Cuttack: The iconic Dakota DC-3 aircraft in which Biju Patnaik flew two Indonesian freedom fighters out of the country in 1947 would soon be a part of the museum developed at Anand Bhavan, his ancestral house here.
The Dakota will be brought from Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Calcutta where it has been gathering dust.
Cuttack collector Sushanta Mohapatra told The Telegraph on Tuesday that the state government had already started process to bring the aircraft back to Odisha.
"The state government has decided to put on display the aircraft as a relic associated with Biju Patnaik as part of the museum developed at Anand Bhavan that is awaiting inauguration at the moment," Mohapatra said.
The state government had started the process after receiving a letter from the Airports Authority of India. Official sources said director of civil aviation P.K. Biswal had already visited the airport and inspected the aircraft.
The government plans to dismantle the aircraft into three parts to bring it back as it is in very bad shape, and then renovate it for display for the public. It is 65ftX95ft in size.
Mohapatra said the government land being used as a playground across the road in front of Anand Bhavan has been found suitable after inspection on Tuesday for construction of a structure for displaying the aircraft as an extension of the museum.
"Bringing back the Dakota and putting it on display as part of a memorial museum at Anand Bhavan will certainly be a fitting tribute to the ace pilot in former chief minister Biju Patnaik and to his heroic act," said BJD leader and Barabati-Cuttack MLA Debashis Samantaray, who inspected the site for its display along with the collector.
Biju Patnaik was 32 when he skirted the Dutch with this Dakota and landed at a makeshift airfield in Jakarta. He then returned to Delhi with the two freedom fighters - Md Hatta and Sultan Sjahrir. For it, Biju became the friend of independent Indonesia's president Sukarno and was awarded that country's highest civilian title of Bhoomi Putra.
The aircraft was part of a fleet of Kalinga Airlines' 18 Dakotas that was founded by Biju and operated from Calcutta. He was the chief pilot.
