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THE DAKOTA & 1 SIKH REGT IN 1947<br />
"The Dakota is the reason why Poonch<br />
is still with us," says Pushpindar Singh,<br />
military historian and author of Aircraft<br />
of the Indian Air Force: 1933-73.<br />
In the early morning of 27 October<br />
1947, 1 SIKH with two company<br />
strength of men and equipment took<br />
off from Wellingdon airport<br />
(Safdarjung) at 0500 hrs in a Dakota<br />
aircraft.<br />
After a three-hour and 55-minutes<br />
flight, at about 8:15 am, the first<br />
Dakota piloted by Wg Cdr K L Bhatia<br />
carrying Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Rai and<br />
others circled Srinagar Air-field. It<br />
was a historic moment when the first<br />
DC-3 aircraft landed on the dusty<br />
airstrip of just 600 mts. The first<br />
aircraft was closely followed by six<br />
other DC-3 aircrafts.<br />
It was the first Indian Army Unit to<br />
land in Srinagar. Never in the history<br />
of warfare was such an airlift<br />
undertaken with so little notice and<br />
planning<br />
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