e-News® | The NEWS Company…DHAKA, Feb 16, 2015 :  Indian Air Force (IAF) has handed over a Dakota (DC-3) aircraft used in the War of Liberation in 1971 to Bangladesh Air Force (BAF).

Air Marshal S.B. Deo, AVSM, VM, VSM, AOC-in-C, Eastern Air Command, Indian Air Force (IAF), formally handed over the Dakota aircraft to the BAF, an Indian High Commission press release said here. The Dakota aircraft which took part in the para drop operations in Tangail on December 11, 1971 during the Liberation War was installed at the BAF Museum, Tejgaon today at an impressive ceremony.

Dakota aircraft has special significance for BAF as it started its journey from Nagaland, Dimapur on September 28, 1971 with the establishment of ‘K’ flight which possessed one Dakota DC-3, one Otter aircraft and one Alluette helicopter. The aircraft was flown in from New Delhi in a dismantled state in the IAF’s C-17 Globemaster aircraft and then was re-assembled by IAF’s technical team led by Wing Commander R. Deshpande with the assistance of BAF, the release said.