India's very own Chuck Yeager | Tributes to Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava

By AVM Rajeev Hora 

Commandant ASTE

Evening of 18 December, while trying to reach his son Kishore, I rang up Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava’s mobile number by mistake and I heard an all too familiar voice telling me that the subscriber was out of reach! Well, he sure was this time and probably reaching for the stars on a second WW biplane! We had just come back home after performing the last rites for Retd Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava VM who left for his heavenly abode on the 17th of December 2014.

But somehow, as we traced our feet back to our homes a few utterings overheard during the funeral still hung in the air- We have lost an icon! End of an era! The Grand old man of Flight Testing! We probably don’t realize what we have lost today! So loving, so humble! And all of it was so very true as every Tester (as Test pilots and Flight Test Engineers are fondly known as), in town wanted to be there at that moment which actually never felt like mourning but a final celebration of an extraordinary life!

The same day obituary in the Times of India read ‘A brief period of illness ended a remarkable life, lived to the fullest, centred on others and the Indian Air Force’! What a way to capture the lifetime of probably the greatest aviation enthusiast and Tester the country has ever produced! A flyer-writer who was our link to the past, a man who regaled us with the adventures of yore and had always an amazing story to tell! The Devons, the Liberators, the Spitfires and so many other ac of that vintage used to suddenly come to life in his presence!

Although 1994 was the first time I came across Gp Capt Bhargava, I learnt from the old timers that he was a permanent feature as a Guest Lecturer in the Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, the flight test establishment of the IAF, despite his retirement from the Air Force in 1976. No training course was considered really complete without his talk on flight-testing which had all the elements of a Chuck Yeager autobiography! Well he sure was our very own Chuck Yeager! I still remember going back home rather despondent after attending his talk as to why I was subjecting myself to the horrors of the ‘stability and control’ précis whereas this old man could so easily ‘guestimate’ the same by having one distant look at the inadequate size of the fin of the Ajeet trainer prototype taxiing out!

Well, he was indeed good at guessing! We all were aware of his frail health this season as he refused many a social invitation. But this time when he gave me a call from the hospital, he made a specific mention that he had passed my phone number to his family members, just in case they required any sort of help. His premonition or guess was spot-on and the he really did not recover from the high-risk surgery that the doctors had advised!

Gp Capt Bhargava’s father was an ICS officer in the British Raj days and he spent his childhood in Bulandshahar and Gorakhpur. The aviation bug bit him rather early in life and he was commissioned in Oct 1950 in the 53rd Pilots Course. He flew Spitfires and Vampires before attending the Empire Test Pilots School in UK to graduate as one of India’s pioneer test pilots.

In his test flying career with the IAF, besides production test flying, he flew the first flights of the HAL Pushpak, the HS-748 ‘Avro’ and the Messerschmitt HA 300 Fighter designed by Egypt. The first flight of the HS-748 earned him one of the first Vayusena Medals awarded to the IAF – in 1962. He was also the first commandant of ASTE (then A&ATU) and served as the Station Commander of Jodhpur. After his career in the Air Force, he was with the Flight Safety Directorate of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Bangalore before retirement.

Gp Capt Bhargava’s long spell in Egypt were full of interesting challenges as he worked with the Egyptian Air Force to build and test fly their own aircraft. His family still remembers how he would fly aerobatics over the Nile river. But the most exciting was the day when he got airborne in the Messerschmitt prototype for the first time. His colleagues took over the ATC and Cairo television broadcast the flight live. It was an intensely emotional for the Egyptians who thanked him repeatedly and in tears!

Apart from that, the greatest number of his entertaining and spellbinding stories were about the No 7 Squadron. Those were probably the years he enjoyed the most, though it’s difficult to choose. His family, friends and acquaintances always thought of him as being synonymous with the Air force. Every waking moment centered on the Air force, long after he left it formally. In truth, he never did leave! His articles kept gracing the pages of publications like Air Forces Monthly, Air Enthusiast, Flypast, Air International and Indian Aviation for many years. His talks in various seminars were pure gold and were so eagerly awaited. His wonderful wife Mohini would often jokingly accuse him of bigamy as aviation was indeed his first love! He also led his daughters Mala and Meena to become so intensely involved in the whole thrilling world of flying at a young age that they would often listen in to flying exercises being executed through a VHF radio!

A keen blogger, he kept himself abreast with the latest technologies till his very last and would often invite youngsters to help him with his IT stuff. Some people also don’t probably know that he was a wonderful statistician and could conduct a two hours extempore class on statistics any time. But more than any other attribute, his will to help out people in need really stood out. One of my last conversations with him was from his hospital bed just three days before his final goodbye when he was desperately struggling with his own deteriorating health wherein he requested me to help sort out the pension papers for the kin of a long departed colleague!

The Indian aviation world is indeed a lesser place in his absence. We at ASTE are so happy that we were able to confer the first ‘Life Time Achievement in Flight Testing’ award to him just a few months before his demise. No one deserved it more to be the first recipient! ! He was indeed a very happy man, a learned man, a very kind man and a truly great man!

They don’t make aviators and gentlemen like him anymore! It is said that a man stops feeling immortal when he loses his parents!

Suddenly the world of flight-testing seems mortal and we know why!

(Blogger's Note: This a brilliant tribute to late Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava (Retd) [21 Aug 28 to 17 Dec 14  written by ASTE Commandant AVM Rajeev Hora, which went live on kbhargava.com. It is evident that this piece is straight from the heart and hence flawless and moving. Probably among the best tributes I have read in a long time. Good one, AVM! A rare coincidence though, from now on we shall remember December 17 every year on two counts. The first flight of Wright Brothers and the final flight of Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava. R.I.P. Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava. We shall continue to spread the aroma of your life. Tarmak007)

When I refused to fly Pt Nehru

Photo Courtesy: Bharat Rakshak

By Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava 

Indian Air Force (Retd)

The date of refusal was November 26, 1961 and the passenger involved was Pt Jawahar Lal Nehru, the Prime Minister, with an entourage of other VIPs. It was on the first transport aircraft to be built in India, the Avro 748 which was put together from imported major sub-assemblies by the Indian Air Force.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) manufacturing an aircraft for its own use was in itself a unique event, perhaps first in the world. Despite, the lack of experience our technicians and engineers did a very good job. I flew the aircraft on its maiden flight on November 1, 1961, with the Defence Minister, VK Krishna Menon and AVM Harjindar Singh, the father of the project and host, watching from the control tower. With hardly any testing done, the flight was uneventful. 

Since elections were due soon, Krishna Menon decided to blow his trumpet. The Prime Minister was asked to inaugurate the aircraft and 'dedicate it to the nation' on November 26 at Palam. By then, not all systems had been installed and production tests had not been completed. But as is our wont, there were many cynical and adverse comments rife about the aircraft within IAF and Indian Airlines (IAC). In view of this, I decided to show off a really major safety feature of the aircraft: coping with one engine failure during take off. 

For the Inauguration and to watch the flight, Prime Minster, Pt 

Jawahar Lal Nehru and guests were seated near the Blue Hangar by the side of Runway 27, about three hundred yards away from it and also down to the right from the dumb-bell. Others present were Krishna Menon (naturally), Chief of Air Staff (CAS) Air Marshal Aspy M Engineer, several other ministers, secretaries and some senior IAF officers. A special invitee was Sir Roy Dobson, Chairman Hawker Siddeley Group which had by then acquired AV Roe & Co. Most pilots, not otherwise engaged, from Air Hq Communication (Comm) Squadron were seated in the rearmost row. Sqn Ldr CV (Chandu) Gole was to provide the commentary 

After being sent off ceremoniously to fly the aircraft, my copilot Sqn Ldr RD Sahni and I boarded the aircraft, started both engines and lined up for take-off at the 27 dumb-bell. During the take off run, as we reached decision speed, I feathered the critical right engine which was on the side of the spectators. Pilots of Comm Squadron all stood up in alarm perhaps thinking that the aircraft was about to crash. We took off. climbed to 500 feet, turned around and right in front of the guests re-started the engine. Only then it became clear to the spectators that stopping the right engine was a deliberate act for display. The rest of the show was good but perhaps over-praised by Chandu. My hope was that both IAF and IAC would recognise that extreme safety was built into the turbo-prop aircraft, the certification requirements for which had evolved from the dangerous failures of engines on piston engine transports. 

After landing and switching off close to the spectators area, we were met at the bottom of the steps by the PM. I was introduced to him by Krishna Menon. Pt Nehru gave me a tight welcoming hug with a huge smile on his face and said, "Yes, I know this chap" (Like hell he did! It was just a political comment). In the next few minutes all senior people climbed into the aircraft and all seats got occupied with Pt Nehru in the front row. He whispered to Krishna Menon who came up to the front door where I was standing and asked if the PM could be given a ride. 

I was horrified at the idea of carrying the PM and others in an unproven aircraft which had not even finished the essential production tests. I told Krishna Menon that no flight for the PM or any other passengers was possible. I suggested that he look at the people seated in the aircraft, the safety of which was yet to be ensured. I said half the Government of India, many Governors, Ministers, Secretaries, etc were present. There was no way I would risk flying them in the aircraft which was not yet ready to carry passengers. I explained that the IAF took extreme care to ensure safety of its passengers. I did not mention that I was not even qualified to carry any of them anyway.

His only comment was that I had been flying it and showing it off. I explained that I was a test pilot and it was my job. It was limited to testing the aircraft till it got ready to be used in service. 

Krishna Menon turned away and spoke a few words to the PM. The conversation was so short that I knew he never mentioned even the smallest part of my explanation. All he could have said in those few seconds would have been, "The pilot refuses to fly us". Anyway, Pt Nehru immediately got up from his seat and in a visibly angry huff without once glancing at me walked down and out of the aircraft.

The CAS followed him and Krishna Menon. As the CAS passed me, he said in a soft undertone, "Well done, Bhargava". I then knew that I was not about to be tried by a Court Martial. 

My display had an interesting fallout. I heard from some kind people that Sir Roy Dobson, immediately after our touchdown, said to Pt Nehru that it was the finest display of a transport aircraft he had ever seen, surely an exaggeration meant for currying favour and promoting his own business. The result was that two months later on Republic Day 1962, I was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal (VM) for courage and professional skill. The medal had been instituted only a year and eleven months earlier. Mine was among the first 12 or 15 VMs for IAF. This had its own tale. 

All early decorations were awarded in the Rashtrapati Bhawan by the President himself. My wife and I attended the investiture in April 1962. As is the custom, after the ceremony, we were ushered in for a cup of tea with the President. Soon after the two of us sat down in front of a small table, two cups of tea appeared. We were facing President Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. Seated on his right was Pt Nehru. Almost before I took the first sip of my tea, the President asked me, "Since when have the Bhargavas been a martial race". My reply was 

instant, "Since Parashuram, Sir". Pt Nehru bursts out laughing but the President went quiet and never said another word to me. Fortunately for me Pt Nehru was gracious enough to ask how the Avro 748 was doing. 

Obviously he had not forgotten the refusal. I explained that we had completed tests on it and the aircraft was fit for passengers. But we did lose the main passenger door the first time we pressurised the aircraft. By then the involved design fault had occurred on five aircraft around the world with an air hostess being sucked out as the aircraft was heading for Lima airport of Peru. I hoped that he realised the significance of IAF not risking its passengers. 

It was time to leave, though we were kept back for a few minutes extra for two other awardees to join us. As we came out, the Naval officer escorting us told me, "Sir, you have upset the President". I was horrified and asked him how. He said that my reply was that the Bhargavas were martial people since Parashuram. I said that I did not think that it was a rude or offensive reply. It was very much a part of our mythology. He explained that all that was well but the President was also a Bhargava. He never thought that he was from a martial race. I knew of him as a very gentle person.. He was a teacher, a philosopher and was devoutly religious. I had read most of his exposition of The Bhagwad Gita. But it was a realisation too late. 

Unfortunately, I never got a chance to make amends! 

(The above article is being reproduced from web written by late Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava. I found it from a Google group and hence couldn't give the credit properly.) 

R.I.P. Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava

R.I.P. Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava.

 He died in Bengaluru last week (Dec 17). Sadly, none of the newspapers/TV channels bothered to even have a small obit on one of the finest jewels of IAF. That shows the plight and focus of my 'great' profession, journalism!
I haven't interacted much with him, though was aware of his activities through friends. I have read some of his pieces and knew that he was a rare treasure trove of information on IAF. He was a voracious writer and never missed an opportunity to pen his thoughts.

Photo Courtesy: Bharat Rakshak
Read an obit by Marut fans here: http://bit.ly/1B48FC4