Rare Picture of Indo-Egyptian HF-24 Marut Mk.1 BX

[samlove]

rarest of the rare picture of Hindustan Aeronautics loaned HF-24 Marut fighter aircraft to Egyptian HA-300 fighter jet program to develop a new engine with German assistance which could have become first supersonic aircraft coming out of an Arab Country.

A modified HAL developed HF-24 Marut Mk.1 BX was loaned to Egypt to be used as a test bed to carry out engine trails for German-Egyptian developed E-300 turbojet which was capable of Mach 2 speed.

HF-24 which was powered by British developed Bristol Siddeley Orpheus Mk 703 turbojet barely was capable of reaching Mach 1 due to the lack of suitably powered engine for a Mach 2 capable air frame of HF-24. HF-24 attended Mach 1 speed only at Sea levels or at dive maneuvers.

After making repeated failed attempts to purchase suitable high powered engine from Western Powers like Britain and US for HF-24 ending with disappointments, India when invited to be part of Egypt’s attempt to develop a Mach 2 class fighter jet HA-300, along with E-300 turbojet for the program, willingly accepted Egyptian offer and also provided modified HF-24 fighter jet to be used as test-bed aircraft for E-300 program.

Mk.1 BX was equipped with one Orpheus Mk 703 turbojet and one German-Egyptian developed E-300 turbojet and this unique aircraft successfully flew around 140 test flights with Indian Air force Test Pilots who were deputed in Egypt to support test flight of HA-300 fighter jet and also to carried out engine trials of E-300 turbojet on request of Egyptian air force and government.

HA-300 programme was later canceled by Egypt in 1969, many Egyptian associated with the project believed that Soviet pressured Nasser to stop the program to prevent the HA-300 to pose as a challenge against the Soviet-developed Mig-21 and instead offered cheaper Migs to recover aircraft attrition lost in 6 day war with Israel.

The success of HA-300 program along with E-300 turbojet would have prevented the early demise of HF-24 Marut which never realized its full potential due to the insufficient power plant and had to be retired by early 80’s due crash of HF-73 Prototype which killed its test pilot and later Anglo-French made Jaguar aircrafts found orders from Indian Air force .

Mk.1 BX aircraft after the cancellation of the HA-300 project was given away as a gift and never made back to India.

 

[Chanakya's_Chant]

Reason why we fell behind in developing an aerospace ecosystem in India is that the government never followed up the HAL HF-24 Marut fighter jet programme - Nehru brought a leading combat aircraft designer to India - Kurt Tank, progenitor of the Focke-Wulfe warplanes for Hitler's Luftwaffe. Tank succeeded in putting an HF-24 Marut prototype in the air by 1961 and in training a talented group of Indian designers at HAL.

By the time the Tank-trained Raj Mahindra (Designer of LCA Tejas)-led team designed the successor Marut Mark-II, Nehru was gone and neither Lal Bahadur Shastri nor his successor, Indira Gandhi, unfortunately had the strategic vision or technological prescience to provide political support for it. Indira permitted the purchase of the British Jaguar aircraft for low-level attack, leading to the termination of the Marut Mk-II optimised for the same mission. It ended the chance of India emerging early as an independent aerospace power in the manner Brazil and Israel have done in recent years. The inglorious era of importing military hardware was on. The resulting vendor-driven procurement system has decanted enormous wealth from India to arms supplier states Russia, UK, France, the United States, Israel and Italy.

As a result of which the valuable experience gained through Marut was all but lost - Through LCA we are gaining the same ensuring the Mark II will not suffer the same fate.

HF-24 Marut preserved at the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim near Munich​

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Reason why we fell behind in developing an aerospace ecosystem in India is that the government never followed up the HAL HF-24 Marut fighter jet programme - Nehru brought a leading combat aircraft designer to India - Kurt Tank, progenitor of the Focke-Wulfe warplanes for Hitler's Luftwaffe. Tank succeeded in putting an HF-24 Marut prototype in the air by 1961 and in training a talented group of Indian designers at HAL.

By the time the Tank-trained Raj Mahindra (Designer of LCA Tejas)-led team designed the successor Marut Mark-II, Nehru was gone and neither Lal Bahadur Shastri nor his successor, Indira Gandhi, unfortunately had the strategic vision or technological prescience to provide political support for it. Indira permitted the purchase of the British Jaguar aircraft for low-level attack, leading to the termination of the Marut Mk-II optimised for the same mission. It ended the chance of India emerging early as an independent aerospace power in the manner Brazil and Israel have done in recent years. The inglorious era of importing military hardware was on. The resulting vendor-driven procurement system has decanted enormous wealth from India to arms supplier states Russia, UK, France, the United States, Israel and Italy.

As a result of which the valuable experience gained through Marut was all but lost - Through LCA we are gaining the same ensuring the Mark II will not suffer the same fate.

HF-24 Marut preserved at the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim near Munich​

Incidentally, the HF-24 was the IAF aircraft to do the first documented "tail-slide maneuver", the father of the "Cobra Maneuver" made famous by the Su-30. It took place during an air-test of a HF-24 over Jamnagar-Khambaliya.

 

[zzebie]

Incidentally, the HF-24 was the IAF aircraft to do the first documented "tail-slide maneuver", the father of the "Cobra Maneuver" made famous by the Su-30. It took place during an air-test of a HF-24 over Jamnagar-Khambaliya.

Time and again when i come to this forum i am amazed. How do you guys manage to gather all these tit bits of information?Kudos to you folks for knowing and then sharing this information as well with others

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Time and again when i come to this forum i am amazed. How do you guys manage to gather all these tit bits of information?Kudos to you folks for knowing and then sharing this information as well with others

To tell you the truth, I know of it only because I read about it in an account by a veteran IAF Pilot. I found it fascinating. I'll have to dig to re-discover the details, date etc. AFAIK, it happened at about 15-20,000 ft The Pilot zooomed up and shut-down both engines, stood vertically on his tail for some time, slid vertically down for some time before re-lighting, jerked the nose down and levelled off. Not an easy maneuver, considering that the engine(s) "wind-mill" due to reverse flow through them.......

 

[AMCA]

HAL Marut was a great Machine and ahead of its times should there have been a better engine to power it, nevertheless, Maruts were invincible in the air and have also recorded an aerial kill when Sqn Ldr KK Bakshi of 220 Squadron shot down a PAF F-86 Sabre on 7 Dec 71 (Flg Offr Hamid Khwaja of 15 Squadron PAF).