BALASORE: The crash of a Hawk trainer jet plane in Besoi of Mayurbhanj district might have left the authorities of Indian Air Force (IAF) confused, but a historian has claimed that many crashes have been reported from the region since the airfield at Amarda Road on Balasore-Mayurbhanj border was set up during World War II.
According to military historian Anil Dhir, the triangle from Piarboda near Bankura to Chakulia in Jharkhand and Amarda Road in Odisha witnessed at least a dozen plane crashes during the World War II.
Dhir is a Bhubaneswar-based war historian who has studied the historical facts on Amarda Road airstrip, known as Asia’s largest air complex during the World War. On July 26 every year, he organises an event at the airstrip to honour 14 airmen of the Royal Air Force (RAF) who were killed in a mid-air collision between two B-24 Liberator bombers on the same day in 1945.
It was the biggest crash in which two British Royal Air Force B-24 Liberator four-engine bombers, EW225 and EW247, collided at an altitude of less than 2000 feet. The aircraft that collided were based at the Amarda Road airfield and were part of a six-plane contingent from the Air Fighting Training Unit engaged in formation flying exercise.
“The crash took place just 40 km from Amarda Road between 9.55 am and 10.20 am and the exact spot was near Belda in East Midnapore district of West Bengal. The unfortunate incident occurred just a few days before the airstrip was declared closed as WW-II had ended in Europe by that time,” he said.
Several plane crashes that were reported in 1944 still remain unknown to many. On May 4, 1944, Dhir informed, an American Liberator had collided with a Harvard de Havilland plane and crashed in flames at the Amarda Road airfield killing four crewmen. This spot is 75 km from the crash site of Hawk trainer jet plane in Besoi.
On the night of May 7, 1944, another Liberator which had taken off from Digri on a special mission, crashed 20 minutes after take-off killing 10 crewmen. Digri is 100 km from the present crash spot.
Six days later, another De Havilland fighter had crashed after take-off from Amarda Road Station, but the crew survived. On October 28, 1944, a Liberator had taken off on a night sortie and crashed near Salabani, approximately 90 km from the present crash site, killing eight of the crew.