When America outsourced Warplane Manufacturing to India

[thestringshredder]

When America outsourced Warplane Manufacturing to India

The time when America got its warplanes built and serviced in India.

The following article appeared in a 1943 edition of the Life magazine. It speaks of the American fighter aircrafts being built & serviced in India, which was then a British colony, in support of the Allied Power's war efforts during World War II, at the Hindustan Aircraft Limited [today, Hindustan Aeronautical Limited] factory in the city of Bangalore, in the erstwhile princely state of Mysore.

A newsreel bulletin reporting about the activities carried out at the H.A.L factory prior to independence.

Link - When America outsourced Warplane Manufacturing to India - AA Me, IN

 

[Capt.Popeye]

The report above in LIFE magazine is somewhat incomplete. The Person who started and who was the biggest single investor and share-holder in Hindustan Aircraft Ltd. was Walchand Hirachand (Doshi). He was a visionary Industrialist of the time with a particular interest in Engineering. His first venture was Hindustan Construction Co. Ltd. which constructed the first Railway Line through the Sahyadri Mountains Bor Ghat between Bombay and Poona for the then Great Indian Peninsular Railway Co. (todays Central Railway) when the British Constructors then said that it was so difficult that it would take twice the time and money that he proposed since it involved 20 tunnels.
The HCC of today has constructed the Bandra Sealink. Anyway he made so much money on the railway project that he decided to invest in other engineering companies. Next came Hindustan Shipyard Ltd. at Vizag which was India's first Indian owned shipyard. The Mazagon Dock and Garden Reach Shipyard in Calcutta were British owned. Later all of them were taken over by the Indian Govt. after Independence.

He also stepped into the Automobile Industry; setting up Premier Automobiles Ltd. in Bombay to manufacture Chrysler, Dodge, DeSoto and Plymouth Cars and Dodge and Fargo Trucks. Later they manufactured Fiat cars in India.

His other heavy engineering and fabrication company Walchand Engineering Ltd. was the first Pvt. Sector Co. in India to fabricate Heavy Parts for Atomic Reactors in India during the early 1960s. Later they made Boilers and Gear-Boxes for the IN's first Indian made Warships: the Leander Class Firigates, the "Giri Class"

So the the Hindustan Group of companies has a decidedly Indian Origin and Connection. William Pawley was brought in to set up and run Hindustan Aircraft..........today's HAL.