A tome on the aviation history of the Deccan

By K. Venkateshwarlu

HYDERABAD, MAY 25. For a majority of the now silvery-haired septuagenarian fliers, Deccan Airways, the premier airlines of the erstwhile Hyderabad State, not only twirled their childhood flight of fancy into reality but shaped their destinies.

In this high-flying electronic jet-age, it may look incongrous, but these dare-devil fliers of Dakotas from Hyderabad, still take pride in having flown them and would do an encore, if given a chance. Flying a difficult class of aircraft with minimal aids was indeed a challenging task, at a time when the aviation industry was in a rudimentary stage. Yet their refrain was, "the pleasure of flying Dakota was different".

Over 20 of these aviators of the Deccan Airways gathered at a luncheon meet at the Sailing Club on Friday to commemorate what some of them called a "historic occasion". It was on the same sunny day in 1946, when the first reconditioned Dakota flight of the Deccan Airways took off from the Begumpet Airport, for Bangalore. Leading the handful of passengers on this inaugural flight was the Nawab of Chattari and the Prime Minister of Hyderabad.

The unique celebrations, organised by Mrs. P. Anuradha Reddy, who is writing a book on "Aviation in Hyderabad State", was attended apart from pilots, radio engineers, "traffic representatives", accountants and other employees of the Deccan Airways, a few former Air Force and Army personnel. The book chronicles the aviation history and the prominent place held by Hyderabad.

As can be expected on such occasions, some of them turned nostalgic, travelling back in time. Brig. Lokaranjan, recalled how he was asked to fly a Dakota in June 1947, a few days after his marriage and how his wife got "quite terrified" to fly. He had do quite a bit of convincing that the Dakota was the safest flights.

For Mr. Thirumaleshwar, hailing from the aristocratic family of Domakonda, flying was a childhood dream turned passion. Describing himself as a "half-baked aviator", he went on to narrate how he picked up rudiments of flying at Begumpet and Hakimpet. He was an active member of the Hyderabad State Aeroclub.

Used to grassy runway at Ambala, Air Vice Marshal Rudra, then a cadet, remembers the day in April 1951 when his Dakota skidded on the Begumpet airport's concrete surface. It was indeed a pleasant surprise for him to find such a runway, which spoke of the Hyderabad aviation's advanced facilities. "But the great social event we used to await eagerly was the Deccan Airways dance in a hangar normally held in December".

Hyderabad based Deccan Airways was of the one of the premier airlines of the country, operating on Madras-Hyderabad-Nagpur- Bhopal-Gwalior-Delhi, Hyderabad-Bombay and Hyderabad-Bangalore sectors. Though founded in September 1945, the first flight took off on May 25 the following year. The Nizam's Government owned 71 per cent of the shares and the remaining by Tata Sons and others. Launched with three aircraft it went on to have a fleet of 13 Dakotas by the early 1950s. It merged with Indian Airlines in 1953.

A former radio officer Mr. Ranganayak spoke of how erstwhile Hyderabad was the first State to have separate departments for road, rail and air transports. Mr. Mustafa K. Sherwani, who was commercial officer, reminisced how he had to take signatures of the then Military Governor of Hyderabad State, Gen J. N. Choudhary at midnight on the passports for passengers leaving on a Haj charter. It was the first chartered flight to Haj. The Deccan Airways also ran an evacuation charter for refugees soon after Partition.

A feature of the Deccan Airways was its punctuality. Mrs.Anuradha Reddy who pored through the log books of the pilots and radio officers for her book found that five minutes was the maximum variation, that too once in a while. A far cry indeed from the present times when flight delays of hours together are accepted as routine.

Dr. Isaac Sequeira, former Head of the Osmania University Department of English, complimented Mrs. Anuradha Reddy for attempting a new kind of history using material somewhat ephemeral that was normally skipped by conventional historians. "It is a monumental task".

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