Hitler's warbird will stay in state

GULBARGA: The war over taking possession of Messerchmitt fighter No. 109, the World War II vintage reportedly used by Adolf Hitler in his Operation Sealion, began more than 10 months ago when Air Vice-Marshal P.G. Mestre came visiting Gulbarga to inspect the aircraft.
After a thorough inspection, Mestre reportedly requested the principal of HKE Society''s PDA Engineering College, in whose possession the aircraft had been since 1958 for engineering study purposes, to hand it over as it was used by Hitler''s army.The college principal refused to part with the aircraft, stating "it is the property of the Karnataka government".
Having said that, the college management as recently as in March this year decided to hand over the aircraft to a certain Girish Naidu of Bangalore in exchange for a plane "which was not airworthy", an old car, an old motorcycle and an old bicycle. The tradeoff was effected in a few weeks.
On learning about these developments, Air Vice-Marshal Mestre wrote to the Karnataka government not to let the aircraft go outside its borders. Accordingly, the chief secretary to the Karnataka government issued a circular to police officers of all the districts in this regard.
Sensing the importance of the issue, the Gulbarga police started a probe. Gulbarga SP Alok Kumar contacted the principal of PDA Engineering College and collected the address and phone numbers of Girish Naidu. Later, Alok Kumar contacted Naidu.
The SP told The Times of India that Naidu had kept the war aircraft at Horseless Carriages, Madhavapura, Bangalore, and had been directed not to shift the aircraft to any other place.
The police officer said he had asked the Gulbarga Municipal Corporation to ferret out documents regarding the aircraft as it was kept in the garden of Gulbarga municipality from 1941 to 1958. Alok Kumar said he would send a police team to Hyderabad, if need arose, to contact the Nizam family to ascertain facts regarding the aircraft. The questions are: "Who gifted it to the Nizam, for what purpose and whether the Nizam had given it to anybody?"