PEC to hand over its ‘prized possession’ to IAF heritage centre in Chandigarh
The handover ceremony will be held at PEC on November 11 that will be attended by officials of IAF with which the institute is also expected to sign a memorandum of understanding
Punjab Engineering College (PEC) will soon be handing over the indigenously designed and built ‘Kanpur 1’ aircraft to the Indian Air Force (IAF) heritage centre that is set to come up in Chandigarh’s Sector 18.
The aircraft was said to be gifted to PEC by former Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh Mahal in 1967. Mahal shared strong bonds with the institute. At present, the aircraft is parked at the aircraft instruments and airframe lab of PEC’s aerospace engineering department. PEC had paid a token amount of ₹7,455 when ‘Kanpur 1’ was given to it in 1967.
The handover ceremony will be held at PEC on November 11 that will be attended by officials of IAF with which the institute is also expected to sign a memorandum of understanding.
It was in June this year that IAF and the Chandigarh administration had inked a pact for setting up an air force heritage centre at the government press building in Sector 18. The museum will have eight attractions, including aircraft models and weapon displays.
PEC’s aircraft instruments lab, which enables the students to understand working of various instruments, also houses the airframes of MIG-21 and main wing and tail structure of AN-12 aircraft. Instrumentation panel, demo model for aircraft control systems, and demonstrative landing gear are also available in the lab.
PEC director Baldev Setia said, “Having this aircraft in our lab was a matter of pride for us, but heritage centre is its rightful place.”
The institute also houses Mi-8 helicopter that was handed over to it in 2004 by the air force.
Earlier, PEC also had a heritage Spitfire, which it gave to IAF later. Spitfire was a highly successful aircraft during the World War 2.
With the help of IAF, the first set of students graduating in aeronautical engineering in the country came out of PEC in 1964 with 100% placement in the air force and Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
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