GRAND RECEPTION: Air Vice-Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja, Commandant of Air Force Academy, with other senior officers with the MiG-25 (in the background ) at the Dindigal Air Force Academy on Sunday.

HYDERABAD: A MiG-25 Foxbat, the legendary steel bird of Russian origin that took pilots to the edge of space, "where the sky is black above and blue below," and gave sleepless nights to nations who did not have it, has been rested at the Air Force Academy, Dundigal.

Awesome power

The Foxbat, which was retired from the Indian Air Force on May 1, is one from those that were positioned at the IAF Museum at Palam and the Air Force stations and academies at Jodhpur, Bareilly and Kaliakunda.

The reconnaissance aircraft, the highflying capabilities and speed of which had baffled even the United States, was inducted into the IAF in 1981, after which only 42 pilots have had the opportunity to fly it. Still the owner of attaining a world record height of 37.65 km into the sky and with a speed three times that of sound, the abilities of the MiG-25 were said to be so superior that no other aircraft or missile could chase it, a fact that Pakistan and America have admitted several times.

The MiG-25 at Dundigal was flown in by Wg. Cdr. A. Chauhan and Wg. Cdr. SK Taliyan, and was given a ceremonial reception by the Academy Commandant Air Vice-Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja before being decommissioned.

Pride of the academy

"The aircraft will occupy a prominent place on the premises of the Academy and will always remind us of its grand history and the important strategic role it had while on the inventory of the IAF," a release from the academy said.

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