The small, desolate Lilabari airfield in the North Lakhimpur district of Assam lies nested deep in North East, but has had a colorful aviation history with a deep link to IAF , Kaling Airways, and Indian Airlines. A brief journey in time… (1/20)
North East India was flush with airstrips (mostly kucha) made by the tea planters, later upgraded and used by the Air Forces (US/ Commonwealth) in WWII Burma Ops. Post WWII, most of these were declared surplus to military use, and even DGCA, Lilabari was no different. 2/
In 1951, the govt decided to build airstrips in Assam and Lilabari was picked for a fair-weather strip. The airfield is located on a narrow strip of plain country lying between the Himalayas and the Brahmaputra, 8 km NE of North Lakhimpur town at 101 mts amsl. 3/
In 1953, Indian Airlines took it over, but flights were infrequent due to poor runway quality and bad weather. In 1958 the Govt undertook to construct a pucca runway which only got completed in late 1960. 4/
Militarisation of Arunachal (NEFA) meant Assam Rifles perforce had to be air maintained. Beginning with RASO (Rear Airfield Supply Organisation), unmanned ALGs deep in NEFA (like Zero, Daparizo, Along, Tuting, Mehuka etc) & overhauling rail links north & south of B’putra.5/
As the air Maint effort increased, the Govt enlisted the support of Kalinga Airways in 1960 with a NEFA Supply drop contract for 3-5 years. In parallel, IAF moved 59 Sqn & 49 Sqn to Jorhat to supplement the Supply drop missions. 6/
The 1962 war accentuated the need to build superior air maint network. The IAF responded with bases along Brahmaputra (south of it, except Tezpur). Jorhat (1952), Tezpur (1959), Chabua (1962), Guwahati (1963), Mohanbari (1964) were setup. 7/
But two developments were going to lead to Lilabari for the IAF – In 1965 the administration created a new land-fed CPO at North Lakhimpur to support districts of Kameng, Subansiri & Siang & DGCA made a new runway in 1966 capable of all taking load of all aircraft. 8/
And amidst public pressure and heated arguments in the parliament about alleged favoritism towards Kalinga Airlines in giving them the NEFA contract, the Govt gave the entire job of NEFA Supply drops to the Indian Air Force. 9/
HQ EAC saw an opportunity to enhance IAF’s presence in NEFA and advised the govt to let IAF run the operations ex-Lilabari making it only base significantly north of Brahmaputra. It moved 43 Sqn operating the Dakota to Jorhat to exclusively manage this region. 10/
EAC believed operating ex-Lilabari (instead of Jorhat) would save them 5,000 flying hours a year and help them expand the base network. Conversely, this came with administration challenges due to the limited road connectivity to Lilabari to service the base. 11/
A simplistic demarcation was drawn. DZs to the west of Mechuka (districts of Tawang, W&E Kameng, Pakke Kesang, Paupum Pare, Kurung, Kra Dadi & upper Subansari) were operated ex-Lilabari & to the east from Mohanbari with Jorhat as the permanent mother base to support ops. 12/
Lilabari was then an 1800 mtrs tarmac runway with a hump, a civil ATC (one civil controller), VHF, NDB, a small trailer-type fire trolley, and a civil terminal with no security. Lilabari had no AF personnel unless one took (a reluctant) ground crew along with them.13/
Parking at the airfield accommodated 3 ac. The crews set off from Johat around 4 in the morning, carrying their breakfast & Lunch. Each aircraft would launch upto 5 sorties & return to base. IAF had positioned a static fuel bowser (without an engine) on the grassy tarmac. 14/
Ac came with full fuel, parked with a wing over the bowser, to defuel & fill the bowser. After every trip into the hills, one refuelled, emptying the fuel which one had loaned to the bowser. Measuring the fuel filled was using a calibrated dip stick, by climbing on the wing. 15/
A sortie entailed upto 15 circuits. The door on the left side was removed. At the sill, the ejection crew stacked the gunny sacks weighing ~70kgs, or the containers with parachutes. On a red light, they would brace & on the green light they would manually push these out. 16/
Such tasks usually came with extant flight safety risks. At least two Dakotas were fatally lost ex-Lilabari in the years to come. A VM (posthumous) citation to one of the crews of 43 Sqn speaks volumes about the challenges 17/
In Apr 1975, IAF suggested discontinuing ops ex-lilabari, choosing to revert to Jorhat. With the Daks on phase-out & operational and financial challenges in raising airbases, IAF considered Lilabari a flight ops/safety challenge. But the actual withdrawal happened years later 18/
Project Vartak, launched by BRO in 1960 has over the years improved road network significantly and the need for Air Maintenance has come down considerably from those heady days of the 1950s-80s. Lilabari is now a regular civil aerodrome. 19/
For the large number of IAF personnel and families who served in the North East during the 1960s-90s, the lasting memory of Lilabari is linked to the Fokker F-27 Service of IA Connecting Calcutta-Guahati – Tezpur – Jorhat – Lilabari – Mohanbari. 20/20
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