Time and place – Begumpet

It never ceases to surprise me how easy it is for us to think of change as a function of time. September 17th, 1948 Momentous day for lovers of democracy and freedom writes Venkateswarlu of The Hindu. Indeed it was in many ways. Hyderabad acceded to India on that day. The picture above was taken days later at the Begumpet Airport. The bald man in shawl on the left is Sardar Patel, the first Home Minister of India. And the man on the right in sherwani and taupi with a walking stick under his arm bowing with a namaste is His Exalted Highness, Lt. Gen Muzaffar-ul Mulk Wal Mumalik Nizam- ul-Mulk, Nizam-ud-Dowla, Nawab Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, the Faithful Ally of the British, Nizam of Hyderabad, who according to the Time Magazine of February 22, 1937 was the richest man in the world. But what about the tarmac at the Begumpet airport where the picture was apparently taken ? Is it a momentous place ? Who was the photographer in suit in the background and what kind of plane was it that stood in the back ? This was days before Gandhiji was shot dead in Delhi. What was the oldman doing while Patel was speaking greeting the Nizam ? This was indeed a momentous meeting because this was the meeting between the Nizam and Patel at which crucial decisions about the Nizam’s properties were taken. Patel made a ‘generous’ offer to the Nizam — make a list of properties in Hyderabad that you want to keep as your private estate and it will all be yours. In the judgment of Hashmuddin Ahmed, son of the city police chief who held the power of attorney for the Nizam in the days to come, Patel was more honest than Nehru. He kept his promise.

Sudheer writes

Hyderabad’s air department was run by the Nizam’s Ministry of Railways. Historians say the clout of owning an airline gave the Nizam the power to resist merger with the Indian Union for 13 months after India attained independence.

“It was purely a business venture. But later on, politically in the late 1940s, when Hyderabad refused to join the Indian Union, it was seen more like an attitude as an Independent ruler,” said Md. Safiullah, Advisor, Nizam’s Trust.

Though the Nizam set up Deccan Airways in 1945 with 12 Dakota aircraft, he himself took to the skies only in 1952, shortly before Indian Airlines took over Deccan Airways. Post-March 16, when the new Hyderabad airport at Shamshabad will be opened, Begumpet airport will only live on nostalgia and in history.

And here is a Hindu report on Anuradha Reddy’s work on the aviation history of Hyderabad and six months later when her book Aviation in Hyderabad Dominions was released Hindu reports again. And here is an excerpt from an article India’s reclaimed B24 Liberators by Capt. Kapil Bhargava posted at Bharat Rakshak.

 Jimmy Munshi and his younger brother Rustam always had their gaze perpetually turned towards the sky. Their father had gifted them an aircraft of their own. The family lived in Hyderabad, where much of the pioneering flying in India had taken place, as chronicled by Mrs Anuradha Reddy in her excellent book, “Aviation in the Hyderabad Dominions”. Jimmy and Rustam lived up to this local tradition. They often flew to Bombay on the pretext of picking up fuel at a lower price. What they did take in was lunch and a movie, before flying back home. They soon built up the hours required to become professional commercial pilots. Unfortunately, Rustam was killed in a flying accident in Tatanagar. But Jimmy went on to join Deccan Airways and flew DC-3s for many years. Some HAL old-timers say that it was Mr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, then Minister for Commerce, who persuaded Jimmy to give up his lucrative airline job and join post-independence HAL as its first CTP. Apart from flight-testing various types of aircraft after overhaul, Jimmy now had the job of ferrying B-24s, temporarily patched-up by Yelappa’s men, from Kanpur to Bangalore.

And here again an excerpt from another story from a veteran K.S. Nair on Wg.Jimmy Munshi and his younger brother Rustam always had their gaze perpetually turned towards the sky. Their father had gifted them an aircraft of their own. The family lived in Hyderabad, where much of the pioneering flying in India had taken place, as chronicled by Mrs Anuradha Reddy in her excellent book, “Aviation in the Hyderabad Dominions”. Jimmy and Rustam lived up to this local tradition. They often flew to Bombay on the pretext of picking up fuel at a lower price. What they did take in was lunch and a movie, before flying back home. They soon built up the hours required to become professional commercial pilots. Unfortunately, Rustam was killed in a flying accident in Tatanagar. But Jimmy went on to join Deccan Airways and flew DC-3s for many years. Some HAL old-timers say that it was Mr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, then Minister for Commerce, who persuaded Jimmy to give up his lucrative airline job and join post-independence HAL as its first CTP. Apart from flight-testing various types of aircraft after overhaul, Jimmy now had the job of ferrying B-24s, temporarily patched-up by Yelappa’s men, from Kanpur to Bangalore. Commander Murkot Ramunny

7^th Course then went to Begumpet, in Secunderabad, for basic flying training. Ramunny recalls Begumpet as “small, nothing like it is now”; a sentiment borne out by contemporary photographs showing a windswept, isolated airfield, with no other construction in the vicinity; nothing remotely like the urban sprawl that surrounds NT Rama Rao International Airport now.

The instructors at Begumpet were mostly British RAF officers. However Pilot Officer Ramunny’s assigned instructor was Captain PM Reddy, one of a small number of Indian civilian instructors. Capt Reddy was later MD of Deccan Airways, a private-sector forerunner of Indian Airlines, and still later a GM of HAL. He was also the father-in-law of Mrs Anuradha Reddy, who prepared the invaluable compilation, Aviation in the Hyderabad Dominions. Ramunny clearly has the highest regard for Capt Reddy, whom he recalls as holding engineering, flying and instructor’s qualifications, all secured from the UK. His association with Capt Reddy was to extend throughout Capt Reddy’s life.

Basic training at Begumpet covered approx 30/40 hours on Tiger Moths. The next stage of training was at the Service Flying Training School, Ambala, on Hawker Harts and Hawker Audaxes. (These are closely related types, the Audax being substantially a development of the Hart.) The SFTS syllabus included cross-country and night flying.

Rivetting as all these anecdotes about aviation history in Hyderabad, none of them really tell us what that place Begumpet airport itself was made of. Who owned it ? Why did it become the airport ? And what did it mean for the Nizam to drive from his home in King Kothi to reach the airport and bow to Sardar Patel ? And why did Begumpet turn out to be what it is now ? It is one of the cheekiest places in Hyderabad now.  (To be contd… please come back on Jan 20th)