The IAF - Veterans History Project Team

Jagan Pillarisetti  

Jagan is best described as a military aviation and history enthusiast. His interests are multi-faceted, extending to other wings of the armed forces and other aspects of aviation like vintage aircraft and their preservation. His main objective is to chronicle the history of the Indian Air Force in its entirety. Jagan started off as a co-webmaster of the Bharat Rakshak IAF web site, which today can claim to be the most visited resource on the Indian Air Force and in his spare time has designed and maintained other websites devoted to the Vintage Aircraft in India and The 1971 India Pakistan War. His articles on IAF history have been published in Vayu Aerospace Review, the journal of the Society of Aerospace Studies in India.  His passion for vintage aviation photography is reflected in his photographs being reproduced in quite a few western aviation magazines and books.

Samir Chopra  

A military aviation history fan, Samir grew up reading WWI and WWII histories accompanied by the sound of jets overhead. He has been associated with the IAF in some shape or form all his life. His father, Sqn Ldr PC 'Chopi' Chopra VrC 69 F(P), served from 1956-1976 and flew Toofanis, Vampires, Mysteres, Su-7s and Hunters, including service in the 1965 Ops (8 Squadron, Mysteres) and 1971 Ops (108 Squadron, Su-7s). Samir's uncle, Air Marshal Gandharva 'Gaboo' Sen, had a long career as well, with his flying starting with Spitfires and ending with Marut HF-24s. Now, Samir's brother Sqn Ldr Ashutosh 'Chopi' Chopra 138 F(P), flies Jaguars with the Tuskers (the first jet he flew in service was the Hunter, the last jet flown by Sqn Ldr P C Chopra) and was lucky enough to be on the Hunter's last sortie. Samir hopes that there are more IAF pilots in the generations to come from his family.

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