Rajkot: A Dakota DC-3 aircraft of 1940s vintage will be inducted shortly into the Vintage Aircraft Flight of the Indian Air Force (IAF). The aircraft will land at Jamnagar on Wednesday and a ceremonial reception of this aircraft is organized at Jamnagar Air Force base.A large fleet of Dakota DC-3 served in the IAF till 1988. It was one of the most versatile transport aircraft of its time.In order to honour the first Dakota, which transported troops of the 1st Sikh Regiment to Srinagar on October 27, 1947, during the Kashmir conflict, the IAF has allocated the aircraft with a registration number. Built in 1944, the aircraft served in military with the Royal Air Force and was also operated by various civil airlines.This particular aircraft was salvaged from scrap in 2011 and restored to flying condition in the UK by Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar for gifting it to the IAF. His father air commodore M K Chandrasekhar (Retired) was a veteran Dekota pilot in the IAF.On February 13, 2018, after successfully completing all test flights after its restoration, the aircraft commenced its journey from the UK on April 17, 2018. It is being flown to India by a joint crew of the IAF and M/s Reflight Airworks Ltd. The ferry to India, making en-route halts at France, Italy, Greece, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman, will be completed on Wednesday at Jamnagar, an official release from the ministry of defence stated.

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