Amarda Road Airstrip

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from )

Amarda Road Airstrip
Amarda Road Airstrip.jpg
Amarda Road Airstrip
Summary
Airport typeMilitary
OperatorMinistry of Defence (India)
LocationRasgovindpur, Odisha, India
Elevation AMSL130 ft / 43 m
Coordinates21°48′18″N 087°02′49″E / 21.80500°N 87.04694°E / 21.80500; 87.04694Coordinates: 21°48′18″N 087°02′49″E / 21.80500°N 87.04694°E / 21.80500; 87.04694
Map
Amarda Road is located in India
Amarda Road
Amarda Road
Location in India
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
05/23 6,000 1,830 Concrete
17/35 6,670 2,032 Concrete

Amarda Road Airstrip, also known as Rasgovindpur Airstrip (IATA: IN 0074) is a former wartime airfield located near village in Mayurbhanj district of Odisha, India.

History[]

The Amarda Road airstrip, as it was called in war terminology, spreads across an area of nearly 600 acres. Built in the 1940s at a cost of Rs 3 crore, it was eventually abandoned after the war.[1] It was probably named as Amarda Road Airfield because of the nearby Amarda Road railway station. The airfield was used by No. 136 Squadron RAF,[2] No. 177 Squadron RAF[3] and No. 607 Squadron RAF. The 'Air Fighting Training Unit', formed in February 1943, was also based here.

As an airfield, Amarda Road fell on the supply route for the Nationalist Armies of China in their fight against the Japanese. Aircraft of the RAF and the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) would regularly fly from this space to China via Chabua (Dibrugarh), Jorhat and Vijaynagar across the infamous hump route over Arunachal and East Tibet.

Amarda Road and other neighbouring airfields - Dhalbhumgarh, , Salua, Digri, and Chakulia - formed a web of airfields created by the Allies to stop the impending Japanese advance in the east. During the war, Amarda Road was, to put it simply, a battle hub. After the war was over, most airfields, including this one, fell into disuse. Today, only the Kalaikunda airstrip, which was declared an Air Force Station in 1954, exists.

Present condition[]

Eight decades after the base was built, the 11,000 feet (3,400 m) concrete runway is still intact, though the buildings that once cluttered the edges are gone.

There are proposals to renovate the airstrip for future operations under UDAN scheme from 2022.[4][5]

Gallery[]

  • Airstrip

  • Airstrip

  • Concrete runway

References[]

  1. ^ Sahoo, Akshaya Kumar (29 April 2018). "WW-II era Amarda airstrip in Odisha cries for attention". The Asian Age.
  2. ^ Jacobs, Vivian K. The Woodpecker Story. Durham, UK: The Pentland Press Ltd., 1994. ISBN 1-85821-235-9. 1994, p. 156.
  3. ^ C.G.Jefford (1988). RAF Squadrons. UK Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-85310-053-6.
  4. ^ "Amarda airstrip revamp in 2022: Bishweswar Tudu". The New Indian Express. 9 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Rasgobindpur now under UDAN scheme". Daily Pioneer. 20 June 2021.
Retrieved from ""