Wing Commander Gopal took over the station equipment section at one of the operational wings in May, 1964. This section was then considered to be the weakest link in the efficient functioning of the station.

Within a few weeks, Wing Commander Krishna Gopal Pillai reorganized the section on a more rational basis thereby almost doubling the output. Under his firm and efficient supervision and expert guidance, the Station Equipment Section became one of the most efficient sections on the station within a few months time. The varied demands of the squadrons based at this operational wing were promptly met. The resultant increase in aircraft serviceability was the result of the efficient working of the equipment section. The operational preparedness of the units based at this Wing during the trying periods of hostilities against Pakistan in 1965, was due entirely to the personal contribution of Wing Commander Krishna Gopal Pillai and the efficient manner in which he carried out the reorganization of his section. In addition to his basic duties as the senior Equipment Officer, he cheerfully volunteered for many other secondary duties and carried them out to the utmost satisfaction of the station commander.

His capacity for hard work, organizing ability and unflattering devotion to duty were a source of inspiration not only to the personnel serving under him, but even to others who came in contact with him. Unfortunately, this dedicated officer died in June, 1966.

Wing Commander Vettakkorumakankav Sivrama Narayanan has been engaged in the Planning and implementation of advanced electronic systems in the Indian Air force since October, 1957.

When Canberra bombers were introduced in the Indian Air Force, this officer was entrusted with the task of planning, organizing and commissioning the system of blind bombing with this aircraft. He was also instrumental in setting up the bombing range for Canberra aircraft at Bambina where the complete blind bombing system was put to trial. He also organised the systematic training of personnel in the planning and computations for this new bombing system.

In early 1962, he was intimately associated with the planning and formation of new Air Defence Ground Environment System for India together with a multi-channel communication system. This plan formed the basis of the subsequent discussions with the officials from the United States and United Kingdom for improving the air defence system and communication facilities of this country. However, during the Indo-Pak conflict in September, 1965 when U.S assistance was suddenly withdrawn, it was discovered that there were still many deficiencies which were vital for the operations of the new Air Defence System. The most important of them was the Manual Central Office Equipment require for the internal, point-to-point and air-to-ground communications and radio equipment for air-to-ground communication facilities. With remarkable initiative and inventive genius Wing Commander Narayanan planned, coordinated and established the required facilities entirely with indigenous equipment. Subsequently, with his characteristic confidence and resourcefulness, he successfully completed the installation programme with our own personnel and resources.

Wing Commander Narayanan has also been responsible for the development of a Line Unit for use with Teletype equipment. Large numbers of these units are required, and they used to be imported from abroad. The equipment developed by this officer has functioned efficiently and is now under production in the Indian Telephone Industries, Bangalore thus resulting in considerable saving of foreign exchange.

The contributions made by Wing Commander Vettkakorumakankav Sivarama Narayanan have been significant and farreaching.

Master Warrant Officer (Honorary Flying Officer) Gabriel Patrick has been on the posted strength of Air Headquarters Communication Squadron for the last 10 years. During his stay in this unit he has been responsible for servicing and maintenance of Viscount aircraft used for conveying Indian as well as visiting foreign dignitaries. During this period the Viscount aircraft of this squadron have operated at the best possible standard of serviceability and safety. There has not been a single known case of delay on account of an engineering defect. The accident-free record of Viscount operations in this squadron during the last 10 years, has been a proud achievement of this unit. This has been primarily due to the substantial contribution made by Honorary Flying Officer Gabriel Patrick through his high level of professional skill and efficient personal supervision.

Master Warrant Officer Sadhu Singh Dogra was posted as Machine Tools Safety Operator at the Repair and Manufacturing Depot on 13th Apr, 1965. On taking over the appointment he found that there was a considerable backlog of manufacturing task in the machine shop and many tasks were held up for lack of spare parts, which are imported items. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Master Warrant Officer Dogra, with his vast experience in technical field, got down to manufacture indigenously the spare parts of aircraft components and ground equipment. He also devised a method for reclaiming several components like piston tube of Vampire Oleo Legs which resulted in the clearance of A.O.G demands and this factor directly helped the operational potential of the Vampire fleet of the I.A.F.

So far the Hunter power control pattern and sleeves were being sent to U.K. for reclamation. Master Warrant Officer Dogra, with his ingenuity, initiated the idea of reclaiming these items with the use of the "DO ALL" lapping machine. This will result in considerable saving of foreign exchange.

Master Warrant Officer Dogra has consistently displayed a high degree of professional skill, ingenuity, an extraordinary capacity for hard work and rendered invaluable service beyond the call of normal duty to his unit and, in turn, to the Air Force. By his personal contribution, he has helped to improve the Engineering Section at the Repair and Manufacturing Depot and thus made a direct contribution to the operational preparedness and potential of the force.

Master Warrant Officer Shanty Sarup Kapoor has been posted as the officer i/c of a Provost and Security Flight at one of the operational wings near our Northern Borders. Soon after his arrival he established cordial relations with Intelligence Bureau, Civil Investigation Department and high ranking Civil Government Officials. The good relations thus established benefited the station in many ways.

Due to shortage of Officers M.W.O. Kapoor was called upon to perform the secondary duty of the Station Security Officer. Immediately on appointment, he started organizing the security section and tightening up the security measures. Its location and the environmental conditions rendered this station vulnerable to various security risks and during the operations against China, the problem of security assumed greater magnitude. Working hard, M.W.O. Kapoor pooled all his resources and reinforced security measures against infiltration, sabotage and espionage. He took pains to initiate a number of minor and major works and assisted the administration to get the works executed within the shortest possible time through personal approach to the various officials connected with the works. The completion of these tasks improved the security of the station.

Master Warrant Officer Kapoor prepared many security lectures and trained all personnel to be security minded. Although the strength of security personnel was inadequate, he judiciously deployed the available strength to maintain the security of the station. With the passage of time, the security organisation of this station has grown in size as well as in efficiency and this has been mainly due to the hard work and resourceful of this Master Warrant Officer.

In August and September, 1965 when the security of the station was threatened due to the approach of Pakistani infiltrators followed by enemy air attack, this Master Warrant Officer effectively implemented the ground defence and air raid precaution schemes with all the available resources in a very efficient manner. He rendered valuable service throughout this period thereby ensuring security of the station and its personnel.

Master Warrant Officer Shanty Sarup Kapoor has served for over 24 year and has rendered invaluable service to the Air Force.

Corporal Arungottukara Veraraghava Subramanian is a Wireless operator Mechanic. Till about April 1963, the teleprinter channel between Air Force Signals Centre and Headquarters Training Command was working as a simplex channel, each unit taking turns to transmit its messages. The rate of clearance of traffic was therefore rather slow.

On 30 the April, 1963 heavy traffic was pending on both sides of the teleprinter circuit and it was considered impossible to clear all the traffic in simplex system. On the initiative of Corporal Subramanian, the channel was changed to work on duplex system. This was accomplished by Corporal Subramanian by giving instructions on telephone to the machines at Air Force Signal Centre, New Delhi. The inventive genius and resourcefulness of this non-commissioned officer enabled the teleprinter channel to handle twice as much traffic as would have been possible on a simplex system.

On his own initiative and enthusiasm Corporal Subramanian has developed and assembled a line unit for use with the Hindustan Teleprinters. His invention enabled the use of the machine for duplex or simplex system and also for the purpose of testing locally or by distant station in a very simple manner. Without the aid of this modification these operations would have taken about 20 minutes even for an experienced mechanic. The Line Unit designed and developed by Corporal Subramanian has thus provided a time saving measure for changing of any system of operation or for testing to be conducted on the teleprinter lines. The Indian telephone industries have taken the idea from this Non-commissioned Officer for the development of a Line Unit for teleprinters. When this unit goes into production, it will save about a thousand rupees per unit in foreign exchange, apart from the saving of time as mentioned above. The very high degree of inventive skill shown by this young non-commissioned officer in the field of creative thinking has contributed substantially toward improve ment of communication facilities not only in the Air Force but in the country.