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OLD IS GOLD IN JOURNALISM: MY 1998 AERO INDIA REPORT STILL MAKES WAVES

By P.T. Bopanna

Though I have retired from active journalism long ago to become an author, sometimes my news reports find resonance from across the country. My recent report posted on my Facebook page Coorg-Kodagu News on my interview with the legendary Russian test pilot Viktor Pugachev (in picture) way back in 1998 Aero India show in Bengaluru, garnered 45,000 views.

Many old timer pilots from the Indian Air Force recalled their association with Pugachev. Pugachev attained stardom after he performed the ‘Cobra manoeuver’ for the first time.  In aerobatics, Pugachev’s Cobra is a dramatic and demanding manoeuvre in which an airplane flying at a moderate speed suddenly raises the nose momentarily to the vertical position and slightly beyond, before dropping it back to normal flight. 

I can say with certainty that the ‘Kodak moment’ of Indian military aviation happened during 1998 Aero India show when for the first time Indians saw the so-called ‘Pugachev Cobra’. The Cobra manoeuvre conceived by Pugachev is only meant to showcase the agility of the aircraft.

The induction of Indian-specific variant of Russian Su-30, the Su-30MKI in 2002 was a game-changer in the Indian military history as for the first time Indians had a long range fighter which could defend the country from military attacks from its neighbours.

After the release of the film ‘Sky Force’, Indians are now aware of how the Coorg-born Ajjamada Boppayya Devayya, flying an outmoded Mysteres aircraft had to take on the attack from an advanced American Starfighter aircraft piloted by a Pakistani in the 1965 Indo-Pak war. Devayya struck down the Pakistani aircraft, though his own plane was damaged by a superior aircraft of the enemy.

Having covered several Aero India shows in Bengaluru, my fan moment came when I got the opportunity to meet the legendary Russian test pilot Viktor Pugachev in 1998. 

He became famous after his 1989 Su-27 demonstrations at the Paris Air Show. On November 1, 1989 he landed a Su-27K on an aircraft carrier for the first time in Soviet history.

Though military affairs is not my area of core competence, I have developed interest in the field because my native district of Kodagu (Coorg) in Karnataka has contributed many military personnel to the nation’s defence.

In my book ‘Dateline Coorg’, I have written in detail as to how the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, was unnecessarily suspicious of the two generals from Coorg – Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa and General K.S. Thimayya, outstanding soldiers who were above politics and brought professionalism to the Indian Army.  

Paperback copy of the book Dateline Coorg is available on Amazon:

https://store.pothi.com/book/p-t-bopanna-dateline-coorg