‘Sagar Pawan’ dazzles at INS Shivaji silver jubilee

Indian Navy Air Squadron 551,which flies the Sagar Pawan,is one of the oldest squadron of the Navy – formed in 1958 and has flown Vampires and Sea Hawks. Now it flies the indigenous Kiran aircraft.

The Kiran Mark II that the team flew is a fighter trainer aircraft with additional roles of limited Close Air Support and Low Intensity Conflict Operations,the release said.

On Saturday at the INS Shivaji,the team put up displays like the “Tango” and ‘Yankee’ formations in which the team members flew in positions depicting the letters “T” and ‘Y’.

Thereafter the team demonstrated a steep turn in Diamond formation. A key maneuver was the ‘Shadow Break’ in which the team approached the audience from the front and in a spilt second broke off in four different directions.

Commander Yashwant Karkare is the Commanding Officer of the INAS 551. The Indian Navy is one of the two in the world that have active performing fixed wing formation aerobatic teams. The other one is the US Navy which flies the ‘Blue Angles’,the release added.