Wg. Cdr. Vidya Bhushan Vasisht, 4584 F(P), MVC.
1971 Indo Pakistan War.
No. 44 Squadron.

Wing Commander Vasisht, was the Commanding Officer of a Heavy Transport Squadron, No.44, flying the Antonov-12 aircraft. Under his direction and guidance, the transport Squadron uniquely changed its role to that of an offensive Bomber squadron. The An-12s were converted to carry bombs and the aircraft were used in a role that it was never built for.

Wg. Cdr. Vasisht led a group of aircraft of his squadron to attack an important enemy fuel and ammunition dump at Changa Manga forest on the night of 3rd December 1971. Inspite of very heavy enemy ground fire, he pressed home the attacks, and caused severe damage to the target. Again, on the next night, he led another raid to the same target and succeeded in causing further heavy damage in the face of intense enemy ground fire. On the night of 5th December, 1971, he led a formation of his bombers, to attack enemy positions in the Haji Pir Pass in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. The difficulties and dangers of this operation were due, as much to the great volume of ground fire in the target area, as to the hazards of flying his large aircraft and leading his formation at low level through mountainous terrain. In spite of these hazards, Wing Commander Vasisht pressed home the attack and achieved marked success in hitting the enemy's positions. In one of these missions his aircraft was intercepted by an enemy Mirage III fighter. but Wg. Cdr. Vasisht successfully evaded the enemy aircraft and bought his aircraft safely back.

In addition to these, he had led many other missions deep into enemy territory, where opposition could be expected from fighter aircraft and anti-aircraft fire. In all these raids Wing Commander Vasisht completed the tasks assigned to him without any loss to our aircraft. He displayed inspired leadership, exceptional devotion to duty, and conspicuous bravery in repeatedly leading attacks against heavily defended enemy targets, night after night.

Wg. Cdr. S K Kaul was the commanding officer of No.37 "Black Panthers" Squadron based at Hashimara in the Eastern Sector flying the Hunter fighter bombers.

On out break of hostilities, Wg. Cdr. Kaul   volunteered for an urgent task to photograph certain areas in Bangla Desh. These photographs were badly needed in order to finalise our Army's assault plans. The officer carried out four missions deep into the enemy territories to cover the heavily defended sectors of Comila, Sylhet and Saidpur. At times, he had to fly as low as 200 feet over the most heavily defended enemy locations. Undaunted, he flew through these barrages, making repeated runs in each of his mission, and successfully completed the task.

0n 4thDecember, 1971, he again volunteered for another task to photograph the Tezgaon and Kurmitola airfields. His reconnaissance flights over these two airfields, in the face of the most sustained and heavy enemy ground fire stood out as acts of heroism, extreme gallantry and devotion to duty. In addition to his reconnaissance exploits he led the very first eight aircraft strike mission over Dacca. In this raid, his formation encountered four enemy aircraft near the target area. With exemplary leadership, he manoeuvred his forces in such a manner that two of the enemy aircraft could be shot down by his formation members and the other two fled. The target thus became clear for attack. Throughout the period of operations, Wing Commander Kaul led his squadron boldly, with tenacity and personally displayed courage of an  exceptionally high order in the face of the enemy. Courage and Tenacity that earned him the Maha Vir Chakra.

Wg. Cdr. Kaul later rose to be the Chief of Air Staff.  

Sqn. Ldr. Bharadwaj, was a senior flight commander in No.20 "Lightnings" Squadron flying the Hunter F 56a fighter bombers from Pathankot airfield.

In the 1971 Operations, Sqn Ldr Bharadwaj led a number of operational missions against a variety of enemy targets.

On 5th. December, .1971, he led a raid on Chaklala airfield, in West Pakistan. Although the target was heavily defended by anti-aircraft and small arms fire. he pressed home the attack. He himself set fire to an enemy C-130 heavy transport aircraft in one of his attacks, and eventually led his mission safely back to base. On 7th December, 1971, he led another mission, this time on the heavily defended Mangla Hydro Electric power station. Here too, his mission succeeded in causing heavy damage, without any loss to our aircraft.

On 10th December, 1971, he led a close support mission to the Chhamb area. During the first attack, his aircraft, as well as that of his number two, were hit by ground fire, and,as they pulled out of the attacks, they were engaged by enemy Sabres. His No.2 was shot up by a Sabre, but Sqn Ldr Bharadwaj succeeded in  shooting down the attacking Sabre which crashed inside our lines near the Chhamb bridge. He then next nursed the damaged aircraft of his wingman back to base where he landed safely. He displayed exceptional gallantry, leadership and bravery in the face of heavy odds, which were in the highest traditions of the Air Force. Sqn. Ldr. Bharadwaj retired as an Air Marshal from the Air Force.

SQUADRON Leader Banerji, a senior pilot No. 101 Squadron flying the Sukhoi-7 fighter Bomber. he led no fewer than 14 missions, in Sukhoi within the first week of the war against enemy targets, most of them in support of our Army in the Chhamb battles.

During these missions, he destroyed two enemy tanks and two guns. On three occasions, he was personally responsible for attacking the enemy in the face of heavy ground fire, thus relieving pressure on our own troops. He displayed bravery and skill in repeatedly returning to the fray in the face of extremely heavy ground fire.