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The American-designed Harlow PC-5A tandem seating trainer was the first aircrafttype to be assembled by HAL (then Hindustan Aircraft) at Bangalore. The first such aircraftflew on 29 July 1941 and was to be followed by another 29 numbers, curiously meant for the Nationalist Chinese Government which had also ordered 48 Curtiss 75A-5P Hawk fighters and 74 Vultee V-12D attack bombers.
The background for this fascinating story needs an entire book to record but sets the pattern concerning training aircraftwhich HAL has followed over the past 75 years.
Post World War II and the Independence of India, the Percival P.40 Prentice T.3 basic trainer was to be the first aircraftlicencebuilt by HAL, offering HAL a stepping stone to hone its manufacturing skills. India's first home-designed aircraftwas the Hindustan Trainer No.2 (HT-2) which first flew on 5 August 1951, was followed by series production and this unpretentious type became the first flying mount of fledgling Indian pilots till it was supplanted by the HPT-32 basic piston-engined trainer from the mid-1980s.
The series production line was established at HAL Kanpur Division which was engaged in manufacture of the Dornier 228 light transport aircraftfrom which new production techniques and technologies were imbibed, including re-designed wing with...