IAF’s vintage aircraft at Aero India 2009

The Indian Air Force (IAF) is displaying two of it’s old aircraft at Aero India 2009 to allow aviation enthusiasts to savor the IAF’s past, even in the din of the modern-day supersonic fighter jets jetting past. The De Havilland DH82 Tigermoth and Harvard aircraft are on static display at the show.

The Tigermoth was a two-seat, single bay, biplane. The primary trainer for the British Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War, it was the basic trainer in the IAF from 1940. It was replaced by the HT-2.

The Harvard on the other hand was a single-engine advance trainer aircraft used to train fighter pilots of the RAF and other air forces of the Commonwealth during World War II. The Harvards were phased out in 1973 by the IAF.