Sanjay Simha looks on, vigilant, as you peer through rows of his treasured collection of over 280 aircraft models at his private home museum in Bengaluru. It occupies a prime and venerated section of his home where senior Indian Air Force officers, aviation historians, fellow collectors, pilots, and other “like-minded people” have visited, on invitation.
There’s the ME109 that Hitler used in World War II, Junkers Stuka Dive Bombers (each with a different kind of camouflage) used on the Austrian border, the Boeing B52 – the heaviest bomber in the world that only the United States of America has, and which is used for their carpet bombing operations. There’s the prized Su30K model from the Indian Air Force, which sits ensconced in a glass case. “It has an engine, the complete instrument panel, piping…it’s even got cannon rounds!” says the passionate Simha. “I have a friend, a commercial pilot, who also makes such models and he made this for me; he took almost one year to complete it with accurate details. And it took another three months to paint it in its specific shades…probably longer than they would have taken to paint the real thing,” he breaks into a grin.
Simha started off obsessing with aircrafts while still in his school days, right from having aircraft-shaped birthday cakes to sitting on the HAL compound wall to take photographs. It helped that his father was a photojournalist, so access to the best of cameras was not difficult. “I wanted to be a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force, but that didn’t happen. So I started pursuing my interest in aviation photography.” When he was younger, he collected anything he could lay his hands on, on the theme — photos, books, post cards, key chains, and then gradually, aircraft models. Today he has nearly 300 models, though he says he hasn’t counted them in a really long time. An entrepreneur, he collected authentic models on his business travels. “There are also assembly kits that are imported and friends assemble and paint them for me. There is quite a sizeable Facebook community of scale modellers!” The uniqueness of some of the models he has is that they are specific to scale. A teeny C130 Hercules, which is smaller than your palm, has got its specific propellers, wheels, authentic colours, and real tail numbers (distinctive registered numbering on each aircraft). He also has collected over 180 squadron patches that sit neatly framed on the walls. But one of his most prized possessions is the helmet worn by test pilot Wg. Cdr. Rajiv Kothiyal in 2001 for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)’s first test flight.
When he was about 25 and started earning, he bought his own camera and started teaching himself. In 1996, he took photos at Bengaluru’s Aero India every day, went back, got the film processed, printed the photographs and took them back to the flying squads to get their autographs. A series he had taken of the IAF’s aerobatic Surya Kiran team caught the attention of the ground crew.”
“He was taken to meet the team’s coordinator Sqdn. Ldr. Amit Gore who took him to the commanding officer, who loved his pictures. “That’s when serious photography began,” says Simha.
Thereafter, whenever the Surya Kirans performed, Simha’s pictures would be called for, to be presented to chief guests witnessing their special shows. As his photos started circulating among members of the IAF, the then Air Chief Marshal S. Krishnaswamy saw them, and asked to meet Simha on a visit to Bangalore. “That was a big opening for me. The Su30 had been bought by India and he had come to Bangalore a few weeks before the Su30MKI was inducted. He asked me over a breakfast meting which of the IAF’s air bases I wanted to visit! I said Amabala because I’ve always loved Jaguars, and because I’d seen them since childhood as HAL manufactured them. Two days before the induction, I was given special permission to and access to shoot at the air base in Pune.” Since that beginning, he’s photographed at more than 25 air bases around India.
Seeking permissions, getting approvals, submitting photographs for clearance are all part of the routine now. “I’ve also covered the Indian Army’s aviation wing, as well as the Indian Navy’s. I’ve sailed in their carriers, flown in their helicopters, and in December 2014, I’ve covered the hovercraft of the Indian Coast Guard.” He’s photographed the winged birds of the air forces of Switzerland and Ecuador and a part of the U.S. Navy’s craft. “I’m perhaps the first Indian civilian to set foot on a Russian military airbase for photography.” He’s now started moving to clicking warships and battle-tanks too.
