INS Garuda | |||||||||||||||
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| 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 | |||||||||||||||
  VOCC  VOCC | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Source:DAFIF[1][2] | |||||||||||||||
INS Garuda (ICAO:VOCC), is an Indiannaval air station located inKochi, in the state ofKerala.[3] Commissioned on 11 May 1953, it is the oldest operating air station of theIndian Navy.
The air station is adjacent toINS Venduruthy and the headquarters ofSouthern Naval Command. INS Garuda is a major naval air training centre as well as an operational base.
The original airstrip near Kochi was built by theCochin Port Trust to transport senior officials of the British Harbour Corps from the Madras Presidency to supervise the development of modern Kochi port in 1936. DuringWorld War II, the rudimentary airstrip was taken over by theRoyal 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, flyingWestland Wapiti II aircraft was based at the station in May 1941. In December 1942, IAFVR No. 5 was disbanded, and resources transferred toHMS 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 theDGCA.
The Indian Navy acquired the firstShort 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 renamedINS 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 separatecivil enclave for domestic travellers was allowed to operate atINS Garuda, which remained operational until July 1999, when theCochin 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 twoDornier 228 aircraft.[5]
Commanding Officer's List of INS Garuda:- 1. Commander Douglas George DFC (11 May 53 to 01 Oct 55) 2. Commander Singh Y N (01 OCT 55 to 20 Dec 57) 3. Commander Tyabji N S (20 Dec 57 to 04 Apr 60) 4. Commander Sanjana K K (04 APR 60 TO 07 OCT 61) 5. Commander Kuruvila E C (07 Oct 61 to 28 Feb 63) 6. Commander Mathur P N (19 Mar 63 to 10 Sep 64) 7. Commander Telles P I (10 Sep 64 to 15 Jun 66) 8. Commander Roy M K (08 Aug 66 to 07 Jan 69) 9. Captain Gopinath K (04 Feb 69 to 11 jul 71) 10. Commodore Gopinath K ( 12 Jul 71 to 31 May 72) 11. Captain C L Sachdeva (31 May 72 to 25 Nov 72) 12. Captain B R Acharya ( 08 Jan 73 to 30 Jun 76) 13. Commodore B R Acharya ( 01 76 to 23 Apr 77)14. Captain U C Tripathi ( 24 May 77 to 09 Mar 79) 15. Captain V R Ravindranath NM,VSM (30 Apr 79 to 30 Jun 81) 16. Commodore V R Ravindranath NM,VSM (01 Jul 81 to 28 Feb 82) 17. commodore H Johnson vsm (20 Mar 82 to 21 Dec 82) 18. Commodore M P Wadhawan NM,VSM (22 Dec 82 to 10 Aug 84) 19. Captain M Bhada (10 Aug 84 to 31 Jul 85) 20. Captain A S Rawat NM (31 Jul 85 to 31 Dec 85) 21. Commodore A S Rawat NM (01 Jan 86 to 08 Jun 87) 22. Commodore S Ramsagar VRC NM (08 Jun 87 to 11 Jan 88) 23. Captain S Mehta (27 Apr 88 to 14 Nov 89) 24. Captain V K Soni NM (15 Nov 89 to 31 Dec 90) 25. Commodore V K Soni NM (01 Jan 91 to 19 Jul 91) 26. CS C Dewan YSM (20 Jul 91 to 17 Jan 93) 27. Captain K M Thomas NM ( 18 Jan 93 to 30 Dec 93) 28. Commodore K M Thomas NM (01 Jan 94 to 27 May 96 ) 29. Commodore R S Vasan (27 May 96 to 30 Jul 98) 30. Commodore P Sengupta (30 Jul 98 to 30 May 2001) 31. Commander Sudhir pillai NM (17 Sep 01 to 17 Oct 02) 32. Captain Naresh Mohan Kalia (18 Oct 02 to 27 Oct 04) 33. Captain Balvinder Singh Parhar (28 Oct 04 to 20 Apr 06) 34. Captain Amit Bhandari (21 Apr 06 to 06 May 08) 35. Captain Vijesh Kumar Garg (06 May 08 to 09 Mar 10) 36. Commodore Vijesh Kumar Garg ( 10 Apr 10 to 18 Apr 11) 37. Captain Himanshu S Sapre (19 Apr 11 to 12 Sep 13) 38. Captain M M S Shergill (01 Aug 15 to 18 May 16) 39. Commodore R R Ayyar ( 19 May 16 to 22 Jan 19) 40. Commodore V B Bellary ( 23 Jan 19 to 14 Dec 22) 41. Captain K Sri Vasta ( 15 Dec 22 to 31 Dec 22) 42. Commodore K Sri Vasta (01 Jan 23 to 14 May 24) 43. Captain Rajan Kapoor (15 May 24 to 30 Jun 24) 44. Commodore Rajan Kapoor (01 Jul 24 to till date)
INS Garuda has 2 intersecting runways, allowing almost all operational aircraft to land and take off.[6]
Indian Naval Air Squadrons based atINS 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 theAnti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) School on INS Venduruthy. The school's facilities include a Thales Underwater Systems LOFAR (Low Frequency Analysis & Recording) training simulator.[7]
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