INS Garuda

Last updated

INS Garuda
Summary
Airport type Naval Air Station
Operator Indian Navy
Location Willingdon Island, Kochi, India
Elevation  AMSL 2 m / 8 ft
Coordinates 9°56′28″N76°16′30″E / 9.941°N 76.275°E / 9.941; 76.275
Website http://indiannavy.nic.in/INS_Garuda.html
Map
India Kerala location map.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
VOCC
India location map.svg
Airplane silhouette.svg
VOCC
Runways
Direction LengthSurface
mft
13/311,4144,680Asphalt
17/351,8175,960Asphalt
Source: DAFIF [1] [2]

INS Garuda( ICAO : VOCC), is an Indian naval air station located in Kochi, in the state of Kerala. [3] Commissioned on 11 May 1953, it is the oldest operating air station of the Indian Navy.

Contents

The air station is adjacent to INS Venduruthy and the headquarters of Southern Naval Command. INS Garuda is a major naval air training centre as well as an operational base.

History

The original airstrip near Kochi was built by the Cochin Port Trust to transport senior officials of the British Harbour Corps from the Madras Presidency for supervising the development of modern Kochi port in 1936. During World War II, the rudimentary air strip was taken over by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1941 and expanded to establish a RAF experimental station. The Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve (IAFVR) No. 5 Coastal Defence Flight, flying Westland Wapiti II aircraft was based at the station in May 1941. In December 1942, IAFVR No. 5 was disbanded, and resources transferred to HMS Garuda in Peelamedu (present day Coimbatore International Airport), Coimbatore,Tamil Nadu. In 1943, the Kochi facilities were transferred to the Royal Navy (RN) which established an aircraft repair yard at the location to assemble aircraft shipped to India for the war effort. HMS Garuda was decommissioned in September 1946 at the end of the war, and the Kochi infrastructure was transferred to the DGCA.

Post-independence

The Indian Navy acquired the first Short Sealand aircraft on 13 January 1953. The aviation facilities at Kochi were transferred to the Indian Navy and temporarily placed under the command of naval base, INS Venduruthy, on 1 January 1953 to prepare for operating the aircraft. The first Sealand aircraft arrived in Kochi from the UK on 4 February 1953.

The facilities were commissioned as a fully operational naval air station under the command of the Indian Naval Air Arm on 11 May 1953 and renamed INS Garuda. [4] Commodore G Douglas, was its first Commanding Officer.

Since then, INS Garuda has remained a strategic operating station for the navy, with several training schools, intelligence centres, maintenance and repair facilities and experimental stations based here. A separate civil enclave for domestic travellers was allowed to operate at INS Garuda, which remained operational until July 1999, when the Cochin International Airport was commissioned. The 747 Squadron of the Indian Coast Guard was activated on 22 Apr 2002 within the premises of Naval Base Kochi. The Squadron operates two Dornier 228 aircraft. [5]

Units

INS Garuda has 2 intersecting runways, allowing almost all operational aircraft to land and take off. [6]

Indian Naval Air Squadrons based at INS Garuda as of 2011 include:

INS Garuda also has a number of naval aviation training schools:

INS Garuda also has facilities for imparting training in airborne anti-submarine operations affiliated with the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) School on INS Venduruthy. The school's facilities include a Thales Underwater Systems LOFAR (Low Frequency Analysis & Recording) training simulator. [7]

See also

Indian Navy
Integrated commands and units
Other lists

Related Research Articles

Willingdon Island is the largest artificial island in India, which forms part of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala. Much of the present Willingdon Island was claimed from the Lake of Kochi, filling in dredged soil around a previously existing, but tiny, natural island. Willingdon Island is significant as the home for the Port of Kochi as well as the Kochi Naval Base, the Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy, Plant Quarantine station, Custom House Cochin and Central Institute of Fisheries Technology, a constituent unit of Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

The Indian Naval Air Arm is the aviation branch and a fighting arm of the Indian Navy which is tasked to provide an aircraft carrier based strike capability, fleet air defence, maritime reconnaissance, and anti-submarine warfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porbandar Airport</span> Airport in Gujarat, India

Porbandar Airport is a public airport in Porbandar, Gujarat, India. Currently, civilian flights are not operational. Apart from civilian operations it also has a military presence in the form of INAS 343 of the Indian Navy and CGAE Porbandar of the Indian Coast Guard. A new terminal building was opened in April 2008. There are currently no scheduled passenger flights from the airport.

INS Rajali, is an Indian naval air station located near Arakkonam, Ranipet district, Tamil Nadu in southern India. It operates under the Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy, and has the longest military runway in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arun Prakash</span>

Admiral Arun Prakash, PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM is a former Flag Officer of the Indian Navy. He served as the Chief of the Naval Staff from 31 July 2004 to 31 October 2006 and as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee from 31 January 2005 to 31 October 2006. He is one of India's most decorated naval officers.

INS Venduruthy is an Indian Navy base located on Willingdon Island in Kochi, Kerala. It serves as the Headquarters of the Southern Naval Command. It is the largest training establishment of the Indian Navy. INS Garuda is a naval air station located adjacent to INS Venduruthy. Commodore Deepak Kumar is the Commanding officer of this base. It provides administrative facilities to all training establishments inside the Southern naval command. Pincode of INS Vendurathy is 682004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Naval Academy</span> Indian Naval Academy

The Indian Naval Academy is the defence service training establishment for officer cadre of the Indian Naval Service and the Indian Coast Guard, located in Ezhimala, Kannur district, Kerala. Situated between Ezhimala hill and the Kavvayi backwaters, INA has a 7 kilometre beach front on the Laccadive Sea. It conducts basic training for all officers inducted into the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard. It is Asia's largest, and the world's third-largest, naval academy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">INS Shikra</span> Indian naval air station

INS Shikra, formerly known as INS Kunjali, is an Indian naval air station located at Colaba in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a heliport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">INAS 342</span> Military unit

INAS 342 is an Indian Naval air squadron, operating unmanned aerial vehicles, based at INS Garuda, Kochi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">INS Hansa</span> Airport in Goa, India

INS Hansa, is an Indian naval air station located near Dabolim in Goa, India. It is India's biggest naval airbase. The military air base has a civil enclave, that operates as Dabolim Airport.

INS Utkrosh, is an Indian naval air station under the joint-services Andaman and Nicobar Command of the Indian Armed Forces. It is located near naval base INS Jarawa, on Port Blair in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

INS<i> Dega</i> Airport in Visakhapatnam, India

INS Dega, is a naval air station of the Indian Navy. It is located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh on the east coast of India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">INS Parundu</span> Airport in Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu

INS Parundu is an Indian naval air station located near Uchipuli in the Ramanathapuram of the state of Tamil Nadu. It operates under the Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy. The air station will be opened up for civilian flights under Phase 2 of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) of the Government of India also known as UDAN and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has started preparatory work at the airstrip. It is sandwiched between Rameswaram National Highway Road and Railway track which leads towards Rameswaram.

The INAS 322 is an Indian naval air squadron based at INS Garuda, Kochi.

The INAS 330 is an Indian naval air squadron based at INS Shikra, Mumbai.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">INAS 550</span> Military unit

The INAS 550 is an Indian naval air squadron based at INS Venduruthy, Kochi.

Vice Admiral Kankipati Appala Satyanarayana Zagapathi 'KASZ' Raju, PVSM, AVSM, NM is a former Flag officer in the Indian Navy. He last served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command, from 1992 to 1994. A naval aviator, he was part of the Navy's first naval air squadron INAS 300 and was embarked on the Navy's first aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, he was the executive officer of the Leopard-class frigate INS Brahmaputra (1957), for which he was awarded the Nao Sena Medal. He later commanded the Western Fleet and the Southern Naval Command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mihir K. Roy</span> Indian Navy Admiral

Vice Admiral Mihir Kumar 'Micky' Roy, PVSM, AVSM was a flag officer in the Indian Navy. He last served as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puneet Kumar Bahl</span> Indian Navy admiral

Vice Admiral Puneet Kumar Bahl, AVSM, VSM is a serving officer in the Indian Navy. He currently serves as the Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy. He previously served as the Director General Project Seabird, Flag Officer Maharashtra Area (FOMA) in Mumbai and as the Flag Officer Commanding Goa Naval Area (FOGA) and Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA) in Goa.

References

  1. Airport information for VOCC from DAFIF (effective October 2006)
  2. Airport information for TJV at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  3. "Indian Navy". Archived from the original on 23 November 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
  4. "INS Garuda: A Cradle of Naval Aviation". Sainik Samachar, Ministry of Defence. 1 December 2001. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  5. "INDIAN COAST GUARD - Aviation". Archived from the original on 31 October 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2011.
  6. "Airport information for VOCC". World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) Data current as of October 2006.
  7. "INS Garuda - Bharat Rakshak :: Indian Navy".