VT-DFT: 65 years of flying legacy

Delta Foxtrot Romeo is no ordinary aircraft as it carries not only the legacy of legendary JRD Tata but also has the distinction of being India's oldest flyable aircraft.
Claimed to be the "oldest flyable aircraft" not only in India but but all of Asia, VT-DFR, as the call sign of the Piper Super Cub PA 18 says, was imported in the late 1940s and had joined the fleet of The Bombay Flying Club (BFC) in 1951 after registration.
Still owned by the BFC, the oldest flying school in the country, VT-DFR's legacy includes being flown by the iconic JRD Tata, who was also the first commercial pilot of India, besides serving as a training aircraft to hundreds of aviators who went on to serve various airlines and flying academies.

"Altogether there were six Piper Super Cub PA-18 aircraft which were imported here in the 1940s. This particular aircraft was one of the favourites of JRD Tata and was therefore registered with the call sign DFR where R is for Romeo," says BFC president Capt Mihir Bhagwati, president BFC.
Weighing 480 kgs, the 125 bhp Lycoming engine aircraft flaunts wooden propellers and seats two pilots in tandem (one behind the other). It remained continuously in service until the late 1990s following which it was briefly taken off duty due to airworthiness issues, only to be brought back in a restored condition a few years later.

"Of the total six PA-18 which were imported, two crashed while two others were sold out in late 80s. Other is still with us and we are planning to restore that one also.

"VT-DFR, however, continued to fly till late 90s before it was taken off service due to airworthiness issues. It was then fully restored from 2003 to 2010 according to new specifications and is now again put to use," Capt Bhagwati, who last flew the machine on December 15, told PTI.
This aircraft has in total clocked six to seven thousand flying hours and 120 hours in the last five years, Capt Bhagwati said, adding "this is not only the oldest flyable aircraft in India but entire Asia."

Narrating an anecdote, Captain J P Sharma, the Chief
Flying Instructor at the Bombay Flying Club, says on October 15, 1932 JRD Tata flew India's first commercial flight for the Tata Airlines, which later became Air India. He had flown with 25 kgs of mails from Karachi to Juhu airport in Mumbai, then known as Bombay, on de Havilland Puss Moth (the aircraft).
"Thirty years later, in commemoration of the country's first commercial flight, JRD Tata had recreated the same flight on the same route on VT-DFR," Capt Sharma said.
Senior technician Eric Lobo has been working on the 125 bhp Lycoming engine aircraft for the past 60 years now.

"She (the aircraft) came here in 1951 and I had joined BFC in 1956 as an apprentice," says Lobo, who will turn 80 this October.
"So many pilots have flown DFR including JRD Tata. Romeo, as we call it here, is world famous like the Romeo of Shakespeare," he adds.
Lobo adds that a lot of things, especially technology, has changed since the time he first worked on DFR as an apprentice. "Two years after my first brush with Romeo, I got my first salary of Rs 110 in 1958," says the proud technician of the tail-wing aircraft.
Already in its 65th year of service, VT-DFR is now sparingly put to use for training purpose.

"This aircraft is part of the legacy of the Bombay Flying Club. We have to maintain the legacy," Capt Sharma said.