Bharat Rakshak:Indian Air Force

9 Wing Memorial at Halwara Air Force Station

Anandeep Pannu

Halwara Air Force Station is the home for 9 Wing operating MiG-23BNs.  9 Wing was initially established in the 1950s and was in the center of action during the 1965 and 71 Wars, operating Hunters in the former and Sukhoi-7s in the latter.

Seen in these photos is the Halwara War Memorial that commemorates both the war dead as well as peace time casualties.  The memorial consists of three obelisks - connected by a pathway.

The center main obelisk is devoted to war casualties and lists the names of pilots killed in the 1965 and 71 Wars. The names are as under:

During the 1971 Operations,  Flt Lt S K Chibber of 108 Sqn was lost on a daylight strike into Pakistan. 108 Squadron's parent base was Bareilly, which could be the reason that Chibbers name is not found on the memorial.

The main obelisk is flanked by two slightly smaller obelisks connected by a pathway. The one on the left has several names related to peacetime accidents. The obelisk on the right is still blank.  The names on the left obelisk are not too clear. Since the names have been painted and not inscribed, the legibility has been affected by the elements. It is clear that the names are as under:

The Aircraft

As with other memorials, two aircraft are displayed at the memorial . Hawker Hunter [BA-233] and Sukhoi-7BMK  [B-785] form the backdrop for this monument. It is apt that these two aircraft were chosen, after all the Hunter was the mainstay of Halwara in the 65 Operations and the Sukhoi was at the forefront during 1971.