Canberra crashes in Agra, two IAF pilots killed

Two young IAF pilots were killed today when their Canberra aircraft crashed into a field five kilometres from the Agra airfield. The pilot, ...

Two young IAF pilots were killed today when their Canberra aircraft crashed into a field five kilometres from the Agra airfield. The pilot, Sqn Ldr Sanjeev Beri and navigator Sqn Ldr Anurag Sharma made their last radio contact with the Agra base around 1.51 pm while it was on its approach path for a landing.

The Canberra—which operates from a squadron in Agra—took off at 12.55 on a routine flying mission, the IAF said this evening. It was airborne in the vicinity of Agra for a little less than an hour before the air crew—both in their mid-thirties—brought it around for landing.

The jet’s landing gear was down and it was at about 400 feet when it made the final contact with Agra air traffic control. Prima facie observations reveal that the crew lost control after engine or component failure. The IAF said while there was no casualty on the ground, there was some damage to the standing crops, for which compensation to the farmers was being worked out.

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The British-built Canberras, about five of which are with the 106 ‘Lynxes’ Squadron in Agra, were inducted into the IAF almost half a century ago. The IAF has been gearing up to celebrate 50 years of its operations in 2006-07, though senior retired officers have persistently questioned the wisdom of keeping them in use, even with qualitative upgrades.

Their primary role as fighter bombers, which has since been assumed in full by the IAF’s numerous multirole fighter units, stands replaced by a full-fledged photo-reconnaissance profile. The bombers were used to the hilt for bombing operations on the Western front in the 1971 war.