airlines were nationalised and merged with Indian Airlines.
On December 13, 2017, the then chairman of the Airport Authority of India, Guruprasad Mohapatra, wrote to the Odisha chief secretary that an abandoned Dakota DC-3 with the registration number VT-AUI, which had belonged to the erstwhile Kalinga Airlines, was lying at Calcutta airport.
The Odisha government wrote to the Airport Authority of India in January 2020 expressing interest in getting the aircraft to Bhubaneswar airport and displaying it. In July 2021, the state government wrote to the Union civil aviation ministry for the requisite approvals.
