Kolkata: A Dakota DC-3 aircraft parked for decades at the Kolkata airport was used by former Odisha chief minister Biju Patnaik to rescue former Indonesian vice president Md Hatta and prime minister Sutan Sjahrir on July 22, 1947, a researcher has unearthed. Anil Dhir, who is based in Bhubaneswar and has made efforts to track down all the aircraft of Kalinga Airlines over the last two years, has written to Odisha chief minister and Biju Patnaik's son Navin Patnaik to salvage the aircraft and park it outside the Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneswar.
Kalinga Airlines was a private airline that operated from Kolkata. It was founded by Biju Patnaik and operated nearly a dozen Dakotas. Patnaik was it's chief pilot. Indonesia was under Dutch control till 1941 when the Japanese occupied the country. After the Japanese surrender in World War II, Indonesian freedom fighters declared independence. The Dutch would have none of it though and made an attempt to regain control of the country, launching a full-scale attack on July 21, 1947.
After the Dutch attack, Dr Sukarno, who had declared himself the president of independent Indonesia, ordered Sjahrir and Hatta to leave the country to create international public opinion. The two were unable to do so, however, as the sea and air routes were controlled by the Dutch. This was when Jawaharlal Nehru came to Indonesia's assistance and asked Patnaik to fly to Jakarta and rescue Sjahrir and Hatta.
26/07/14 Jayanta Gupta/Times of India
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Kalinga Airlines was a private airline that operated from Kolkata. It was founded by Biju Patnaik and operated nearly a dozen Dakotas. Patnaik was it's chief pilot. Indonesia was under Dutch control till 1941 when the Japanese occupied the country. After the Japanese surrender in World War II, Indonesian freedom fighters declared independence. The Dutch would have none of it though and made an attempt to regain control of the country, launching a full-scale attack on July 21, 1947.
After the Dutch attack, Dr Sukarno, who had declared himself the president of independent Indonesia, ordered Sjahrir and Hatta to leave the country to create international public opinion. The two were unable to do so, however, as the sea and air routes were controlled by the Dutch. This was when Jawaharlal Nehru came to Indonesia's assistance and asked Patnaik to fly to Jakarta and rescue Sjahrir and Hatta.
26/07/14 Jayanta Gupta/Times of India
