Sergeant Lakshman Prasad Swamy, Airframe Fitter of Air Headquarters Communication Squadron was travelling with his family in a bus from village Budabar to Sujjangarh Rajasthan on the 7th July, 1988. The bus got bogged down in sand. The conductor while taking out a PSP sheet from the bus roof, accidentally touched the PSP sheet with the overhead high voltage power cable where it got stuck, resulting in electric shock and severe burns to many passengers.

Without caring for his badly injured wife and son or his own personal safety, Sgt Prasad displayed rare courage and presence of mind in that critical situation in which the driver of the bus had fled the scene. He ensured safe evacuation of all the injured and badly shaken passengers, himself being the last to leave the ill fated bus. But before he could step out from the bus, the attendant in the distant power house had replaced the blown-out fuse causing a second electric shock to the bus in which the saviour of all passengers – Sgt Lakshman Prasad of Indian Air Force was electrocuted,

Sergeant Lakshman Prasad Swamy, thus, gave a rare display of selflessness and courage in saving damages and made the supreme sacrifice of his life.

A team of seven European Trekkers between the ages of 30 to 70 years had been stranded at an altitude of 14500 feet in Bhutan. One of them had already died and the rest were in a critical condition. They were reported to be suffering from High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema (HAPO) and unless immediately evacuated would have met the same fate. On the 7th October, 1988 Squadron Leader Sanjiv Misra was detailed for the casualty evacuation mission. Although he was aware that the place of evacuation was located well above the normal operating limits of the Chetak helicopter and that too in an uncharted territory, Sqn Ldr Misra decided to proceed with the mercy mission since any delay would have resulted in more fatalities. He took off with a senior Bhutanese official on board and showing exceptional skill quickly searched the area and located four survivors. In spite of the extremely difficult hilly terrain, he managed to put down the helicopter on a narrow ledge and evacuated two of the more serious casualties. He now learnt that the dead foreigner and the other two survivors were stranded at a place 2/3 miles away and their condition was even worse. Sqn Ldr Misra flew the two casualties to Thimpu, kept the rotor going and then after quick refueling at Paro proceeded to the second location. Since no clear place was available, after considerable search and bringing all his experience into play he managed to hold the helicopter on a small patch in a hilly stream which was strewn with huge boulders. He left the senior official at this site to guard the body and evacuated the two casualties to Thimpu. Once again, after quick refuelling, he went to the 1st location and flew out the remaining two casualties. By this time the weather had deteriorated and he had already been flying for over 5 hours. But realising that the civilian official guarding the dead body was in peril and would not survive the night, he went back once again and rescued the civilian along with the dead body.

Throughout this mission, Squadron Leader Sanjiv Misra showed high professional skill and exceptional courage.

In February, 1989 Wing Commander Chekuri Mohan Rao was called upon to launch a mission to rescue twelve casualties belonging to Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) from Bara-Lacha-La, who were involved in a serious avalanches in snow-bound areas. Wing Cdr Rao detailed himself to under take this difficult mission and lead a section of two Cheetah helicopters for the rescue operations. On the 26th February, 1989, displaying exceptional skill and consummate courage, he crossed Rohtang pass in extremely turbulent weather and landed successfully on the small and snow covered helped at Bara-Lacha-La at an altitude of 16000 feet and evacuated three SASE causalities to Manali. After refueling and unmindful of his personal safety he took off again and landed at Bara-Lacha-La in marginal weather. On the return flight Wg Cdr Rao had on board his co-pilot and three SASE (Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment) casualties. Shortly after getting airborne from Bara-Lacha-La, his helicopter developed sever vibrations and aircraft became almost uncontrollable. It was a grave aircraft emergency aggravated by poor visibility and marginal weather. Using his extraordinary flying skills, he managed to guide the virtually uncontrollable aircraft towards the only available small flattish piece of land on a hill slope. Displaying tremendous courage he managed to turn the helicopter during the last stages of force landing in such a manner that he personally took the major brunt of impact with the hill slope. While all the other occupants survived, Wg Cdr Rao sustained serious injuries and after surviving 12 hours into the sub-zero and treacherous climatic conditions at that high altitude, he succumbed to his injuries.

Wing Commander Chekuri Mohan Rao demonstrated courage and devotion to duty of a very high order and made the supreme sacrifice of his life in the finest tradition of the Air Force.

On the 15th Apr, 1989, Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi was authorized to fly as No. 2 in a tactical formation. The sortie was normal till the aircraft was rolling on to finals. On attempting to roll out of the descending turn Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi experienced jamming of the control column and could not roll out on finals. Showing exceptional alacrity and awareness for his level of experience he correctly operated the servodyne dump value and opened the throttle despite the critically low reaction time available. However he gained only a limited control of the aircraft and was unable to role out of the turn. Faced with the likelihood of the aircraft crashing into a populated village on the approach Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi displayed exemplary courage of an extreme order in staying with the aircraft despite immense danger to himself. He used the limited control available to him to avoid the village and crashed in an open and unpopulated area thus saving a number of lives. Even after crashing, with the aircraft and his own flying clothing in flames Lieutenant Sondhi displayed a remarkable presence of mind, composure and professionalism in exhorting the civilian who arrived on the scene to come to his aid. Lieutenant Sondhi's left ankle was jammed in the crash and displaying commendable resistance to pain and with flames licking at his body he was able to drag his leg out. Literally on fire he was still able to instruct the locals in pulling him out of the burning wreckage. During his ordeal he suffered 45% severe burns and subsequently his left leg was required to be amputated below the knee.

Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi, thus, displayed tremendous courage and presence of mind in a very critical situation.

On the 15th Apr, 1989, Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi was authorized to fly as No. 2 in a tactical formation. The sortie was normal till the aircraft was rolling on to finals. On attempting to roll out of the descending turn Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi experienced jamming of the control column and could not roll out on finals. Showing exceptional alacrity and awareness for his level of experience he correctly operated the servodyne dump value and opened the throttle despite the critically low reaction time available. However he gained only a limited control of the aircraft and was unable to role out of the turn. Faced with the likelihood of the aircraft crashing into a populated village on the approach Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi displayed exemplary courage of an extreme order in staying with the aircraft despite immense danger to himself. He used the limited control available to him to avoid the village and crashed in an open and unpopulated area thus saving a number of lives. Even after crashing, with the aircraft and his own flying clothing in flames Lieutenant Sondhi displayed a remarkable presence of mind, composure and professionalism in exhorting the civilian who arrived on the scene to come to his aid. Lieutenant Sondhi's left ankle was jammed in the crash and displaying commendable resistance to pain and with flames licking at his body he was able to drag his leg out. Literally on fire he was still able to instruct the locals in pulling him out of the burning wreckage. During his ordeal he suffered 45% severe burns and subsequently his left leg was required to be amputated below the knee.

Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi, thus, displayed tremendous courage and presence of mind in a very critical situation.

On the 15th Apr, 1989, Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi was authorized to fly as No. 2 in a tactical formation. The sortie was normal till the aircraft was rolling on to finals. On attempting to roll out of the descending turn Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi experienced jamming of the control column and could not roll out on finals. Showing exceptional alacrity and awareness for his level of experience he correctly operated the servodyne dump value and opened the throttle despite the critically low reaction time available. However he gained only a limited control of the aircraft and was unable to role out of the turn. Faced with the likelihood of the aircraft crashing into a populated village on the approach Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi displayed exemplary courage of an extreme order in staying with the aircraft despite immense danger to himself. He used the limited control available to him to avoid the village and crashed in an open and unpopulated area thus saving a number of lives. Even after crashing, with the aircraft and his own flying clothing in flames Lieutenant Sondhi displayed a remarkable presence of mind, composure and professionalism in exhorting the civilian who arrived on the scene to come to his aid. Lieutenant Sondhi's left ankle was jammed in the crash and displaying commendable resistance to pain and with flames licking at his body he was able to drag his leg out. Literally on fire he was still able to instruct the locals in pulling him out of the burning wreckage. During his ordeal he suffered 45% severe burns and subsequently his left leg was required to be amputated below the knee.

Lieutenant Uday Kumar Sondhi, thus, displayed tremendous courage and presence of mind in a very critical situation.