New Delhi: Barrackpore is an idyllic cantonment town on the banks of the Hooghly, a little downstream of megalopolis Kolkata. Till the early eighties, the Air Force Station here was home to the Indian Air Force's (IAF) vintage birds like Dakotas, Caribous and Otters.
Apart from Sholavaram, it was also the venue of a desi Grand Prix, where the likes of Vijay Mallya raced their formula cars.
For Wing Commander D. Castalino, Flight Lieutenant Praveen, Flight Lieutenant T. Kapoor, Junior Warrant Officer A.K. Singh and Sergeant Sudhakar, Barrackpore was home, their posting in Eastern Command's 157 Helicopter Unit.
All five died on Tuesday, in the IAF's first recorded crash of the extraordinarily sturdy Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter. But they didn't die in or around Barrackpore. And they certainly didn't die in vain.
They died more than 10,000 feet above sea level, felled by a dense cloud in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath valley while returning from a rescue mission. With them died nine gallant men of the National Disaster Response Force and six tough-as-nails jawans of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
Tuesday's tragic crash only underlined the heroism and gallantry of the IAF as it continued to lead the gargantuan rescue effort.
26/06/13 Gautam Datt/India Today
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Apart from Sholavaram, it was also the venue of a desi Grand Prix, where the likes of Vijay Mallya raced their formula cars.
For Wing Commander D. Castalino, Flight Lieutenant Praveen, Flight Lieutenant T. Kapoor, Junior Warrant Officer A.K. Singh and Sergeant Sudhakar, Barrackpore was home, their posting in Eastern Command's 157 Helicopter Unit.
All five died on Tuesday, in the IAF's first recorded crash of the extraordinarily sturdy Russian-made Mi-17 helicopter. But they didn't die in or around Barrackpore. And they certainly didn't die in vain.
They died more than 10,000 feet above sea level, felled by a dense cloud in Uttarakhand's Kedarnath valley while returning from a rescue mission. With them died nine gallant men of the National Disaster Response Force and six tough-as-nails jawans of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.
Tuesday's tragic crash only underlined the heroism and gallantry of the IAF as it continued to lead the gargantuan rescue effort.
26/06/13 Gautam Datt/India Today
