Suren Ratwatte

Published in Propliners

·Pinned

Tante Ju

The Junkers were the Prussian German-speaking aristocracy who controlled vast estates in what is now Eastern Europe. The story of that unhappy chapter of European history and how it got that way, is best to left to other writers on Medium. In this case, we are talking about a long…

Aviation Hi

9 min read

Published in Tales from the Long War

·Apr 3

№5 Squadron reborn — Part 2

Selected to be the first Commanding Officer of №5 Jet Squadron and ordered to get his unit active as soon as possible, Squadron Leader Harsha Abeywickrama faced an uphill task. …

6 min read

Published in Tales from the Long War

·Apr 3

SLAF Jet Squadron reborn

№5 Squadron comes to life again — The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) was mortified when a foreign power blatantly breached the country’s airspace in 1987 (see Operation Poomalai). …

5 min read

Published in Tales from the Long War

·Mar 11

Operation Poomalai

By June 1987 the separatist struggle in Sri Lanka was taking on the characteristics of a greater conflict. Armed groups of youth in the north were fighting large-scale engagements with the country’s military. …

Sri Lanka

5 min read

Mar 11

Fishbed to Fishcan to Airguard

The evolution of the iconic MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, a small delta-winged supersonic interceptor first flown in 1955, is possibly the most recognizable military aircraft of its era. It is also the most numerous, with over 10,000 manufactured in the Soviet Union, 800+ in India, almost 200 in Czechoslovakia and another 2,000 in China. …

Mig

6 min read

Published in Tales from the Long War

·Feb 3

MiGs over Ceylon

In response to an urgent request for assistance from the Ceylon government in 1971, the USSR gifted five MiG-17F fighters and a single MiG-15UTI two-seat advanced trainer to the Royal Ceylon Air Force. …

7 min read

Published in Tales from the Long War

·Feb 3

Fast Jets and №5 Squadron (Part 1)

Founded in 1951, the Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF; which became the Sri Lanka Air Force 21 years later) had grand ambitions. Among these was the introduction of de Havilland Vampire jet aircraft, which were ordered in 1954 and Ceylonese pilots sent to the UK for training. However, political (and…

4 min read

Published in Tales from the Long War

·Jan 27

SLAF Choppers at War — Part 3

A token military In March 1983 the British magazine AIR International ran a story titled ‘Sri Lanka Air Force … A Most Pacific Air Arm’. …

8 min read

Published in Tales from the Long War

·Jan 21

SLAF Choppers at War -Part 2

SLAF Choppers at War -Part 2 Mi-17s in the tropics The conflict in the north of Sri Lanka unfolded in a sporadic manner. Over many years the rebel groups launched attacks on government installations and military camps, without it becoming a continuous war. …

7 min read

Published in Tales from the Long War

·Jan 15

SLAF Helicopters at war

The Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) was formed in 1951 with a small fleet of de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunks. The first rotary-wing type inducted was the Westland WS-51 Dragonfly, a license-built British version of the Sikorsky S-51. For the first 20 years of its existence, the RCyAF was mostly…

7 min read