On 01 May 79, Squadron Leader Manohar Pandurang Rane was detailed to fly the Chief of the Staff from Halwara to Barnala and back. On completion of task, when he was flying the helicopter back to base, the rotor blade spacing cables broke and severed two of the three controls rods to the rotor head. This left him with no control over the attitude or descent path of the helicopter. He assessed the performance what little control remained and gradually managed to coax the aircraft into a slightly nose-up descent path. Realizing that he would not be able to slow down the descent rate, he shut down the engine as there was no other alternative. Unfortunately the helicopter crashed and caught fire and Squadron Leader Rane lost his life.

Squadron Leader Manohar Pandurang Rane thus displayed courage, professional skill and devotion to duty.

Flying Officer Trivedi handled multiple emergency situations with exemplary professional competence, returned to base without a radio telephonic system, carried out a flapless approach and landing at a speed of 200 knots and brought the aircraft to a halt without any further damage. Flying Officer Trivedi thus not only saved a valuable aircraft under circumstances of grave risk to his own life but also made it available for more valuable purpose of post accident investigation.

In this action, Flying Officer Atul Trivedi displayed exemplary courage, professional competence, undaunted determination and devotion to duty of exceptional order.

On the 18th July, 1979, Major Gur Iqbal Singh Dhodi was detailed to evacuate a dangerously ill comatose member of the Japanese Nun Kun mountaineering expedition from an inhospitable snow covered terrain prone to storm weather. Undaunted by adverse conditions and the flying hazards involved, he took off in his helicopter and located the patient lying on boulder strewn glacier with deep crevasses. Maneouvring the aircraft, flying at a height of about 6,750 meters in extremely bad weather and landing at such a hazardous place required high professional competence.

When Major Dhodi made the first attempt to land, it was thwarted as his view was obscured by rapidly drifting low cloud. He, however, observed that it would have been disastrous to land at that spot as it was located amidst huge boulders where maneouvring the aircraft was not possible. He then made a second pass and, after air dropping vital life preserving oxygen and food, he decided to lighten his aircraft by disembarking the team leader at the Base Camp. The considerable time, fuel and oxygen spent in making preparatory efforts for landing and the growing low visibility due to approaching night, were causing concern to Major Dhodi. He, therefore, made a determined bid, landed the helicopter in a small area amongst crevasses and enormous boulders and evacuated the casualty before the night came on.

In this action, Major Gur Iqbal Singh Dhodi displayed courage, determination and devotion to duty of a high order.

On the 1st August, 1979, Wing Commander Ranbir Singh Chauhan (8136) Flying (Pilot), who had successfully finished most of underslung load trials of various types of Army equipment on Mi-8 helicopter, was engaged in lifting and transporting bridging equipment weighing about two tons. In the course of this trial, one of the four load suspending cables snapped and caused the aircraft to oscillate and gyrate in an uncontrollable manner. When no other alternative to control the aircraft, Wing Commander Chauhan decided to jettison the load, he noticed that he was flying over populated area where the heavy load could cause a human disaster. He, therefore, manoeuvred the aircraft away from the inhabited area but could not jettison the load as the electric control cable got snapped due to heavy strain. The aircraft by that time had gone out of control. However, Wing Commander Chauhan did not lose his presence of mind and, as soon as the load touched the ground, he managed to land the aircraft without any further damage to it and with its crew unharmed.

In this action, Wing Commander Ranbir Singh Chauhan displayed courage, presence of mind and professional skill of a high order.

On the 4th December, 1979, Flying Officer Pramod Kumar Jain was flying an air combat training mission. He had gone about 80 km from base when generator in his aircraft went dead. The subsequent electrical failure deprived him of the use of compass and the radio telephone. The situation was further aggravated when noxious fumes and dense smoke, caused by battery-cum-electrical fire, filled the cockpit. This not only obscured his view but also added to his discomfiture. It was a serious situation for a young trainee pilot. But Flying Officer Jain did not lose his composure and working on procedures laid down for such emergencies, he proceeded towards his base. It was, however, a feat of his professional skill that although deprived of all mechanical aids including the tail parachute and automatic braking system, he made a flapless landing without any further damage to the aircraft.

In this action, Flying Officer Pramod Kumar Jain displayed courage, presence of mind and professional skill of a high order.

On the 10th January, 1980, Flying Officer Rahul Dhar experienced a flame out while flying a Gnat aircraft. His three attempts to relight the aircraft failed and the aircraft continued to lose height. Even in this critical situation without abandoning the aircraft, he decided to force land. By this time he was able to lower the undercarriage through the time consuming emergency system because the hydraulic control had suddenly failed, he found himself to approaching the runway from too high an altitude and at a speed 70 knots more than permitted for normal landing. Fully aware of the disastrous consequences of landing in such circumstances, he remained cool, controlled the 'float' of the aircraft and touched half-way up the runway at that high speed. Facing again an equally hazardous situation, resulting from fast running out of landing space and risk of excessive braking to stop the aircraft, he made full use of his professional skill and brought the aircraft to a safe halt at the very end of the runway.

In this action, Flying Officer Rahul Dhar displayed courage, presence of mind and professional skill of a high order.

On the 11th February, 1980, at about 7.45 p.m. a fire broke out in Tower A of a Signal Unit where extremely sophisticated and expensive equipment had been stored. Within minutes, the entire deck of the tower was engulfed in thick smoke with toxic fumes. While the intense heat made it almost impossible to enter the deck, the thick smoke made it difficult to locate the source of fire.

Sher Singh Kadian, who was off duty, reached the tower within minutes of hearing the fire alarm. Undaunted by heat and smoke, he picked up a fire hose, entered the deck and located the source of fire within a cabinet with panels secured by screws. Realising that the water jet could not be effectively directed at the source of fire, he ran down and brought a screw driver. Although he was almost overcome by thick swirling smoke and toxic fumes on opening the cabinet, he ultimately succeeded in bringing the fire under control.

In this action, Sher Singh Kadian displayed courage, determination and devotion to duty of a high order.

On the 8th May, 1980, Flight Lieutenant Sumit Mukerji was flying an instructional Instrument Flying sorties. At a height of 4900 metres, he experienced a front bearing failure and shortly engine seizure took place. Till then, no reliable statistics were available on the rate of descent of aircraft experienced with seized engine and different configuration of aircraft using undercarriage and flaps. With a totally professional approach, unmindful of great danger to his own life, Flight Lieutenant Mukerji passed on to the flying control the various rates of descent he experienced with and without undercarriage. Despite a very high rate of descent, he through his fine airmanship managed to land the aircraft and thereby saved a valuable aircraft from certain destruction. He also helped in collecting valuable data on the situations that follow an engine seizure.

In this action, Flight Lieutenant Sumit Mukerji displayed courage, presence of mind and professional skill of a high order.

On the 18th June, 1980, Flight Lieutenant Jayaraman Lakshmi Narayanan was flying a MiG aircraft on a routine night training mission, where flying is done by resorting to instrument only. This was his third sortie under such conditions. At a height of 5000 metres over Talwara town he experienced engine surge during a 60° banked turn.

He tried to roll out of the turn; when he found that the controls of the aircraft had jammed. The aircraft continued to roll and went into a steep dive over the town. At this stage, Flight Lieutenant Jayaraman Lakshmi Narayanan realized that a crash was imminent. He would have been fully justified in ejecting to ensure his personal safety. However, he decided to stay with the aircraft and made a determined effort to deviate the aircraft to save the township from disaster at the cost of his life. He reacted with exceptional presence of mind and professional skill and recovered the aircraft barely 600 metres above the sleeping township. The aircraft had lost too much height during recovery it was few seconds away from destruction. Flight Lieutenant Jayaraman Lakshmi Narayanan continued to display extremely high degree of airmanship and inspite of the controls malfunctioning he returned to base carrying out left turns only and landed safely. This young pilot unmindful of certain fatal consequences to himself, in his effort to save the inhabitants of township, displayed cool professional competence of an exceptional order.

In this action, Flight Lieutenant Jayaraman Lakshmi Narayanan displayed courage, presence of mind and professional skill of a high order.

On the 14th August, 1980, Flight Lieutenant Rajdeep Singh Mann was carrying out an air test on S-22 aircraft. While he was carrying out checks on the control system at a height of 6 kilometers, the aircraft suddenly pitched up with an unexpected suddenness. In this process, the pilot blacked out completely as the 'g' loading on his body went up to an incredible figure. By the time he regained his senses, the aircraft had come down to 2.8 KM above ground and was in a steep dive with speed well beyond 1000 KMPH. Flight Lieutenant Rajdeep Singh Mann immediately initiated recovery action using all his force and pulled the aircraft out of its screaming dive. The controls responded very slowly and once again his body experienced severe strain. His vision was fading and the possibility of blacking out at this extremely low altitude could not be ruled out. Eventually, his will to survive prevailed over the impossible situation. Despite intense discomfort, severe headache and pain in the spine, this young pilot remained calm and unruffled and regained full control of the aircraft which he brought back for a safe landing. This has enabled the technicians to determine the cause of malfunction an in the process many a life have been saved.

In this action, Flight Lieutenant Rajdeep Singh Mann displayed courage, strong determination, presence of mind and professional skill of a high order.

On the 12th October, 1979, Flight Lieutenant Chanrashekhar Jayawant was ferrying as Ajeet aircraft from Hindon to Srinagar. While he was at some distance from the airfield at an altitude of 1400 meters, he experienced a sudden loss of power which soon resulted in a flame out. Despite this emergency, he maintained his composure and took stock of the situation in a professional manner. When his two attempts to relight the engine failed and he realized that the usual low key entry on to the runway was not possible because of the inadequate height of his dead engine aircraft, he decided to land against traffic. He informed the Air Traffic Control to keep the run way clear for his proposed landing and successfully accomplished the first deadstick landing on a Ajeet, without any damage to the Aircraft.

In this action, Flight Lieutenant Chandrashekhar Jayawant displayed courage, presence of mind and professional skill of a high order.

On the 23rd May, 1980, Flying Officer Suresh Gattu was authorized to fly as No. 2 in a two aircraft sector reconnaissance sortie. At the end of the sortie, after peel off overhead, while turning onto downwind, Flying Officer Suresh Gattu found his flight instruments flicker and become unserviceable. His radio telephone faded out at this stage. He tried lowering undercarriage unsuccessfully by normal means. The cone was stuck and all attempts to retract it manually were of no avail. Flaps also failed to lower. The trimmer was also stuck and inoperative and there were no light indications in the cockpit. Flying Officer Suresh Gattu lowered the undercarriage by emergency method and made a flapless approach. After touch down he put off HP cock and operated the tail chute. The tail chute did not operate and he was left with maxarette braking also inoperative (his threshold speed was 300 kmph, it being a flapless approach). Flying Officer Suresh Gattu brought the aircraft to a stop safely by the end of the runway and with scant regard to his personal safety when odds pitched against him were very high, saved a costly aircraft.

Flying Officer Suresh Gattu thus displayed a high degree of professional skill, competence and devotion to duty.

On the 17th September, 1980, Squadron Leader Adhip Banerjee (11592) Flying (Pilot), who is a test pilot, was detailed to carry out an air test on Hunter aircraft. During the descent after the air test while breaking clouds at 1000 feet a vulture hit the front windshield of the aircraft. The impact shattered the canopy causing an explosion and resulted in the depressurization of the cockpit and very strong air blast. The vulture came through the wind shield and hit him directly on the face. The impact was fortunately taken by the visor and helmet. His visor and the front canopy were badly smudged with blood and pulp of the bird as a result of which the Pilot's frontal vision was completely obstructed. At this juncture, Squadron Leader Adhip Banerjee displayed great presence of mind and resolve to bring the aircraft to base safely. He immediately got on to instruments which he could barely see. Since there were clouds above and ground was only 1000 feet below, utmost flying skill and accuracy was necessary to maneuver the aircraft.

The pilot dropped speed and checked up all other aircraft systems while turning to downwind on mental DR. Since the noise level in the cockpit was very high due to air flow, Squadron Leader Banerjee transmitted the extent of damage of the aircraft and asked Air Traffic Control to fire green cartridge on finals. After dropping speed, barely keeping his eyes open, he sighted the runway with great difficulty and carried out a smooth landing saving costly aircraft from destruction.

Squadron Leader Adhip Banerjee thus displayed a very high standard of flying skill and presence of mind in bringing the aircraft safely back in complete disregard of his personal safety.

On the 18th September, 1980, Squadron Leader Om Prakash Shugal was detailed for an air maintenance supply landing sortie to one of the Advanced Landing Ground (ALG) in the Eastern Sector in a two engine transport aircraft. After take off from ALG on his return flight to base, the starboard engine failed without any prior warning or indication. He immediately turned towards the ALG to carry out an emergency landing and at the same time tried to find the possible cause of engine failure. He had barely coped with the emergency when the port engine started to back fire heavily resulting in loss of power. Under the circumstances he was left with no choice but to draw on remaining power from the port engine as long as was possible so as to reach the ALG. Because of the misbehavior of the port engine he had to eventually switch it off. He nursed whatever power was available from his live engine to make a successful emergency landing at the ALG which is surrounded by inhospitable terrain and thick jungles. Crash landing would have resulted in total destruction of the aircraft and certain death for all on board which included the crew members and nine passengers.

The directional control during the critical stage of approach to ALG became most difficult due to heavy backfire and erratic power from starboard engine. By displaying cool courage in the face of near disaster, Squadron Leader Shugal coped admirably with the situation and with judicious selection of flaps on the final approach in conditions of total loss of power, the successful landing was executed.

Squadron Leader Om Prakash Shugal thus displayed exceptional cool mindedness, superb airmanship and exemplary courage.

On the 20th September, 1980, Flight Lieutenant Prakash Dhulappa Navale (13602) Flying (Pilot), was called upon to fly a VIP for reconnaissance in and around the flood affected areas of Orissa. After landing at GUNPUR, the VIP started talking to people around the helicopter. While doing so, a section of crowd started shouting slogans against him. The agitation picked up momentum and soon the agitators starting closing in on the VIP. Flight Lieutenant Navale on seeing the imminent crisis, forced his way through the crowd and with total disregard to personal safety, stood like a wall between the crowd on the one side and the VIP and the helicopter behind him. The agitating public, not only manhandled Flight Lieutenant Navale but took him and the VIP away from the helicopter which was damaged.

Flight Lieutenant Navale and the VIP returned after the mob fury had mellowed down. He quickly assessed the extent of damaged and while doing so one of the agitators told him to take off and leave the VIP behind. He took advantage of the situation and took off. He immediately landed back and quickly pulled up the VIP and flew him safely to GOPALPUR.

Had Flight Lieutenant Navale not flown out the VIP at that critical time, the situation could have taken a grave turn and could have resulted in serious consequences to the VIP and further breakdown in law and order situation.

In this action, Flight Lieutenant Prakash Dhulappa Navale displayed determination, courage, presence of mind and devotion to duty of a high order.

On the 25th January, 1981, Corporal Darshan Singh Brar, Workshop Fitter, along with his wife, boarded the Kalka-Ferozpur Frontier Mail at Chandigarh for Bhatinda to attend the marriage of his sister-in-law. At about 0015 hours, when the train left Barnala Railway Station, three hoodlums entered the compartment in which Corporal Brar was traveling. Two of them were armed with knives and the third one had a country made pistol. The robbers started waking up the passengers and demanded all the cash and valuables in their possession. Corporal Brar and his wife were also woken up by one of the miscreants who, brandishing a knife, asked them to hand over all their cash and valuables. Instead of submitting to the threats like other passengers, Corporal Brar resisted and put up a fight. Even though he was unarmed, Corporal Brar caught hold of one of the dacoits and shouted to the other passengers to get up and resist the robbers boldly. Unfortunately, due to general scare, none of the passengers put up any resistance and Corporal Brar continued to fight single handed. While he was about to overpower one of the robbers, the man with the gun hearing the calls of his companion, joined in and fired at Corporal Brar at a close range. Corporal Brar slumped down and collapsed immediately.

The courage and heroic fight put up by Corporal Darsahn Singh Brar with the hoodlums was not only in self defence but was also aimed at saving the other passengers and his ultimate sacrifice is in the best traditions of the service.

On the 26th August, 1981, Flying Officer Jankiraman Balasubramanian (15558) Flying (Pilot), took off for an air dropping sortie in Eastern Sector. The Dropping Zone was one of the Southern-most low lying dropping Zone. The flight was uneventful till the aircraft reached the dropping Zone. On his very first run for the drop, Flying Officer Balasubramanian heard a loud backfiring noise from his port engine followed by severe vibrations and smoke. Flying Officer Balasubramanian quickly checked his engine instruments and confirmed the failure of port engine. He not only controlled the aircraft at this critical stage of flight but avoided the hill in front of him in a cool, confident and courageous manner and simultaneously shut down the port engine. Flying Officer Balasubramanian found that his aircraft was not climbing on one engine. He quickly ejected the load and managed to gain the badly needed height of 1500' which was his minimum escape route height. He flew the stricken aircraft on one engine for over one hour over hilly terrain fighting turbulence and keeping a hawk's eye on the temperature of his live engine. He thus succeeded in bringing the aircraft back to base and made a perfect touch down.

Flying Officer Jankiraman Balasubramanian, with his flying experience of only 270 hours, handled the grave emergency in an exemplary and professional manner and thus saved eight valuable lives on board.

On 24th May, 1981, information was received that some members of a Japanese mountaineering expedition were in a precarious condition, a few hundred feet short of Nun Kun Peak at a height of 6300 metres. On 25th May, 1981, several attempts to land a helicopter had to be abandoned due to very high density altitude.

Captain Ranjit Singh Dev was detailed to carry out the task on the 26th May, 1981. Along with Captain P. C. Bhandari as copilot, he took off at 0530 hours from Srinagar airfield for Nun Kun. On reaching the area, Captain Dev saw that he would have to land in a totally unprepared and restricted snow surface between two peaks at 23,800 feet which is 800 ft. above the service ceiling of the aircraft. The place was interspersed with deep crevasses and covered with lose snow. Aware of this and assessing that he would have only marginal reserve of power even if the helicopter was flown single pilot, he landed at the Advance base camp and dropped the co-pilot. He took off alone for challenging mission fully aware of the risks involved to rescue the mountaineers, who were in a serious condition.

The cloud and turbulent weather and snow covered made the mission extremely dangerous. Having located the casualties after many attempts, Captain Dev landed in a small area between the two peaks. As the helicopter was landed the exhausted mountaineers came out of their tent dragging their unconscious companion. With considerable effort the first casualty was kept in the helicopter. He then took off and picked up the co-pilot from Advance Base Camp and landed at Kargil with marginal fuel.

Captain Dev again got airborne to rescue the remaining mountaineers. The rise in temperature at the site had raised the density altitude and increased the already high turbulence level. He landed at the same spot on two subsequent sorties and evacuated the remaining mountaineers with all their equipment.

Captain Ranjit Singh Dev thus displayed a very high degree of professional competence, determination, courage and devotion to duty.

On the 21st July, 1981, Squadron Leader Gurcharan Singh Madan (10452), Flying (Pilot) of 117 HU, was detailed as Captain to fly of Chetak Helicopter from Bareilly to Gauchar with an enroute halt at Haldwani for refueling. About 10 minutes of take off from Haldwani, his helicopter suddenly pitched up and started rolling to the right. It immediately developed severe vibrations and the control column started snatching in all directions. The severity of pitch, roll and vibrations was so great that he along with co-pilot had difficulty in retaining a grip on the control column and impossible to read the instruments. The movement of the stick was so vicious that it repeatedly hit their legs, badly lacerating them. The Helicopter was out of control and a crash was imminent.

Sqn Ldr Madan with commendable presence of mind and cool courage analysed the emergency and came to conclusion that the existing condition could only be outcome of a failure of rotor head system as had been the case with two earlier fatal accidents. He immediately decided to force land the helicopter on whatever open space he could find. With this intention, he lowered the collective pitch. By this action the vibrations reduced slightly and he could retain grip on the control column with a great effort. A marginal control of the helicopter was thus achieved. With the control of the helicopter hanging in a very delicate balance, Sqn Ldr Madan brought down the stricken helicopter to a small clearing for landing. The moment he raised the collective to cushion the landing shock, the vibration again became very severe. It was only his superlative flying skill, exemplary courage and tenacity of purpose which helped him to land helicopter with minimal damage.

In making this extremely difficult recovery of helicopter without excessive damage, Squadron Leader Gurcharan Singh Mann had not only saved a valuable aircraft and the lives of his co-pilot and his own but has made the investigation of the cause of this failure possible which in future will save further accidents.

Squadron Leader Gurcharan Singh Mann thus displayed exemplary courage, extremely high standard of flying skill and devotion to duty of high order.

On the 19th June, 1981, 256161 Junior Warrant Officer Ghasi Ram Bagaria, Radar Fitter, was traveling by 17 UP Sawai Madhopur-Loharu Mail Train. At Sikar, a gang of dacoits armed with lathis, knives and daggers, boarded the train and started indiscriminately bashing up the unwary passengers. Junior Warrant Officer Ghasi Ram Bagaria single handedly, traded blows with the desperadoes for the protection of the lives and property of cotravelers and sustained injuries. The injuries that JWO received were so grave that he had to be hospitalized for 18 days with multiple head injury in the Government Hospital, Jhunjhunu. This brave act of his was greatly appreciated by the Superintendent of Police, Jhunjhunu and various outside agencies.

25616 Junior Warrant Officer Ghasi Ram Bagaria thus displayed conspicuous courage and bravery.

On the 27th August, 1981, Wing Commander Jasminder Sing Kahlon was detailed to extricate the body of one Mr. MASAZUMI KASHI who had died as a result of a fall from the Drung area of Zanskar valley in Ladakh. In spite of the extremely inhospitable weather conditions and at the very great altitude of over 17,500 ft. Wing Commander Kahlon landed his CHEETAH helicopter on the right skid keeping the left skid suspended in the air while his copilot and a guide carried the body from the crevasse and put it into the helicopter, he maintained this position at great risk to his person and the helicopter.

Wing Commander Jasminder Sing Kahlon, thus, displayed conspicuous courage and devotion to duty of a high order.

Flight Lieutenant Unni Krishnan Palat (12733) Accounts, was specially selected for a High Altitude, “Paratroopers Nanda Devi Expedition”, as advisor cum specialist in Air Borne Operations and leader of a Sub Patrol. The task entailed recce of general area Nanda Devi, climbing various passes, glaciers, ridges, high points and attempt the highest peak of Nanda Devi Main 25645 ft. and Nanda Devi East 24391 ft.

Apart from carrying out his own task and responsibilities, he provided intimate support on a number of occasions to other Patrols when operating on technical hazardous route at height above 18000 ft. by personally carrying and delivering their mostly critical needed items to such spots, where carriage of extra ounce mattered.

On 14th September, 1981, he was almost killed by a falling rock when the impact was taken by his rucksack. Undeterred by the incident, he continued to provide support and facilitated in speedy road opening. Subsequently when the responsibility of fixing the most hazardous route at height between 21000 to 22000 ft. was placed on him, he achieved the same most successfully, against many odds, mainly due to his willed perseverance, sustained courage and exemplary leadership.

On 27th September, 1981, he exhibited a tremendous spirit of sacrifice by handing the entire food and fuel to the other patrol, when they demanded, and he along with his team remained hungry for almost 24 hours.

On 6th October, 1981, he organized a detailed and thorough search and rescue mission, involving prolonged strenuous activity at high altitudes to locate two members of the expedition and returned only after ascertaining that they had met with a fatal accident. The very next day, knowing fully well the dangerous route ahead and undeterred by the incidents, he not only completed the Recce task on schedule but repeated the ascent to Nanda Devi East from different route, and successfully climbed the summit at 1430 hours on the 7th October, 1981. By doing so, his patrol comprising 11 members was the first ever to achieve a rare distinction to scaling the prestigious and technically most difficult Nanda Devi East (24391 ft.)

Flight Lieutenant Unni Krishnan Palat has thus displayed exemplary sustained courage, spirit of selfless sacrifice and an exceptional devotion to duty.

In the autumn of 1981, the Army organized an expedition to Nanda Devi. The main task assigned to the expedition was to attempt the highest twin peaks of Nanda Devi Main 25,645 ft and Nanda Devi East 24,391 ft., which amounted to launching two major expeditions on separate axis i.e., then West and East, respectively. Flight Lieutenant Pazhangat Venugopalan was specially selected to lead Sub Patrol No.2 of the West Patrol.

Throughout the expedition, Flt Lt Venugopalan displayed selfless devotion above and beyond call of duty and courage of very high order. On one occasion when one of the members absolutely exhausted, dehydrated and frost bitten was located after 8 days, Flt Lt Venugoplan took care of him and parted with one of his crampons and gave it to other members who had none and took the personal risk of escorting him down to Camp II with only one crampon covering the treacherous descent on the steep and hazardous cooks comb ridge. Survival of the said member is purely attributed to this quick evacuation.

Once again, Flt Lt Venugopalan displayed exceptional courage, dedication and selfless sacrifice when on the 16th October, 1981, just 400 ft. short of summit, he felt blurring of his vision and became totally blind. When NK Gyasi Ram was helping to climb the last vertical rock, the anchor of the rope that was fixed gave away and Flt Lt Venugoplan slipped about 100' but was lucky to survive certain death. Because of this miraculous escape and the fact that the expedition had already had four fatal accidents of similar nature, he would have been fully justified to call off the mission but instead he insisted and encouraged other members to complete the mission. In a state of total blindness knowing fully well that a single wrong step could be fatal, or if the weather had turned worse or the other members did not return he might be frozen to death, Flt Lt Venugopalan for the sake of success of the mission voluntarily chose to stay back alone and thus displayed courage of an exceptionally high order at the gravest risk to his life. He sustained very severe frost bite – as a result of which he lost parts of 6 fingers and 8 toes.

Flight Lieutenant Pazhangat Venugopalan displayed total dedication and devotion to duty, tremendous team spirit, selfless spirit of sacrifice, and exemplary courage.

On the 29th January, 1982, Wing Commander Baljit Singh Chhoker (7018) Flying (Pilot) was authorized to carry out an air test on a Chetak Helicopter at a forward helipad in North Sikkim after a major component change. He was also authorized to ferry the aircraft back to the base subject to its serviceability. The helicopter was found to be fully serviceable throughout ground run, hover check and air test by the pilots.

Fully satisfied with the serviceability of aircraft Wg Cdr Chhokar who is highly experienced and a Test Pilot on type took off from helipad for the base. After flying for 5 minutes at a height of 17,500' (i.e., 1500' AGL), lateral oscillations of low amplitude and low frequency were observed by him. Wg Cdr Chhokar, sensing it to be unusual, decided to return to the helipad. At this stage lateral oscillations increased in amplitude, became divergent and cyclic flew out of the pilot's hands and started churning. The aircraft started pitching up and down. Reacting to grave emergency where loss in lateral as well as pitch axis was felt, he decided to force land the aircraft immediately and attempted a distress call. Partial control of the aircraft was regained just before landing and a smooth touch down in a totally inhospitable terrain was executed.

Further investigation revealed sudden failure of one of the three spacer cable from both ends. Earlier cases of such damage to the aircraft had invariably resulted into loss of the helicopter as well as the pilots. In making this extremely difficult recovery of the helicopter, Wg Cdr Chhoker had not only saved a valuable aircraft and lives of his co-pilot and his own but had made the investigation of the cause of the failure possible which in future will save further accidents.

Wing Commander Baljit Singh Chhoker thus displayed exemplary courage, devotion to duty and extremely high standard of flying skill in the best tradition of the Air Force. '

During the month of April, 1982, a task involving placement of heavy machinery and its removal after the function was entrusted to Sqn Ldr Sharwan Kumar Bhatia. The locations were at series of small patches of ground all about 6000' altitude along the Himalayan border where it looked almost impossible to land an Mi-8 helicopter with such a heavy cargo.

Squadron Leader Sharwan Kumar Bhatia (11316) Flying (Pilot), faced the task with utmost courage. In a series of one hundred and twenty eight landings spread over a continuous period of ninety days, flying under extremely unfavourable conditions in all aspects and the area of operation through the deep hazardous gorges of Himalayas and stresses and strains. Squadron Leader Sharwan Kumar Bhatia completed the task and came out as “Complete Pilot” of the Indian Air Force. An error of minor nature over such a long period, at any stage, would have meant grave loss and a total disaster to him.

Squadron Leader Sharwan Kumar Bhatia thus displayed sustained courage and a high degree of professional skill, competence and devotion to duty.

On the 24th June, 1982, information was received about 19 Army personnel had been stranded near INDRAJOT PASS north of DHARMSALA. A rescue aircraft was launched and it was found that the personnel were on a rock at a height of 14500 ft AMSL and on the mountain side with a gradient of 75°. The personnel were surrounded by nearly 10 feet of fresh snow. It was appreciated that no landing could be attempted and winching operation will be required to rescue the personnel. Food, medicines and blankets were dropped at the site and the aircraft returned to base late in the evening. On the 25th June, 1982, Flight Lieutenant Bikram Dev Singh, Flying (Pilot) was detailed to commence rescue operation in Cheetah aircraft fitted with rescue hoist. He reached the site at about 0900 hours. The weather at that time was fair but the wind speeds were of the order of about 40 knots. After a through recce the aircraft was brought to hover 15' above the stranded personnel. Because of the very steep incline and location of personnel, the aircraft had to be hovered leaving very small margin between the rotor and cliff side. Hovering under such conditions of high altitude, strong winds and very difficult terrain is a nightmarish task requiring exceptional skills. The helper was lowered at the site and two Army personnel were hoisted up and taken to YOL. On returning to the site, it was found that the weather had sharply deteriorated. Clouds had rolled in over the area, the visibility had dropped to 100 metres and wind speed had picked up to about 50 to 55 knots. Flt Lt Bikram Dev Singh continued the rescue operation with cool professionalism and in two more trips evacuated in all six personnel. By 1730 hours all stranded personnel had been brought to YOL.

Flt Lt Bikram Dev Singh thus displayed courage, a high degree of professional skill, competence and devotion to duty of an exceptional order.

Squadron Leader Sadanand Keshav Dixit (12407) Flying (Pilot) while on a unit detachment at Leh, was tasked for a search mission on 21st July, 1982.

A party of ten tourists of different nationalities, had started down ZANSKAR river on two rafts from PADAM village. The same day two empty rafts had been spotted at NIMMU, where the ZANSKAR flows into INDUS, and so ten rafters were feared to be in some danger. The ZANSKAR river is, on the average, only about seven feet in width and its valley is extremely narrow with walls of stone rising thousands of feet high from both banks of the river.

Squadron Leader Dixit took off from Leh at about 1500 hours for this challenging mission of mercy with full knowledge of the hazards. By the time he reached the Indus/Zanskar confluence, the sun had already dipped beyond the western ridges, causing dark and deceptive shadows. This coupled with strong winds and turbulence, made his task of search, nearly impossible. The narrowness of the valley and fading light compelled him to descend to about 100' over the rapids of the Zanskar, which, in itself, is a hair raising task, even under the best of conditions. This endeavour of flying the machine, battling the against the heavy odds and searching for survivors was a daring display of professional efficiency and bravery of the highest order. Undaunted by these, Squadron Leader Dixit continued the search. After 30 minutes of continuous scanning of the wing swept dark valley, he noticed a movement on the right bank of the river. The stranded persons were perched on a steep and rocky slope. When all attempts to land near the party failed, a precarious landing on a rocky spot, on the opposite bank was executed. Contact was established with stranded persons and it was established that all of them were unharmed, though without food and clothes. Two survival packs were given to them to enable them to tide over the night and helicopter returned to Leh. On the 22nd July, 1984, Squadron Leader Dixit was airborne at first light to commence evacuation. An engineer party was taken along to attempt bridging the river to bring the persons to the left bank. However, it was soon realized that the make shift bridge would not work out and it was decided to pick up the persons in a low hover over the slopy right bank. Executing a steady hover on a steep slope at high altitude and in a strong winds is tremendously demanding task which made the operations more difficult by people climbing in the rear. A total of three trips were made in a similar fashion till all ten tourists were safely landed at Leh.

Squadron Leader Sadanand Keshav Dixit thus displayed bravery, indomitable courage and exceptional professionalism.

Flight Lieutenant Seethraman Lakshimarayan Thantry was a member of the team entrusted with the task of installation, testing and commissioning of Diesel Generating Sets in the Power House.

On the 14th October, 1982 after the rectification of excessive vibrations in one engine, it was started for further checks. As soon as the engine was started it went into runway condition, the speed shooting up much beyond the normal operating speed of 1000 RPM. Efforts to shut off the engine from the electrical control panel in the Control Cabin, and also by manually operating the stop solenoid fitted on the engine failed. In the mean time the material on the exhaust pipe of the engine caught fire. The whole power house was filled with toxic fumes and heavy smoke which reduced the visibility inside practically at zero. Heavy sparks were also noticed from the alternator. Realizing the gravity of situation Flight Lieutenant Seethraman Lakshimarayan Thantry, decided that the fuel supply to the engine should be closed to starve the engine fuel. In spite of grave risk to his person he went crawling behind the engine and closed the fuel valve to the engine. The fire extinguishers were thereafter operated to put out the fire.

Flight Lieutenant Seethraman Lakshimarayan Thantry thus displayed exemplary courage in saving the running engine from total ruin, and also possible heavy damage to rest of installed equipment in the Power House.

On the 25th November, 1982, Flight Lieutenant Sumer Chand Gaur (14118) AE (M)/ Air was detailed as the Flight Engineer on board a Packet aircraft to carry out “Circuits and Landing” exercise at night. In the sortie, on the sixth circuit, the positive lock down green indication for the nose wheel gear did not come on when the undercarriage lever was selected down. The officer immediately took appropriate steps to handle the emergency. He, on visual check of the nose wheel, found that the nose gear was not fully extended and ground locking pin holes were not aligned. All laid down emergency procedures carried out to lower the under-carriage to extend failed. With the sound knowledge and background of the system, the officer envisaged that the only alternative was to disconnect the nose actuator and allow the nose under carriage to extend fully, whereby it would be possible to insert nose locking pin thus ensuring a safe landing. This, however, required walking into open nose wheel bay and undoing the actuator jack bolts, aligning ground locking pin holes and inserting the ground locking pin. He undertook this task at grave personal risk and successfully completed it. The aircraft later carried out a safe landing.

Flight Lieutenant Sumer Chand Gaur thus displayed courage and high order of professional competence.

Wing Commander Dilip Kumar Ranchhod Das Ashar (7686) Flying (Pilot) was commanding an operational bomber squadron of the IAF. On 24th January, 1983, while on a night training flight, the Canberra trainer that he was flying, had a bird hit. This resulted in flaming out of starboard engine. The differential thrust led to almost 90° bank only a few feet above the ground. Despite the rapidity at which the grave emergency developed, Wing Commander remained calm. He reacted with incredible speed and took the necessary recovery action. Even in the face of almost certain death, Wing Commander Ashar remained calm, and did not lose sight of his duties as a commander and a soldier. In the few seconds available to him he warned his crew, switched off the left engine and applied recovery controls. Failure to do so would have caused the aircraft to roll on its back prior to the crash. In the process he himself was totally injured but he saved the lives of two of his crew members.

Wing Commander Dilip Kumar Ranchhod Das Ashar thus displayed courage, a high order of professional competence and devotion to duty.

Squadron Leader Rajendra Singh Tandon (9432) Flying (Pilot), was a member of first Air Force team that participated in the second Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica in 1982-83.

He volunteered to take on the responsibility of off-loading the entire equipment for the expedition from the ship. He organized the off-loading and worked untiringly for more than 24 hours at a stretch to ensure that over 40 tons of material was offloaded in the shortest possible time. At the base camp, he organized and executed the various administrative tasks with a great sense of purpose, responsibility and efficiency.

He carried out various reconnaissance trips on foot and open snow-scooter in sub zero temperature to select a site for preparation of a skiway. For this purpose, he traversed through the hazardous terrain full of dangerous hidden cracks and crevasses with total disregard to his personal safety. His courage, dedication and zeal contributed a great deal in achieving the task in a short span of ten days in a totally alien environment and severe climatic conditions.

On the night of 18th February, 1983, a severe snow storm struck the base camp and the blizzard lasted for two days trapping four members of the expedition in their damaged hut. The base camp was ravaged and a large number of scientific and other equipment were either blown away or damaged. On the 21st February, 1983, at 0400 hours, a rescue mission was launched from the ship. Squadron Leader Rajendra Singh Tandon volunteered for the rescue mission. The ship's bow could be brought to the shelf of the ice for a very short period of time. With total disregard for his personal safety and displaying bravery of high order, Squadron Leader Tandon jumped from the ship on to the shelf and proceeded on foot to the base camp where he rescued the trapped members and salvaged most of the scientific equipment and the precious data they had gathered.

Squadron Leader Rajendra Singh Tandon thus displayed courage and selfless devotion to duty.

Squadron Leader Krishan Pratap Narain Singh (11023) Flying (Pilot) was detailed to carry out a rescue mission on 5th June, 1983, of an NCC Expedition stranded due to severe blizzard near Devachen Peak in Himachal Pradesh. Squadron Leader Krishan Pratap Singh located Cadet Shankar Thakuri and Naik Mohammad Shaffi in a steep snow covered terrain at an altitude of 17,500 feet. Exercising extreme caution and displaying remarkable flying skill and daring he managed to land the helicopter on a small flat ground in 45 knots cross wind conditions and thus rescued the injured Cadet Shankar Thakuri. Squadron Leader KPN Singh's decision to land the helicopter at 17,500 ft. on unprepared ground in extremely adverse weather conditions thus resulted in saving precious life and bringing up the morale of other expedition members.

Squadron Leader Krishan Pratap Narain Singh displayed exceptional professionalism, dedication and courage of a high order, beyond the call of duty.

Squadron Leader Gommenvalli Narayanappa Ramachandra (10920) Flying (Pilot) captained one of the Mi-8 helicopters, which were rushed to Andhra Pradesh for flood relief operations. On the 13th August, 1983, in Ramagundam village, 17 villagers were trapped in a hut in the floods. The trapped victims were mostly women and children.

Minutes after receiving the message from the District Magistrate, Karimnagar, Squadron Leader Ramachandra with the team got airborne and reached the spot. On sighting the isolated hut in flood waters he immediately started winching operations. Seeing the fury of the floods and the rate at which water was rising he quickly assessed that by winching one person at a time he may not be in a position to save all the lives. He decided to abandon the winching operations and resort to landing the helicopter so all the victims would be rescued.

Since the only place for landing was occupied by the victims themselves he hovered the helicopter in such a way that the door of the helicopter came close to the hut. He then ordered the Flight Gunner to jump out on the roof of the hut along with the winch cable. The gunner hooked the winch cable to one of the strong members of the hut and helped women and children reach the helicopter by holding the winching cable. Thus all 17 victims were rescued.

Squadron Leader Gommenvalli Narayanappa Ramachandra thus exhibited a great sense of professionalism, courage and devotion to duty throughout the operations.

Due to shortage of time the Captain abandoned the winching operation, brought the helicopter to low hover close to the hut and ordered MWO SC Sen to jump on to the hut roof with the winch cable. Without hesitation, Master Warrant Officer SC Sen jumped on to the hut roof, hooked the cable to a strong member of the hut and helped the women and children to reach the helicopter. Thus all 17 victims were rescued. Master Warrant Officer Subhash Chandra Sen thus displayed courage 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.

Wing Commander Viswanathan Natarajan was one of the four Mi-8 pilots in the IAF contingent of the IIIrd Indian Arctic Expeditions. On the 28th December, 1983, he was assigned to transfer heavy construction and other material from the ship to the base camp. The terrain was unknown and forbidding. The unpredictable adverse weather with extremely strong surface winds and persistent low visibility, made the helicopter operation extremely difficult. All these hazards and the non-availability of other helicopters did not deter Wing Commander Natarajan. He met all the flying commitments by flying 61:30 hours in 212 sorties. It was due to his persistent efforts that the availability of heavy construction material was ensured and the Army engineers were able to complete the construction of protp station in time.

Wing Commander Viswanathan Natarajan displayed indomitable courage, determination and devotion to duty of a high order.

Sergeant Shyam Behari Gupta was a technical member of the Air Force team of the Third Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. The success of the mission to a large extent was dependent upon the logistics support provided by the only Mi-8 helicopter available, as the other Mi-8 helicopter was not available for operation. Being the senior most technical tradesman Sergeant Gupta, besides undertaking his own task of supervising the maintenance activities, worked relentlessly with other fellow technician and also assisted the aircrew in loading/unloading of the helicopter. On the 27th December 1983, the Mi-8 helicopter, in which he was traveling met with an accident and crashed into cold Antarctica waters. The helicopter was sinking fast and the entire crew of the helicopter, including Sergeant Gupta were trapped inside. Faced with a catastrophic situation, Sergeant Gupta displaying great presence of mind and courage, continued to find a way out of helicopter in order to save the lives of the crew members. With the help of Flt. Lt. Rai, he managed to break open a passage through the cockpit wall and was instrumental in saving the lives of the crew members.

Sergeant Shyam Behari Gupta thus displayed undaunted courage, initiative and devotion to duty of a high order.

On the 29th February 1984, Wing Commander Gajanan Damodar Shintre was detailed for general handling sortie with Flt. Lt. PV Choudhari. On being informed that the aircraft had developed some serious trouble, Wg Cdr Shintre promptly took over the controls as the Captain of the aircraft. Assessing the situation he noticed that he was at a height of 3700 ft. He was left with two options to abandon the aircraft or to attempt a force landing. He gallantly elected to force land rather than abandon the aircraft, even though his decision might have led to grave injuries to himself and his crew. Thereafter he executed a perfect forced landing mustering all his experience and skill at a very critical juncture and causing minimum damage to the aircraft. Wing Commander Gajanan Damodar Shintre thus displayed conspicuous courage, professional skill and devotion to duty of high order.

Squadron Leader Suresh Haribhav Apte has been engaged in test flying duties at HAL Bangalore complex since November, 1976. On the 18th May, 1984, Sqn Ldr Apte experienced an engine failure on his HPT-32 prototype aircraft due to fuel supply problems. He was at a height of 1000 feet which was barely sufficient to make a forced landing at the airfield. However, with great skill and cool courage he made a 90 degree turn at 50 ft. altitude and made a perfect landing on the runway.

Squadron Leader Suresh Haribhav Apte thus displayed undaunted courage, determination and devotion to duty of a high order.

Group Captain Krishan Kumar Sangar, Flying (Pilot), is Commanding a Helicopter Unit since October, 1981. He was appointed Mi-8 Task Force Commander during an operational exercise somewhere in the Northern Sector. A variety of loads some of which had never been airlifted before, had to be dropped by Helicopters. The operations had to be carried out in an extremely hostile, snow bound terrain under marginal weather conditions. During this Operation, Group Captain Sangar achieved many firsts to his credit and was able to drop rations and stores at places located at elevation higher than 17,000 ft. On the 3rd June, 1984, while dropping an Arctic Hut at a dropping Zone, he had to fly his aircraft to its absolute limits to avoid any damage to the hut. This was possible due to his professional skill and sound understanding of the aircraft.

Group Captain Krishan Kumar Sangar thus displayed courage, professional competence, determination and devotion to duty of a high order.

Wing Commander Tajinder Pal Singh Chhatwal was selected to undertake an important task of air maintaining troops at very high altitude. In view of the ever changing scenario of the exercise and great urgency of supplies, Wing Commander T. S. Chhatwal commenced the mission immediately. The precision drops carried out by him speak of his professional competence. Later due to subsequent developments, the camp had to be shifted to a steep slope where the stock of supplies turned out to be very critical. Wing Commander Chhatwal had to fly 5-10 metres above the ground. Undeterred, on 25th July 1984, he continued his mission and in all 17 tons of load was free dropped at the new Camp. In another remarkable feat, Wing Commander Chhatwal flew the helicopter at altitudes higher than 5.7 kms for over an hour, while carrying out the task of filming. He flew 42 sorties in one single day airlifting more than 23 tons of load to the forward posts.

Wing Commander Tajinder Pal Singh Chhatwal thus exhibited professional competence, acumen, courage and devotion to duty of high order.

Corporal Charivukalalyil Govindan Soman, Airframe Fitter volunteered to be a member of a Technical Team required to retrieve two Cheetah Helicopters which has force landed at an elevation of 18000 feet during an air maintenance mission. The operation involved imaginative planning and clock work like precision in dismantling, peeking and hooking of loads under the helicopters. When the retrieval operations were launched Corporal Soman was only Airframe Fitter left in the team to carry out dismantling of complete helicopters at the locations. Fully aware of the heavy responsibility he worked for hours unmindful of the personal discomfort and the health hazard. He finally achieved four days task in only one and a half days. At the base camp also he was instrumental in timely rectification of snags on a number of helicopters and displayed exemplary zeal and enthusiasm throughout the period.

On the 31st July, 1984, he was redeployed to retrieve the second helicopter. However, due to an incident the party was left at very high altitude, without the shelter or food. Corporal Soman took initiative to walk to the nearest Army Camp which involved three hours of walking in the face of great danger of slipping into a crevace. When one of the colleagues fell into a crevace he stepped ahead and saved his life.

Corporal Charivukalalyil Govindan Soman thus displayed dedication, courage, professional skill and devotion to duty of a high order.

Flight Lieutenant Satish Purshottam Aparajit was a member of the successful TransHimalayan Motor Expedition. The expedition drove through frozen wastes, ravine deserts at high altitude and over 15 mountain passes facing hostile winds lashing against the rocky terrain in sub-zero temperatures, avalanches and storms. On the 28th February, 1984, one of the vehicles of the expedition met with an accident and fell down a cliff of over 1,000 metres. Flt Lt Aparajit descended for rescue by using rappelling rope down a vertical rock face into the ravine covered with thick undergrowth to carry out search for the casualties. He was able to find one of the members who had suffered multiple fractures. After having given him mouth to mouth respiration, he quickly brought a doctor to him for rendering medical aid. Thereafter he brought up the wounded member of the team on his back most of the way. When he was climbing the last vertical rock, the anchor of the rope gave way and he slipped more than 100 feet but was lucky to survive. He held on to the wounded member of his team with great determination and brought him safely to the road head.

Flight Lieutenant Satish Purshottam Aparajit thus displayed indomitable courage, team spirit and sense of selfless service.

On the 25th September, 1984, Pilot Officer Radha Krishna Balabhadra was authorised to carry out his fourth sortie on MiG aircraft. During the course of the flight at an altitude of 10 Kms., the canopy perspex of the aircraft shattered and as a result raining glass and plastic fragments fell on him. The aircraft was left with only jagged remnants of the canopy on the left side. The tremendous air blast made it extremely difficult and hazardous for the Officer to even open his eyes and look ahead. Simultaneously he also experienced the accompanied shock of explosive decompression. Pilot Officer Balabhadra, with negligible experience on such aircraft exhibiting great alertness, confidence and coolness descended rapidly, selecting the Identification friend or foe on to emergency, and carried out a safe landing having catered for the extra speed and power required due to the damaged state of the aircraft.

Pilot Officer Radha Krishna Balabhadra thus displayed courage, confidence, presence of mind and a high sense of flying skill.

On the 8th Sept. 1984, Flight Cadet Mohinder Jeet Singh Bains, who was undergoing Advance stage training at an Air Force Training Institution, was authorised to fly a Low Level Navigation sortie with a chase pilot. Just after take off, he experienced an engine flame-out. Facing the most critical emergency in a single engine jet aircraft. Flt Cdt Mohinder Jeet Singh Bains, inspite of his very limited experience as a trainee pilot, was calm. He turned the stricken aircraft away from heavily populated areas to head for a lake in order to avoid loss of lives on the ground and damage to civilians property. Thereafter, following the drills he had been taught, he jettisoned the canopy and put the aircraft smoothly down, wheels up, on the edge of the lake. The aircraft skimmed along the water and slowed down about three hundred meters into the lake, then nosed into settle wings level on the bottom, twenty feet down. Underwater, Flt Cdt Bains unstrapped himself from his seat and his parachute, disconnected his oxygen tube and came out of the cockpit. But immediately he got entangled in the weeds in the lake. Though weighed down by his boots and overalls, he made a tremendous effort and almost reached the surface but the weeds pulled him down. He attempted to remove his boots and by the time he unlaced one, he had suffocated and drowned.

Flight Cadet Mohinder Jeet Singh Bains thus displayed cool courage, presence of mind and a high sense of responsibility.

On the 1st November, 1984, Warrant Officer Sharma, who was residing in Palam Colony area, sheltered 12 members of minority community in his house to save their lives from the rioteers. In doing this, Warrant Officer Sharma risked the lives of his own family members as the rioteers got some hint that the minority community members were hiding in his house. They surrounded the house and threatened Warrant Officer Sharma with dire consequences if he did not hand over the people sheltered by him. Warrant Officer Sharma maintaining calm, tried to convince these miscreants that his house did not shelter any body. Not fully satisfied, the rioteers continued to keep watch on his house and his activities. On the night of 2nd November, 1984, Warrant Officer Sharma found an opportunity and evacuated first batch of six members of one family sheltering in his house. However before the second lot of 6 people could be moved to safety, the rioteers once again surrounded the house. Warrant Officer Sharma putting his own life at serious risk, argued with the rioteers and did not allow them to enter his house. His house remained surrounded by miscreants for 48 hours and he himself remained outside keeping their attention diverted. After two days, the family of 6 members was evacuated.

Warrant Officer Harkanwal Krishan Sharma thus displayed exemplary courage and presence of mind in extremely adverse circumstances at grave risk to his own life and lives of his family members.

On the 8th March, 1986, while on a reconnaissance mission with the General Officer Commanding and the Brigade Commander on board aircraft flown by Lieutenant Colonel Vijay Kumar Sitaram, Flight Commander of an Air Observation Post Squadron, operating in forward area in Northern Sector was fired upon by the enemy with surface to air missiles. With reflex action and superb airmanship, he manoeuvred his aircraft out of the direction of the missile, missing it by inches. Totally unnerved he continued to take evasive action and landed safely.

A second reconnaissance was launched, with the Brigade Commander on board, to locate the site of the missile system. During the second mission, his mission was again engaged by ground fire. With his daring skill and superb airmanship reconnaissance was able to detect the enemy positions. After location, he got airborne again under enemy fire and conducted an accurate artillery shoot destroying the enemy position.

Lieutenant Colonel Vijay Kumar Sitaram thus displayed indomitable courage, a high degree of professional skill and devotion to duty of an exceptional order.

Bombay experienced incessant and very heavy rainfall on the night of 24th/25th June 85 which continued up to 1200 hours next day. Between 800 hours and 1200 hours Bombay received an unprecedented 378 mm of rainfall. This resulted in disruption of rail and bus services and no light vehicles could ply in most of the areas. Wing Commander Kannimangalam Vaidyanathan Seshadri of Air Force Station was only officer who managed to reach Air Force Station on that day.

When at about 0800 hours Wing Commander Seshadri noticed that the water level inside the Station Headquarters was rising rapidly, he sensed danger and displaying great presence of mind, he first rushed with all available personal to MES Power Station in order to cut of the power supply to the camp area. At that time the Power Station was having waist deep water and there was great danger of electrocution. Disregarding this danger and at great risk to his life Wing Commander Seshadri went in the Power House and personally put off electrical switches.

Having eliminated the grave danger of electrocution and fire due to short circuiting, the officer then set about the task of preventing the damage to service equipment. He marshaled the personal available to him to put at height Secret and Confidential publications, Stationary, rations and MT spares etc. He also arranged for food for the NCO's Mess and for the families who were marooned in the domestic area.

During these seven hours of unprecedented rainfall Wing Commander Kannimangalam Vaidyanathan Seshadri displayed unflinching courage and determination to prevent loss of life that could have resulted from the flood situation. His timely presence of mind saved costly equipment, document, rations, office furniture and stationary costing about 4-5 lakhs.

On 27th January, 1986 Flight Lieutenant Naseem Akhtar was detailed for an instructional story with a foreign trainee at a flying training base. Shortly after take off, while leaving circuit at 1300' above ground level, he experienced severe engine vibration. He took the correct action of throttling back the engine but in this process the engine flamed out. He then tried a hot re-light, while easing up, which provided to be of no avail. He promptly asked his pupil to eject keeping in view the low height. The pupil was hesitant and did not respond to instructions. At this stage Flight Lieutenant Naseem Akhtar would have been fully justified in ejecting himself, since any further delay would have jeopardized his own safety, in view of the low height. Completely disregarding the immediate danger to his own life he decided not to abandon his pupil into the hands of fate. He quickly went over the relight drill and the engine relit seconds before the impact with the ground. Opening full power he commenced a climb back towards base. However, shortly thereafter the engine flamed out again. Flt Lt Akhtar himself jettisoned the canopy and asked his pupil to eject. Not being sure of the pupil's reaction, he simultaneously attempted relight. This time, however the pupil ejected, but, even as he did so, the engine once again picked up, though at a very low height. He coolly assessed the situation and in spite of the high noise level in cock pit due to a jettisoned canopy and the unreliable engine, he landed the aircraft immediately and safely.

Flight Lieutenant Naseem Akhtar, at great peril to his own life, faced a totally unforeseen situation coolly and lived up to the loftiest ideals of human conflict. He not only saved the valuable life of his people but also brought back the aircraft safely.

On 20th August, 1986, at 1200 hours, a distress message was received from the Sub Collector of 'Elluru' that the flood water, after breach in the bundh of the river, had gushed in submerging the village 'Kottapetta' and cutting it from the rest of the State. Thousands of villagers faced danger to their lives for want of food and essential medicines. Epidemic of cholera was fast spreading in the village. It was essential to drop the medicines and food supplies in the village without any loss of time. The work was entrusted to Squadron Leader Devinder Singh Khajuria, Flight Engineer Leader. Immediately a helicopter was loaded with necessary medicines and food packets and took off for this important mission. While approaching the village the Flight Gunner tried to open the exit door to drop the essential medicines and food supplies but found that the door jammed in the closed position. All his efforts to release the latch failed. Releasing the gravity of the situation, Squadron Leader Khajuria immediately left his seat and rushed to the cargo compartment, opened a side window noticed that the metal block on the exit door had been bent and had got stuck in the groove. Since the area was completely submerged under a sheet of water, there was no place at all the land the helicopter. Squadron Leader Khajuria took upon himself the hazardous task of releasing the locking mechanism from outside the helicopter in flight. Exhibiting exceptional courage and at great personal risk, he put his head out of side window and with more than half of his body outside the helicopter against the heavy rotor downwash and air flow in flight, made a valiant effort to reach the door locking metal block but did not succeed. He instructed the flight gunner and ejection crew to hold his legs and extending his body further out of the helicopter, he could reach the bent latch. He doggedly carried on working on the latch and after a lapse of almost five minutes of flight, finally succeeded in straightening it out and thus releasing the locking mechanism to the marooned villagers' in time.

Squadron Leader Devinder Singh Khajuria thus displayed dogged determination, dauntless courage and high professional acumen.