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Missing! - The Jamsaheb's fabulous sword

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Category: Miscellenous
Last Updated: Saturday, 02 January 2021 20:58
Written by Air Marshal Subhash Bhojwani
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The Nawanagar Sword of Honour was a gem-encrusted invaluable sword that was awarded to the newly commissioned Pilot Officers who stood first in their course at the Air Force Academy. The sword was replaced by the Chief of Air Staff Sword of Honour in the 1990s and it disappeared in the sands of time... till one diligent commandant of the Air Force Academy decided to track it down..

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The Sky is the Limit - Wg Cdr Murkot Ramunny

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Category: Veterans Project - Interviews, Profiles and Memoirs
Last Updated: Monday, 22 August 2016 00:23
Written by K S Nair
Hits: 11401

Murkot Ramunny, had served in the Indian Air Force, flying Hurricanes in Burma during the War. He left the IAF shortly after Independence, to serve the Government in civil capacities. He does not bother to include his old IAF rank on his letterhead, which reads simply, “Murkot Ramunny, IAS (Retd)”. This is understandable, for his military rank is far eclipsed, in protocol terms, by the civil service ranks he rose to later; and to most people, his status as a former senior civil servant is what counts. But to IAF history enthusiasts like us, he will always be Wing Commander Murkot Ramunny.  The article is now updated to reflect a Youtube video - a rare and most certainly the last time he was interviewed on video about his WW2 experiences

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Pilot Officer Hukum Chand Mehta

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Category: Veterans Project - Interviews, Profiles and Memoirs
Last Updated: Wednesday, 24 February 2016 04:09
Written by Webmaster
Hits: 11641

Pilot Officer Hukum Chand Mehta was one of the twenty four Indians sent to the United Kindom in1940. The Indians arrived on October 8, 1940, at the height of Battle of Britain, but by the time their training was completed, it would be April 1941.   HC Mehta would be one of the six pilots who went to Fighter command. He joined 43 Squadron.

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Inside Occupied Kashmir

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Category: The 1947-48 Jammu & Kashmir Operations
Last Updated: Wednesday, 23 August 2017 04:10
Written by P N Sharma
Hits: 13660

P.N. Sharma was a reporter for the well known weekly magazine the BLITZ being published from Bombay. He was one of the first war correspondents on scene in Kashmir during the 1947 airlift of troops to Kashmir. His 1957 book, Inside Occupied Kashmir is not well known, but is a rare insight of some of the first combined operations of the war. Sharma's adventure started with his being on a public relations joyride in one of the IAF's Harvards. This account tells what happened on that fateful day.

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The day the PAF got away

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Category: The India-Pakistan War 1965
Last Updated: Sunday, 06 September 2015 04:18
Written by Air Marshal S Raghavendran
Hits: 16820

In war, much often hangs on a knife-edge. As this piece by Air Marshal Raghavendran shows, this was especially true of the famous PAF raid on Pathankot. It may have been down to the cautiousness of one man in a key position, that this single most successful raid ever mounted by the PAF against India did not run into a CAP flown by the top guns of the lead Gnat squadron of the time .  

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Roundels (Independence and Chakra)

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Category: Roundels
Last Updated: Thursday, 15 June 2017 03:16
Written by Webmaster
Hits: 24041

"Chakra" markings briefly adorned Indian Air Force aircraft in 1948 and after. The notifications and the history of these markings are described here.

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Boulton-Paul Defiant TT.I & TT.III

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Category: Retired Aircraft Histories
Last Updated: Monday, 18 September 2017 19:10
Written by Jagan Pillarisetti
Hits: 20032

The previous version of our Defiant article noted that "Perhaps some day more information or photos will come to light that goes on to prove beyond all doubt that the Defiant was truely one of the aircraft that was on the IAF's inventory.".That day is here - The Defiant was truely one of the aircraft in the IAF's inventory. Details of the units and information on some of the pilots who flew the aircraft during the war are updated here. Now updated with a third photo of the Defiant in IAF service!

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Patches Gallery Updated

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Category: Uncategorised
Last Updated: Tuesday, 08 August 2017 01:46
Written by Webmaster
Hits: 27182

 Patches Gallery updated with several Squadron Crest Patches, as well as other types. Contributions from Collections of Wg Cdr A K Gupta, Sqn Ldr A Mukherjea and late Air Marshal W R Dani.

An Ode to Fallen Air Warriors

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Category: Roll of Honour
Last Updated: Sunday, 06 November 2016 22:19
Written by Air Marshal Sumit Mukerji
Hits: 6683

This is AN ODE TO FALLEN AIR WARRIORS written by Air Marshal Sumit Mukerji that will be featured in a forthcoming book to commemorate Indian Air Force personnel who died in aviation incidents. The book title is “In Memoriam: The Fallen Air Warrior” which will be released by the MIAF in the second week of December 2016 at the USI

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