Flight Lieutenant Pradeep Kumar Tayal was on the strength of a fighter bomber squadron during the Operations in December, 1971. He carried out a number of operational sorties deep into enemy territory. On the 10th December, 1971, he led a formation of aircraft to attack on the Brigade Headquarters at Kushtia. Undeterred by the heavy ground fire he made two attacks and destroyed this nerve centre of the enemy in the sector. During the attack his aircraft was hit by ground fire which punctured the aircraft's main fuel tank. With his aircraft streaming fuel, he climbed up to gain height while heading towards base. He ran out of fuel when 10 nautical miles short of base. Though the airfield was partly obscured by cloud, he displayed great flying skill in carrying out a safe landing. Undeterred by this incident, on the same day he led another mission over Khulna and in the face of heavy ground fire positively destroyed one enemy tank and put another out of order. He also disrupted a convoy of enemy troops proceeding towards Khulna.

Throughout, Flight Lieutenant Pradeep Kumar Tayal displayed courage, professional skill and devotion to duty.

Squadron Leader Pradeep Kumar Tayal has been engaged in test flying duties at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited since October, 1977. On the 21st April, 1983, he was faced with hydraulic failure in Ajeet aircraft, which prevented his nose undercarriage from lowering. During his attempts to lower the undercarriage, his engine also got switched off. He displayed great courage and skill in handling this emergency and was able to restart the engine successfully and lower the undercarriage after considerable struggle. This resulted in a safe landing and saving of an aircraft.

Squadron Leader Pradeep Kumar Tayal thus displayed exceptional courage, coolness and presence of mind, expert professionalism and devotion to duty of a high order.