The IAF Award's Database Section has been updated. More than 4800 Award entries, and 3400 Citations to be found in the DB
Which "aircraft" was 35 ft long, inducted in 1964, could fly at three times the speed of sound, had no wings and was inducted in huge numbers? It was the IAF's first Sufrace to Air Guided Weapon - the S-75 Dvina missile system [NATO : SA-2 Guideline]. The history of the Dvina in IAF service was (and still is) obscured and obfuscated for years. For the first time, an attempt is made to trace its origins and its service till 1992.
In the olden days - there was no internet through which you can email a Powerpoint presentation - but there were some magnificient Canberra bombers to act as a courier to deliver that most important presentation....as one pilot found out...
Many years ago (circa 2002) we published the story of Flight Cadet Balan Menon and the escapade that caused his exist from the Air Force. Balan Menon passed away on 24th April 2018 at 1630 hrs, due to respiratory complications, at the old age home in Thumba (Trivandrum).
"A man with a brilliant mind, determination and undying passion for aviation, a maverick who lived by his own rules of right or wrong, never afraid to explore frontiers of science and technology far ahead of his peergroup, a man who could have achieved fame and fortune but didn't care; he has left us quietly." ~ Wg Cdr U G Kartha
Now Updated with the contents of an old letter - that Balan's late mother has written fifteen years ago when she read this article.
A Spitfire veteran reminisces - Air Marshal S Raghavendran , who retired as VCAS of the Indian Air Force remembers his favourite aircraft - The Supermarine Spitfire. He was motivated to join the IAF to fly this legendary fighter - and shares his memories of those early years. (Duration : 7 minutes)
Moved by the plight of a group of stranded soldiers on the Amar Post, the CO of a HU decides in haste to undertake a sortie in bad visibility.. and mid way into the sortie, starts regretting it. Its the ubiquitous presence of 'The Track' that helps overcome the dis-orientation and danger.
Air Chief Marshal Idris Hasan Latif (IND/1804 GD(P)), former Chief of Air Staff and WW2 Veteran has passed away in Hyderabad on 30th April 2018. His death marks just about six months since he lost his wife, Mrs Bilkees Latif. ACM Latif has been unwell the past year . And his passing away less than an year of losing the Marshal of the Air Force is a double blow to the IAF fraternity.
Wg Cdr P K Raveendran was a young under-trainee flight engineer on a VIP flight to Jorhat in November 1977 when tragedy struck. The miraculous survival story of the Prime Minister of India, Shri Morarji Desai was tempered by the tragic loss of the Flight Crew. The author recollects the events surrounding the flight, the crash and subsequent rescue effort - and as a post script - his journey to the crash site forty years later!.
Updated 03 February 2018: We regret to inform that Wg Cdr A Philipos passed away in Bengaluru on 31st January 2018. He was 101 years old. Original: Wg Cdr A Phillipos 3033 GD(P) was commissioned as an Accounts Branch Officer in 1944. He recently turned 100 years old and was felicitated by the Air Force Records Office in Bangalore. In this short article, he writes about his introduction to service life under the British.
The first landing at Nyoma was ostensibly carried out by an An-32 in 2009, but lost among the records are the details of a flight carried out 47 years later - Now a photograph has surfaced proving the first landing in 1962.