ଐତିହାସିକ ବିମାନ ଡକୋଟା || Historic Aircraft DAKOTA ( VT-AUI ) || DAKOTA in Odisha || Bhubaneswar

Daredevil Pilot- Patriot Legendary
BIJU PATNAIK's Historic Aircraft DAKOTA (DC3-VT-AUI)

Today, we will go to visit the historic aircraft Dakota, the sole silent witness of daredevil pilot, patriotic legend Biju Patnaik.

Biju Patnaik was born on 5 March 1916 in Tulsipur, Cuttack, Odisha to Laxminarayan Patnaik and Ashalata Patnaik.

Biju babu had his early education in Mission Primary School and Mission (Christ Collegiate) School of Cuttack.In 1927 he joined the famous Ravenshaw Collegiate School, where Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was once a student.In 1932 he passed matriculation with a first division and got admitted into the intermediate science class of the famous Ravenshaw College, Cuttack.From his days at the Ravenshaw Collegiate School, he was an accomplished sportsman and led the university teams in football, cricket, athletics and hockey. For three consecutive years, he was the sports champion of Ravenshaw College.

Biju babu discontinued studies for a B.Sc. degree to undergo training as a pilot at the Aeronautic Training Institute of India and Delhi Flying Club. In fact, as a child Biju was fascinated by aeroplanes and from his school days, he had decided to make a career in flying. A small aeroplane had landed at Cuttack’s Killa Fort,when he was a student of Mission School.Biju ran away from school to touch his dream object. But he was chased away by the security police. “At that time I had only seen pictures of aeroplanes in books”- He recalled later. His great pleasure was flying and his exploits a pilot provided his career with a metaphor that endured from the frolics of his youth to his ambition to be a politician and industrialist. He was, everyone said, a high flyer. It is said that at his wedding to Gyan in 1939, guests arrived in Tiger Moths.

When the Second World War broke out Biju Patnaik joined the Royal Indian Air Force and along with British friends who, like him, had learnt the rudiments of flying at the Delhi Flying Club. When Japan entered the war in 1941, Biju Patnaik evacuated British families from the advancing invaders. He flew supplies to China and the Soviet Union. He pioneered risky operations across the Himalayas to help the Chinese revolutionaries in Chiang Kai Shek’s China. He once flew all the way to Stalingrad on yet another mission. The British Government Particularly appreciated his efforts to evacuate British families from Rangoon ( Yangon) when the Japanese invaded Myanmar during World War-II.

Biju babu thereafter, it became a focal point of all activities relating to Indian support to the Indonesian freedom struggle. The wide publicity given to the exploit gave a boost to the cause of Indonesian independence. A grateful Indonesia twice decorated Biju Patnaik with its highest civilian honour ‘’Bhumiputra’ in return for the bravery the Indian leader had displayed at its hour of crisis.Biju Patnaik liked to tell the story of how he persuaded Sukarno to call his daughter Meghawati (Goddess of the clouds).In 1996, on the occasion of that country’s 50th independence day, Biju received, the “Bintang Jasu Utama”-Indonesia’s highest national award.

Biju’s daring-do continued even after Indian independence. He started his own airline, the Kalinga Airways and in 1947 carried soldiers into Kashmir, when it was threatened from across the newly created border sky. At great risk, he landed the first platoon of troops in Srinagar.

Biju Patnaik is considered as a pioneer of the industrial growth of Orissa and established a string of industries in mission. He set up the Kalinga Tubes, the first modern Textiles Mills at Choudwar, Orissa, the first Refrigerator factory at Jobra, Cuttack and a low shaft Furnance at Barbil.In 1951 he established the Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science and entrusted the responsibility to the UNESCO.

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