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Aerial View
An aerial photograph showing the layout of the Halwara War memorial. The center obelisk commemorates the pilots who died flying operations during war time. The obelisk on the left of the photograph is dedicated with names of those who were killed during p
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Memorial Pillar
The main memorial pillar commemorates eight casualties of the 65 war and three casualties from the 71 war.
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Left Obelisk
The left side obelisk with the names of peace time aircrew who died in the course of duty. Hunter BA-233 in the background
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Right Obelisk
The right obelisk is still blank - and hopefully remains so. A Sukhoi-7 in the background.
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Hunter BA233 - front quarter view
Hunter BA-233 at the monument. The Hunter is silver scheme, having lost its original two tone camouflage in a repaint. BA-233 was an ex-RAF Hunter with serial XE537. No information is available on its career.
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Hunter BA233 - front view
Hunter BA-233 at the monument. The Hunter is silver scheme, having lost its original two tone camouflage in a repaint. BA-233 was an ex-RAF Hunter with serial XE537. No information is available on its career.
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Sukhoi-7 BMK B785
Sukhoi-7 BMK B-785 on the right side of the monument.
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Sukhoi-7 BMK B785
Sukhoi-7 BMK B-785 on the right side of the monument.
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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:
| 1965 (Dedicated by Air Chief Marshal
Arjan Singh on 16th June 69) |
| Sqn Ldr A K Rawlley |
7 Sqn |
| Sqn Ldr S B Bhagwat |
7 Sqn |
| Fg Offr J S Brar |
7 Sqn |
| Flt Lt G S Ahuja |
27 Sqn |
| Sqn Ldr N K Malik |
2 Sqn |
| Flt Lt T K Chaudhury |
27 Sqn |
| Fg Offr F D Bunsha |
7 Sqn |
| Sqn Ldr D P Chatterjee |
7 Sqn |
| 1971 (Dedicated by Air Chief Marshal PC
Lal on 15th April 72) |
| Sqn Ldr G K Arora |
7 GTS |
| Flt Lt H V Singh |
222 Sqn |
| Fg Offr M M Singh |
9 Sqn |
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:
| Lest We Forget |
Date on Memorial |
Remarks |
| Flt Lt S P Singh |
?? |
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| Plt Offr S R Kamath |
28.6.?? |
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| Plt Offr A K Jain |
20.8.?? |
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| Fg Offr M P Singh |
5.1.?? |
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| Flt Lt D J DiSilva |
9.2.?? |
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| Flt Lt U R Potnis |
18.8.66 |
Gnat Cr |
| Fg Offr H S Chouhan |
20.??.?? |
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| Fg Offr K S Dalal |
5.10.?? |
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| Plt Offr T S Sandhu |
7.11.6? |
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| Fg Offr K S Johal |
21.8.70 |
Gnat Cr |
| Sqn Ldr K S Rao |
15.3.71 |
Gnat Cr |
| Fg Offr V K Khajuria |
10.2.72 |
Sukhoi-7 Cr |
| ???????? (illegible) |
?? |
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| Flt Lt R Raghu |
?? |
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| Flt Lt I S Gohil |
17.6.87 |
Helicopter Cr |
| Fg Offr P Sharma |
17.6.87 |
| Sqn Ldr S K Dogra |
8.6.88 |
Helicopter Cr |
| Fg Offr J Singh |
8.6.88 |
| Wg Cdr Sanjoy Bose |
19.9.91 |
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| Sqn Ldr R Ravindranath |
8.9.93 |
MiG-23 Cr |
| Sqn Ldr M Rajkumar |
25.4.2000 |
MiG-23 Cr |
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.
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