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Irish Examiner
01-08-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
WWII-era DC-3 aircraft turns heads as Swiss aviation enthusiast visits Cork for summer holiday
It's a flying visit – in classic Swiss style. Swiss business magnate and historic aircraft enthusiast Hugo Mathys turned heads along the south coast this week after flying in for a private holiday in his fleet of gleaming Second World War era aircraft. After spending a few days relaxing in East Cork with close family and friends, Mr Mathys and his Classic Formation crew took off from Cork Airport in their DC-3 and two of their three Beechcraft aircraft on Thursday, before flying in formation over Cork Harbour, and then along the south-east coast towards Waterford, before returning to Cork that evening. A Beechcraft Model 18 at Cork Airport on Thursday. Picture: Larry Cummins The trip included a stunning formation pass over Ballycotton, where the group had been staying in the scenic Bayview Hotel. Hotelier Stephen Belton, the managing director of the Garryvoe and Bayview Hotels, was invited to join Mr Mathys as a guest passenger on board his DC-3. 'It was the trip of a lifetime,' Mr Belton said. 'Mr Mathys and his party have been staying with us for the week in the Bayview Hotel, exploring East Cork and eating in some of the region's great restaurants. The 1943-built Douglas DC-3 aircraft takes off at Cork Airport as a Beechcraft Model 18 waits beside the runway on Thursday. Picture: Larry Cummins 'They visited Cobh, Midleton, and Youghal, and then they asked if I'd like to join them on this day trip to Waterford, on their DC-3, and it was just fantastic. 'They flew in formation over Ballycotton Bay, over the island, and along the coast in front of the Garryvoe Hotel. 'The weather was amazing. It was a perfect day to showcase the beauty of the region. 'And to do it in a DC-3, with the original engines, it was just incredible and unique. 'You could feel the flying. It felt like such a strong aircraft, but so smooth and stylish. It really was the perfect day.' Mr Mathys is a major shareholder and president of Mathys AG Bettlach, a Swiss med-tech company founded in 1946 and led by the Mathys/Marzo family which has a net worth in the region of 1.5bn to 2bn Swiss francs. He owns and runs Classic Formation, a Swiss formation display team which flies the 1943-built Douglas DC-3 and three Beechcraft B-18s at airshows across Europe. A Beechcraft Model 18 owned by Hugo Mathys takes off at Cork Airport on Thursday. Picture: Larry Cummins An experienced pilot, he finances the operation of the vintage aircraft, which fly about 30 to 50 hours annually. He was at the controls of the DC-3 when it and the three Beechcraft landed at Cork Airport last weekend. With their prop engines roaring and airframes glinting in the summer sun, it felt like the golden age of civil aviation had returned. Aviation buffs flocked in their droves to the airfield perimeter to catch a glimpse of the aircraft that looked as if they had flown straight out of a 1940s newsreel. With its metallic/vintage Swissair colour scheme, the DC-3 attracted huge attention. The DC-3 is one of the most significant aircraft in aviation history. First flown in 1935, it became known as the first aircraft to make money 'by just hauling passengers'. It went on to revolutionise air travel in the 1940s. Rugged and reliable, its military version played a key role in the Second World War, transporting cargo and troops, and dropping thousands of paratroopers over France to support the D-Day invasion. The nose and cockpit of the 1943-built Douglas DC-3 aircraft, part of the Classic Formation team, owned by Hugo Mathys, at Cork Airport on Thursday. Picture: Larry Cummins More than 13,000, both civil and military versions, US and foreign-built, were produced. It's estimated that less than 170 are still flying. Swissair ordered five DC-3s before the Second World War and used one on its non-stop Zurich to London route, one of the longest routes at the time. It also adopted a special colour scheme, symbolising neutrality. Air traffic control tower staff watch the take-off of the Douglas DC-3 aircraft on Thursday. Picture: Larry Cummins Post-war, the market was flooded with cheap DC-3s, and they were snapped up by airlines around the world, becoming for many the most important airplane in their post-war fleets. When Cork Airport opened in 1961, they were a familiar sight on the apron as Aer Lingus and Cambrian Airways both used the 32-passenger capacity aircraft to operate services from Cork to London, Bristol, and Cardiff in the early years. But both airlines eventually phased the aircraft out, with Aer Lingus last using it in 1964. Visual checks on the Pratt & Whitney engines ahead of departure of the 1943-built Douglas DC-3 aircraft at Cork Airport on Thursday. Picture: Larry Cummins Mr Mathys's DC-3 was built in Long Beach, California in 1943, and delivered to the US Air Force that same year, operating as a wartime military transporter. It had a long and varied history until 2010, when it was re-sprayed in Swissair colours, and became the flagship of his Classic Formation historic flying team. The fleet is due to depart Cork Airport at around 9am on Sunday for a refuelling stop in France, before returning home to Switzerland.
The Print
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Print
Rupani's death reopens old chapter—wartime shootdown of another Gujarat CM & Pakistani pilot's apology
The crash has reopened an old chapter in India's military and political history; the 1965 wartime shootdown of Gujarat's second chief minister, Balwantrai Mehta, a Congress stalwart and widely regarded as the 'architect of Panchayati Raj', who remains the first and only Indian politician to be killed in wartime action in the subcontinent. Former CM Rupani died Thursday when the London-bound Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, slamming into a hostel housing students of B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital. Of the 242 people on board, only one survived. New Delhi: BJP leader Vijay Rupani is the second Gujarat chief minister, serving or former, to die in an air crash, reviving memories of Balwantrai Mehta, who was killed in 1965 when his civilian VIP aircraft was shot down by a Pakistani fighter jet during the India-Pakistan war. On 19 September, 1965, at the height of the India-Pakistan War, a civilian aircraft, an eight-seater Beechcraft Model 18 belonging to the Gujarat government, was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force, killing all eight people onboard, including Gujarat's second chief minister, Balwantrai Mehta. It was reported that accompanying him were his wife Sarojben Mehta, three senior aides, a journalist from Gujarat Samachar and two pilots—former IAF Sqn Ldr Jehangir 'Jangoo' Engineer and co-pilot D'Costa. The incident unfolded during a particularly volatile phase of the 1965 war. Following Pakistani infiltrations into Kashmir in August and a subsequent Indian counter-offensive, full-scale fighting had broken out on land, sea and in the air. By September, both air forces were on high alert. Mehta's visit was reportedly aimed at reassuring residents after a recent Pakistani naval strike on the coastal town of Dwarka. However, the flight's path brought it perilously close to the India-Pakistan border. The Beechcraft Model 18, an American-made twin-engine aircraft used widely for short-range executive travel, was part of the Gujarat government's fleet. The destination was Mithapur, a small airport on the Gulf of Kutch, about 400 km from Ahmedabad. It was initially reported that the IAF had denied clearance for the flight due to the ongoing conflict but later relented under pressure from the state government. That morning in Ahmedabad, Mehta had addressed a National Cadet Corps (NCC) rally before returning home for lunch. Around 1.30 pm, he and his party drove to the civil airport. The plane took off at around 1.50 pm, with an estimated arrival time of 3.30 pm in Mithapur. Around the same time, Pakistani radar stations near Badin in Sindh picked up a slow-moving, unidentified aircraft near the Rann of Kutch. The PAF scrambled two F-86 Sabre jets from Mauripur near Karachi to intercept the aircraft. One of the jets aborted takeoff, leaving a rookie pilot, Flying Officer Qais Hussain, to pursue the target alone. Furthemore, owing to communication issues, Hussain had to rely on relayed instructions from another pilot, Flight Lieutenant Kazmi, who remained at a higher altitude. Upon visual contact, Hussain reported spotting a twin-engine, twin-tail aircraft with four windows on each side, similar in appearance to the Indian Air Force's C-119 'Packet' military transport aircraft. Although the Beechcraft crew reportedly waggled their wings, an aerial gesture meant to indicate a civilian aircraft, Hussain was ordered to engage. He circled the aircraft before firing two bursts from his .50 calibre guns. The first hit the left wing; the second, the right engine. The Beechcraft caught fire and crashed into the desert near Suthali village, roughly 100 km from Bhuj. All eight aboard were killed. The incident sent shockwaves across Gujarat and the country. Soon, the All India Radio confirmed the tragedy later that evening, followed by India condemning the attack as 'cowardly,' stating the plane was unarmed and civilian. Meanwhile, the PAF justified the action by citing the plane's proximity to a still-undefined wartime border and suspicions of a reconnaissance mission. What PAF pilot wrote 46 yrs later & pilot's daughter's response Unexpectedly, in the first week of August 2011, nearly five decades after the crash, the former Pakistani Air Force pilot Hussain reached out to Farida Singh, daughter of Sqn Ldr Jehangir Engineer (Retd), in an email titled 'Condolence'. Sqn Ldr Jehangir (Retd), who flew the Beechcraft, was one of four brothers who served in the IAF. His brother, Air Chief Marshal Aspy Engineer, had served as Chief of Air Staff in 1960; another, Air Marshal Minoo Engineer, led the Western Air Command during the 1971 war; and a third, Group Captain Ronnie Engineer, also held senior IAF positions. Post retiring from both the IAF and Indian Airlines, Jangoo went on to become Chief Pilot for the Maharashtra government and had later joined the Gujarat government on deputation. In his message to Farida, which was widely circulated across media outlets, the retired PAF pilot had shared his version of the incident and expressed his condolences. 'The incident happened 46 years back but it is as fresh in my mind as if it had happened yesterday,' he wrote. He recounted how the aircraft had appeared to stray off course over the Rann of Kutch, prompting concerns among radar operators. He had been scrambled alone on a two-minute alert. 'I caught sight of him at 3,000 feet and made a pass so close that I could read his markings and the number of the aircraft,' Hussain recalled. 'Your father spotted my presence immediately and he started climbing and waggling his wings seeking mercy.' He said that he had reported these signs back to radar control. 'Instead of firing at him at first sight, I relayed to my controller that I had intercepted an eight-seater transport aircraft (guessing by the four-side windows) and wanted further instructions to deal with it. At the same time, I was hoping that I would be called back without firing a shot. There was a lapse of 3 to 4 long minutes before I was given clear orders to shoot the aircraft. 'After the shooting, I had a sense of achievement and satisfaction that I had completed my mission and destroyed any recce data that might have been collected to open a new war front. I landed back at Mauripur, Karachi, with my fuel tanks bone dry and was greeted by my seniors and other squadron colleagues. Later that evening, All India Radio announced the names of the occupants who had lost their lives in that aircraft.' Hussain said he was a soldier following orders. 'I did not play foul and went by the rules of business,' he wrote. 'But the unfortunate loss of precious lives, no matter how it happens, hurts each human and I am no exception.' Farida Singh replied later that same week, describing the 1965 shootdown a defining moment in her family's life, though she held no personal animosity. 'We never, not for one moment, bore bitterness or hatred for the person who actually pulled the trigger and caused my father's death,' she wrote. 'The fact that this all happened in the confusion of a tragic war was never lost on us. We are all pawns in this terrible game of War and Peace.' She remembered her father as 'an ace pilot if ever there was one… strong in body and spirit,' and added, 'this incident is indeed a prime example of what damage strife and mindless battles can drive even good men to do… I am glad that it is now public as it can do nothing but heal wounds… My father would have liked that it goes towards bringing a spark of forgiveness between our two peoples, who after all were one.' Subsequently, as the country comes to terms with the Air India crash that left 241 dead including Vijay Rupani, the 1965 loss of Balwantrai Mehta remains a rare instance of a political figure killed in wartime air action. Though nearly six decades apart, both incidents stand out as uncommon cases of serving or former chief ministers lost in aviation disasters. What followed Mehta's death years later, was an exchange that stood out, offering, if briefly, a glimpse of shared vulnerability between nations divided by endless conflict. (Edited by Viny Mishra) Also read: Vijay Rupani killed in Air India crash, 2nd Gujarat CM lost to an aviation tragedy
