REMEMBERING GROUP CAPTAIN SURANJAN DAS THE PROFESSIONAL AND THE MAN

GP CAPT KAPIL BHARGAVA (RETD)

Late Group Captain Suranjan Das was one of the pioneer test pilots in the IAF. Born on 22 Feb 1920, he grew up to be a boy whose gaze was forever skyward. However, dissuaded by parents who did not consider their boy good enough to be a pilot, he commenced study of engineering. But then came the World War II. The young boy volunteered and was selected as a pilot in the RIAF, proving his parents wrong, much to their pleasure. Commissioned into the Royal Indian Air Force in 1943, he joined No 8 Fighter/Bomber Squadron and subsequently, in 1946, participated in operations in Kashmir. He then went on to take his place firmly in the success story of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The year 1949 was important in the history of aircraft development and flight testing. In that year Dr V.M. Ghatage started design work at Hindustan Aircraft Limited (HAL) on the Hindustan Trainer-2 (HT-2) The IAF felt the need of test pilots and sent two Flt Lts to Empire Test Pilots School (ETPS) in the UK. They were Roshan Lal Suri and Suranjan Das. As brilliant pilots, they were a natural choice for this training. The HAL management realized that to develop the HT-2, it needed a qualified test pilot. Suranjan Das, popularly known in the IAF as Dasu, was posted to HAL as a deputy to Captain J.K. Munshi. As the aircraft neared completion, Captain Munshi was upset at being side-lined for the first indigenous aircraft project. One day in August 1952 when he was doing taxying trials on the HT-2, he got airborne in it and flew for about 45 minutes. After he landed, he pronounced the aircraft fit for the IAF. Dr Ghatage asked him if he had spun the aircraft. Captain Munshi confirmed that the aircraft had given him no trouble in the spin. He left HAL soon afterwards.

For meeting Service requirements, full-scale spin trials were planned. Dasu demanded that a spin parachute be installed - that is what he had learnt at ETPS. He was told that this was not necessary as the aircraft had already been spun by Captain Munshi. Dasu then negotiated his briefing. He said that he would do two turns of spin and then take standard recovery action.

If the aircraft did not recover after four turns, he would bail out. That is exactly what he did, south-west of Yelahanka village. During debriefing Dr Ghatage suggested that Dasu had bailed out only to prove his point. That is perhaps the only known occasion when Dasu lost his temper. It took many flight trials to clear spinning on the HT-2. Even till the end of its service, spinning it remained somewhat critical. Full down elevator was usually needed to recover, if the instructor in the back was heavy, with a light cadet in front - a natural result of their age difference.

A historic photograph, taken on the occasions of the HF-24's first official test flight on 24 Jume 1961. Gp Capt Das is in his usual white overalls. On his left is Defence Minister V.K.Krishna Menon, then Dr KW Tank with the binoculars hanging from his neck followed by Air Vice Marshal AM Engineer (MD HAL and later CAS) in uniform. (Photo: Kapil Bhargava personal collection)

When IAF decided to go in for Gnats, Sqn Ldr Das was sent from India and attached to Follands at Chilbolton in England. During his tenure at Follands, Dasu became the first Indian to demonstrate an aircraft at the Farnborough Air Show. Once while practicing for it, he was doing an eight-point roll close to the ground. He suddenly felt a restriction in the aileron control. His first reaction was to start talking on the radio. He asked the ATC to ensure that his comments were recorded just in case he could not recover. He said that these comments could help prevent a recurrence of the problem.

Dasu returned to India and took over command of the Aircraft & Armament Testing Unit (A&ATU). A special handling flight was raised at A&ATU to ensure the safe induction of Gnats into the IAF. The Gnats still had many problems which were eliminated only after A&ATU found the solutions to them under Dasu's leadership. Prominent among these were the engine flaming out on gun firing at medium and high altitudes and empty shells striking the tailplane. The flight control system was over-sensitive and made it impossible to fly the aircraft in formation. This problem was solved after the gear ratio of the stick to the elevator was reduced through a specially developed cam. Gnats came to be known as Sabre Killers in the war with Pakistan in 1965.

In 1954-55 India had been approached by Willy Messerschmitt and Kurt Tank offering to develop fighter aircraft in India. HAL chose Prof. Kurt Tank as the more able designer for a multi-role aircraft. He came to Bangalore with a seventeen man team which soon dwindled to thirteen. His aircraft was HAL's 24th design study and was named Hindustan Fighter-24 (HF-24). Tank had great faith in gliders and decided to make a full-scale plywood flying model of the aircraft. Wg Cdr Roshan Lal Suri as the senior most Indian test pilot came and took over as Chief Test Pilot (CTP) of HAL in time for the project. He did 83 successful launches in the glider. Unfortunately, Roshan Suri did not plan the first take off on the HF-24 adequately, and aborted it with undercarriage up on the ground. Wg Cdr Suranjan Das replaced him and carried out its successful maiden flight on June 24, 1961.He also did many of the subsequent development flights on the aircraft. Dasu also did the first flight of the HJT-16 (Kiran) on September 4, 1964. The Kiran is the mainstay of IAF's intermediate level training of new pilots.

(Photo: Kapil Bhargava personal collection)

Then on 10 Jan 1970, the brilliant career of Gp Capt Suranjan Das came to an untimely and tragic end in the fatal crash of the HF-24 Mk IR prototype. On takeoff, the canopy opened and probably the right engine lost power. Unfortunately, he could not have ejected out of the aircraft unless the canopy flew off, which it didn't. By then his father was the Chief Justice of India and was sad at the irreparable loss and yet very proud of his son. For his invaluable contribution to the country in its quest for indigenous production of aircraft, Gp Capt Suranjan Das was awarded & Padma Vibhushan posthumously. Dasu the man was as accomplished as the professional. He was never one to let a day pass by without extracting some joy out of it. This, for him, meant involving himself in some pet project. He would add an engine to a cycle and call it the 'Mighty Mouse' and explore the countryside in the UK astride it. An abandoned heap of a car turned into a brightly painted racing car in this expert hands. Guns were his passion, which he would rarely use but polish lovingly and put on display. He fashioned the wooden butts of his guns in his own home workshop. They were works of art. A keen aeromodeller, he participated actively in the HAL Aeromodellers' Club. Even so, the most remarkable aspect of this obviously accomplished man was his unassuming manner and amiability, which earned him respect, both as a man and as a professional.

Gp Capt Das as the CTP of HAL was the driving force for follow-up versions of the HF-24, Marut. He did extensive flight testing of the HF-24 Mk1R with reheated Orpheus engines on it. This would have been a strong competitor to the SEPECAT Jaguar. His death killed the project. He is commemorated by a road in Bangalore connecting HAL's main Complex to the Engine Division. HAL instituted a trophy in his name for the best test pilot trainee graduating in India each year. The graduation dinner is also named after him. Mrs Das has been an honoured guest at each of these dinners so far. Gp Capt Suranjan Das' name stands for excellence in the profession of test flying and is an inspiration to all those who aspire to contribute to India's development in aeronautics.

Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava is himself one of India's pioneer test pilots. He holds the distinction of test flying the HF-24 Mk 1, Mk1A (with two reheated Orpheus engines), HF-24 Trainer and the HF-24 Mk IBX with one Egyptian E-300 engine and one Orpheus powering it. He is also a regulaer contributor to leading aviation journals around the world such a Air Forces Monthly and Air International.