ELEPHANT HELICOPTER IN INDIAN AIRFORCE

ELEPHANT HELICOPTER IN INDIAN AIRFORCE

Photo: livehistoryindia.com

In the 1960s, India reached an agreement with the French Aerospace Corporation to produce and assemble the "Skylark" III helicopter.

India re-assembles the helicopter with their own style and design.

For the helicopter design, they used an elephant design because India has always identified with the "elephant" animal as a form of the national totem.

For this reason, the overall shape of the helicopter "Skylark" III was modified and forcibly added various ornaments to resemble an elephant-like shape.

Quoted from Day Day, the modified helicopter was the work of a tailor in New Delhi.

The elephant's body, including the trunk and legs, is made of various colorful fabric panels that are painstakingly sewn over two or three weeks.

The hull or fuselage of the helicopter is covered with fabric panels, the only part left exposed is the bomb launcher at the rear.

The Indian helicopter was then known to the world as the flying elephant because its shape resembles an elephant.

Although the "Skylark" III helicopter is a classic cargo that has been in service since the late 1950s, it has maintained excellent performance for more than half a century after its birth.

Performance reputation (total output as high as 1,455 aircraft, except France, the purchase of more than 70 countries and regions around the world).

This lightweight, single-engine, seven-seater multi-purpose helicopter measures 12.84m in length, has a maximum takeoff weight of 2200kg, and a maximum cruising speed of 195km/h.

Not only that, this helicopter is equipped with a powerful "Abduste" IIIB turboshaft and can carry 3 crew members and 250 kilograms of material at a time and fly to high altitudes above 6000 meters above sea level.

Therefore, India chose these “Skylark” III helicopters to strengthen their transport capability in the highlands as well as to strengthen their combat forces in the air.

In addition to buying, they asked France to mass-produce them in their own country. According to records, France, which has always established large-scale arms sales cooperation with India, quickly agreed to this deal.

Unfortunately, now the flying elephant is a memory. The Indian military considers the helicopter to be part of a glorious history that should be remembered with pride.

The name of this helicopter is 'Chetak', named after the legendary horse of the 16th-century Rajput ruler Maharana Pratap, which worked as the workhorse of the IAF for close to 45 years.