Flights of fancy

He has 405 models of aircraft in original die-cast metal. Some 100 plastic models of Air Force planes painstakingly assembled from kits and painted in its original colours, countless photos of planes taking off and landing and about 150 video tapes of airports and air shows.
Meet Jimmy Wadia (58), a retired banker, for whom his passion for understanding aviation and aircraft – as an art – overrides every other need in life. Sitting in his expansive but unassuming second floor flat in Grant Road, the “publicity-shy” bachelor reminisces: “I remember when it all started. It was in the early 1960s, when I was shopping around Colaba Causeway and picked up an aircraft book from a street vendor. Ever since, I have been bitten by the collectors’ bug – I can’t stop buying books, magazines, videotapes on the subject.”
Wadia served diligently at the Union Bank of India, till 2001, when he decided opt for voluntary retirement to pursue his hobby. “I had so much more to learn,” he says, “I wanted to follow my love for aviation more seriously. That’s when I decided to retire.” He adds that his colleagues and superiors were always cooperative about his interest.
Wadia’s latest priced possession is the close-up photos of the super jumbo Airbus A-380 that landed in Mumbai recently, which a friend living near the airport clicked from the terrace of his flat.
Today, Wadia wants to form an association of aircraft lovers – so that his loved possessions have a future after him.
11/06/07 Nitya Kaushik/Mumbai Newsline

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Categories: General Aviation Jun 2007