Now that it is going to be curtains on the @IAF_MCC MiG-21s after 60+ years of service, it is worth remembering that no other type served in the numbers and variants as the MiG-21. Over the years, no fewer than twenty four operational squadrons and four training establishments operated 840+ aircraft of the type.

The first MiG-21 type to join the IAF in 1963 were six MiG-21 F-13 Type 74, followed in 1965 by six MiG-21 PF Type 76. In 1966, based on its experience from the war in 1965, ordered more MiG-21s. This time the much improved MiG-21 FL, Type -77 variant. 38 aircarft were delivered from the USSR and another 197 were manufactured by @HAL_india between 1966-73. The MiG-21FL (Type 77) and MiG-21PF (Type 76) are visually distinguishable by several key features. The FL variant has a larger tail fin with a brake parachute housing at its base, while the PF's brake parachute is housed in a ventral fairing. The FL also features a detachable gun pod (GP-9) and a larger fuel capacity compared to the PF. The GP-9 was a specific requirement articulated by the IAF based on its 1971 experience. The Type-77 also offered multirole capability in being able to deliver 500kg bombs. The aircraft would be retrofitted after 1982 with additional underwing pylons.

Thanks to Kapil Chandni and the @indiannavy for their document on the building of the carrier INS Vikrant. It has some interesting information on how the design evolved over almost a two decade period between 1980 and final sanction in 1999. Here is this story. 1/n In 1980, the Directorate of Naval Design (DND) prepared a concept design of a ‘Helicopter Carrier’ based on the hull form of MV Harshavardhan, a merchant vessel .

Purnima Sinha (1927 – 2015) was a physicist and one of the first Bengali women to earn a doctorate in physics in the field of x-ray crystallography of clay minerals. She was born to Dr. Nares Chandra Sengupta, a constitutional lawyer and progressive writer. She married the anthropologist Surajit Chandra Sinha, later vice-chancellor, Visva-Bharati University. After obtaining her MSc degree in Physics from Calcutta University, she joined for her PhD work in 1951 under the legendary physicist Satyendra Nath Bose. Purchase of equipment in the early years of independence was difficult and she built instruments with components available in the open market. She recalled “we had put together our X-ray equipment from the World War II surplus gathered in the lane behind Dr Bidhan Roy’s house”. Purnima’s PhD research was entitled “X-ray & Differential Thermal Analysis of Indian Clays”. She also worked with Nobel Laureate physicist Paul M Dirac when he was a visitor to Calcutta University in 1954.

Pafulla Chandra Roy (1861 – 16 June 1944) was an Indian chemist, educationist, historian, industrialist and philanthropist. A product of the Bengali Renaissance, he was the founder of Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals, India's first pharmaceutical company. He is the author of A History of Hindu Chemistry from the Earliest Times to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century (1902). The book draws uses primary sources to deal with a ranage of subjects inlcuding, metallury and rare-earths extraction. Topis include Colophon - The Rasas - Abhra - Vaikranta -copper Pyrites Vimala - Silajatu - Sasyaka - Extraction of Copper - Chapala Rasaka - Extraction of Zinc - The Uparasas or Inferior Rasas Sulphur Gairika Kasisa Tuvari Talaka Manassila - The Afijanas - The Common Rasas - Navasara and other Rasas - The Gems - Vajram - General Process of Reducing Gems to Ashes - On Metals - Gold - Silver - Copper - I on - Tin - Lead Brass - Bell Metal, &c. - Initiation into Discipleship - On the Laboratory - Tests for Killed Iron - Antimony

Meet Nelson Wang, the inventor of Indian-Chinese the "Chicken Manchurian". Wang was born in Calcutta's Tangra China Town in 1950. When his family moved to Canada in the 1977, Nelson decided to move to Bombay.
#ChickenManchurian #Chinese #Cricket #Foodie Strating out as a nightclub limbo dancer and fire-eater, he found a job was as a cook at Frederick's, a Chinese restaurant in Colaba and where the legendary Raj Singh Dungarpur, then President of the Cricket Club of India was a regular.

INS Kamorta P177, later P77 was the first Peyta ASW ship commissioned into the Indian Navy on21 November 1968. In 1971 she served in the Eastern fleet as part of its ASW screen and intercepted blockade runners. She was decomissioned in 1991. INS Kamorta P28 is the leadship of the Project-28 ASW corvettes built by @OfficialGRSE and commissioned in 2014. He is armed with OTO Melara SRGM, AK-630M CIWS, RBU-6000 and Torpedo tubes. She will be oufitted with a 50km VL SRSAM from DRDO.

INS Nipat K86 was a Vidyut-class (Osa-1) missile boat commissioned in 1971. She was part of the Strike Group for Op Trident. She fired P-15 missiles against the ammunition transport MV Venus Challenger, sinking it. She was decomissioned in 1988. The second INS Nipat K42 was a Veer (Tarantul class) missile corvette comissioned in 1988. Armed with P-20M missiles, she remained in service until 2016.

Gurkaniya Christians.
In 1595, mystic Padishah Akbar summoned a Jesuit mission to his court in Agra. However, by the time the mission with Jerónimo de Ezpeleta y Goñi and Emmanuel Pinheiro arrived, the Emperor was on the move. So they arrived in Lahore arrived on May 5, 1595. Father Jerónimo would travel with the Emperor on his campaigns and given Akbar's interest in religion, he hoped that the Emperor would convert to Christianity. During Akbar's lifetime Christian themed art would flourish at court but Akbar remained a distant prize.

Mahadaji Shinde (1730 – 1794) was a Maratha general and Raja of Ujjain (later Gwalior). He was also the architect of Maratha revival in northern India after Panipat. He was the youngest of five sons of Ranoji Shinde, founder of the Scindia dynasty. Mahadji came into prominence following the deaths of his older brothers in Maratha campaigns in northern India 1750-61.

Built in 1942, Chakulia airport in present day Jharkhand was home to B-29s from the USAAF's 40th Bombardment Group, Abandoned in 1945, it remained a notified area with a ban on construction. There are proposals to revive it in the future. Digri Airfield near Uparsolbankati was built in 1942 and used primarily by the RAF's Liberator Squadrons including 355, 357, 358 squadrons. Closed and abandoned in 1945, the runways and aprons are relatively well preserved.

Eastern India, including Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha were home to fighter and bomber squadrons from the 10th USAAF's India Air Task Force. Many of these bases were converted to IAF or civil use after 1945, but several were abandoned. Here is what became of these.... The airport near the present day IIT Kharagpur was known as the Hijli Base Area hosted the United States Army Air Force XX Bomber Command 58th Bombardment Wing in early 1945. The airport no longer exists but its runway provides the alignment for the Hijli Railway station.

A folk song in Raag Manjh Khamaj (Dadra) popularized by Vd.Prabha Atre, performed by Kaushiki Chakraborty
"Radha rangili mero naam, aaj jaiyo saware jamuna kinare mora gaon"

via @YouTube #ClassicalMusic #Hindustani #Dadra #Folk #Bhajan #Kasushiki #ManjhKhamaj

The assassination of former Prime Minister #Shinzo_Abe Abe has come as a shock to many who have followed his career. 🇯🇵 unfortunately has a history of political #assassinations dating back to the early 20th century.
Here is list of attempts on serving Prime Ministers in #japan In July 1960, Shinzo Abe's grandfather, Prime Minister Shinsuke Kishi, was stabbed Kishi six times in the thigh Aramaki Taisuke, a member of the right-wing group "Dahuahui". He needed 30 stiches to close the wound but survived.

“Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.”
― John Maynard Keynes

#Polymath and and #economist. Between 1901, (age 18) and 1915, Keynes kept a quarterly tabulation of his sexual partners (both male and female). Entirely fitting hobby for a budding economist. Among his many male lovers was Benoy Kumar Sarkar, identfied as Indian nationalist and social scientist.

Geetoshree #SandhyaMukhopadhyay (সন্ধ্যা মুখোপাধ্যায়)) passed away at the age of 90 on 15 February 2022. She was the doyen of Bengali playback music and a household name in both Bengals. Sandhya, was she was popularly known, was born in Dhakuria, Calcutta, on 4 October 1931 to Narendranath Mukherjee, a railway official, and Hemprova Devi. She was the youngest of six children.

Given the current goings-on in #Ottawa I'm reminded of a book the late Gilles Paquet and I did in 2012 surveying the plans and aspirations for Canada's capital over its lifetime.

The Unimagined Canadian Capital: Challenges for the Federal Capital Region amazon.ca/dp/0986871648/… The federal government's challenge in Ottawa is that apart from federally owned NCC lands and buildings, it is reliant entirely on municipal and provincial law enforcement. Ottawa is a mere municipality in the Province of Ontario and the Feds are one of many who reside here.

The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway (MSM) was formed in 1908 from the merger of the Madras Railway Company (MR) which operated a broad gauge (BG) system and the Southern Mahratta Railway(SMR) metre gauge (MG) system. In 1943, MSM operated 1518 miles of Broad gauge track and 2087 miles of Metre gauge track across southern India.

Two liberal democrats, and supporters of the human rights of oppressed colonial people sharing a laugh in unoccupied Tehran c.1943. Two more progressive liberals share a joke.

The North-Western State Railway (NWR) was formed in 1886 by merging the Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway, the Indus Valley State Railway, the Punjab Northern State Railway, the eastern section of the Sind-Sagar Railway and the southern section of the Sind-Pishin State Railway. The NWR operated a board gauge network on the following mainlines Karachi to Quetta, Karachi to Lahore, Lahore to Delhi and Lahore to Peshawar. By 1947, it operated 6861 miles of track.

Brij Mohan Nath Mishra was born on 4 February 1937 in Lucknow into an illustrious family of musicians. Popularly known as #BirjuMaharaj he would go on to become one of the most recognized personalities of Indian classical dance and make his own way as a artiste. His father was the famed Pt. Jagannath Mishra (d.1947) , popularly known as Achchan Maharaj was the eldest among the three sons of Pt. Kalika Prasad. He was an expert of both Nritta and Bhava. He would serve as court musician of the Raja of Raigdh.

#Kolkata's trams are famous. The electric #trams were first introduced in 1902 and at their peak covered 40 lines carried commuters over a 70 km network. Today only 28 km of the network remains. Once upon a time other cities in India also had electric/mechanical trams.
Thread👇 #Karachi Tramway first opened for traffic in 1885 as a steam tramway. By 1909 the East India Tramwag Co, had an all petrol/diesel fleet of trams. In 1949 the whole tramway system was sold to the Mohamedali Tramways Company (MTC). All 4 lines closed in 1975.