Some people will go to any lengths to make sure they get a decent Indian takeaway...

Staff at Winchester's Balaka Indian restaurant thought they were dealing with just another large order when the request came in for 20 of their finest curries.

It was only when they were asked to deliver the spicy fare to Southampton International Airport at 10.30am on Monday that they realised it wasn't the usual type of order.

The restaurant, in Stoney Lane, Weeke, which offers a delivery service by car to anywhere within a five-mile radius of the city, dropped the food at the terminal where it was, quite literally, taken away, by a private aircraft. The destination: an airfield in Gloucestershire, the home of Delta Jets, a company which restores military aircraft.

The eight chicken Tikka Masalas, four chicken Naranjis and four Turias, 20 poppadoms, six Bombay Aloos and ten cartons of pilau rice were flown by pilot and jet owner, Shaun Patrick, to the party of 20 hungry engineers at Kemble airfield, just outside Cirencester.

The party was being thrown to celebrate the restoration to flying condition of a former fighter jet, a Hawker Hunter, which the team had been reconstructing for the last decade.

Owner of Balaka's, Shafi Hussain (30), said the order was initially a surprise: "We thought someone was just playing a prank, then we realised they were serious." But Mr Hussain, who also runs restaurants in Windsor and Woking, explained that it wasn't the first time his curries had taken to the air.

He said Mr Patrick had heard of the restaurant's reputation and seen a feature on television about a wedding reception on a plane from Bournemouth Airport a few weeks ago and had sought out the Winchester-based caterers. In 1996, they also supplied curries, which were flown to Canada, for a party given by the Zimbabwean golfer, Nick Price, the Open Champion of 1994.

Five of the restaurant staff had worked late into Sunday and were up before six on Monday to make sure the curries were ready.

After being run to the airport by car, the £150 order, secure in three insulated bags, was carried through to gate 12 for the necessary security checks to ensure the curries weren't really explosive.

Despite the plane being delayed for three hours because of cloud cover, the hot food was eventually delivered into the two-seater, former RAF Jet Provost trainer, where it was stashed in the nosecone. "The usual smell is kerosene, not curry," said Mr Patrick.

The bags only kept the food warm for two hours, but luckily, the base was able to reheat the lunchtime treat the other end after the short flight and enjoyed the meal at tea-time.

" If you've heard of a good restaurant and you get there in 20 minutes, you've got to do it," said 48-year-old Patrick, who's been flying since he was 16.

Sue Batchelor, of Southampton Airport, said: "We have lots of different private aircraft, but this is the first time we've had something like this. It's rather different for a Monday. They were very well-travelled curries."