Vareed Thekkethala (1927-2013)
Founder of Aero-Engine Design & Development in India
TV Vareed was the Founder and Chief Design Engineer of the Engine Design Bureau at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). In the early 1960s, he led the design and development of India’s first turbo jet engine (Hindustan Jet Engine – HJE-2500), which was successfully tested in 1965. He also led the design and development of the GTSU-110 and India's first Pilotless Target Aircraft Engine (PTAE-7) and was honored as the "father of aero-engine design in India."
Vareed grew up on a farm in the village of Cheloor in Kerala, India. He pursued his passion for math and science to obtain a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the erstwhile Banaras Hindu University (IIT Varanasi) in 1952. He received a Commonwealth grant to complete his post-graduate studies in Aeronautical Engineering from Cranfield University, England. He started his career as a Design Engineer at Rolls Royce Engines, England, before returning to India to establish the nation's first engine design group at HAL in 1959.
Mahatma Gandhi’s words "A vow is a fixed and unalterable determination to do something noble, which uplifts the man who makes the resolve" were his source of inspiration.
This unalterable determination led him from a small village in Kerala, with no electricity or running water, to walk three kilometers to school every day, travel more than three days by train each term to Banaras to study engineering and over three weeks by ship to England for his post-graduate studies. After returning to India, he dedicated the next thirty years of his life to the development of India’s nascent aerospace industry. It was a journey that mirrored India’s rise from humble beginnings and big dreams to major accomplishments.
He had a lifelong passion for education, analysis and debate and mentored thousands of young men and women engineers in India through-out his career. He believed that an education in science and engineering prepared children to think deeply.