The
great assistance received from the British Government in the establishment
and development of the Indian Navy was warmly acknowledged by a
representative of the Government of India on January 13. Mr P V R Rao,
Minister and Special Adviser to the Indian High Commissioner in London,
deputising for the High Commissioner (who was indisposed) paid a tribute
to this help when accepting the first of 10 Sealand amphibian aircraft
ordered for the Indian Navy from a firm of British aircraft manufacturers.
The aircraft was handed over by Rear-Admiral M S Slattery, chairman of the
company, at Rochester airfield, Kent.
The
Sealands ordered by the Indian Navy will, it is intended, normally be
operated as communications aircraft. The complete contract is worth over
£ 320,000. It is planned to deliver one Sealand by air to India every
three weeks.
The
aircraft are powered by two de Havilland Gipsy Queen engines and are
fitted with long-range tanks and special radio equipment for training
purposes. Dual controls are fitted, as also constant speed feathering and
reversing pro-pellers. Seating accommodation is provided for six-pilot,
co-pilot, observer and three passengers.
Admiral
Slattery referred to the company’s main factory at Belfast, where it had
been hoped to hand over the first aircraft, as one of the largest and
best-equipped in the world. With its mile-long aerodrome, its natural
flying-boat harbour in Belfast Loch and its adjacent deep-water berth
capable of accommodating an aircraft-carrier, it was, he believed,
"unique".
Circumstances,
however, he continued, "have now given us an opportunity of showing
you a different side of our organisation, because Rochester is the
headquarters of our Flying School Division, one of the largest
organisations of its kind in this country".
He
then detailed some of the highlights in the company’s career and added:
"It is a matter of great satisfaction to us that the air arm of the
Indian Navy has turned to our company to supply them with some of their
first aircraft".
"We
have had", he said, "in recent months a number of chief and
petty officers from the Indian Navy in order to familiarise them with the
Sealand aircraft before they have the task of maintaining them in India.
We are all very impressed by their bearing and standard of
knowledge".
Admiral
Slattery went on : "It is our experience that our customers return to
us again and again, and we confidently hope that the Indian Navy will
prove no exception. Whatever the Indian Navy requires-whether it be civil
or military aeroplanes, seaplanes, flying-boats, bombers, fighters or
shipboard planes-we in Shorts can design and produce them. The
flying-boat, in particular, would seem to offer considerable attractions
to a country with such an extensive seaboard as India".
Admiral
Slattery then presented the Certificate of Airworthiness and the logbook
of the first Sealand to Mr Rao.
Mr
Rao said how unfortunate it was that the High Commissioner could not be
present. He added: "The Indian Navy, as we understand the term today,
is of recent origin. For all practical purposes it came into existence
with the birth of independent Indias on August 15, 1947; but neither sea
power nor a navy is new to India.
"Sea
power, as has often been said, does not consist only of fighting ships; it
really means power to use the sea in peace and in war to the best
advantage and embraces all that tends to make a people great upon the
seas. Judged from this angle, India’s connection with sea power is as
hoary as the history of India itself. Even before the advent of the
Christian era, the Indian peninsula carried on a flourishing trade, to the
West with Rome, Greece and Egypt, and to the East with China, Indonesia
and other islands in the Pacific.
