It seems miraculous that Udvada town has provided safe landing sites for small planes in trouble, not once but twice.
The first incident took place in the 1930s. I am told the pilot, who was facing serious problems, had no other option than to land on the seabed at ebb tide. After his miraculous escape the pilot was given a very warm welcome by the residents. The small plane had to be pulled to the shore before the high tide set in to prevent further damage to the aircraft by the sea water. The villagers succeeded in tying ropes to the plane and hauling it to a safe place where it was later dismantled and packed into crates and cases to be transported to Bombay.
Another incident took place in May 1953 which I had witnessed. The pilot of the trainer Tiger Moth realized too late that the plane was short of fuel when he was already over Udvada. He spotted a suitable landing area — the cricket field of the gymkhana. The problem was that children of the entire town had gathered there to see the underbelly of the plane at close quarters. The pilot had to look for another site. This was the open but less spacious ground opposite the Globe Hotel Annexe.
The pilot circled over the gymkhana to ensure that the curious children remained there and then suddenly descended over the neighboring open ground. But due to insufficient length of the "air strip,” and using emergency measures to prevent the plane from crashing into the Globe Hotel Annexe building, he brought down the Tiger Moth like a stone. A propeller hit the ground hard, got stuck in it and the plane tilted with its tail pointing to the sky. The pilot was in a state of mental shock, but physically fit. The holy land of Udvada had saved one more aviator’s life.
Dr VISPY MEHER-HOMJI
vispymeherhomji@gmail.com