Bharat Rakshak Indian Air Force Veterans Project

Bharat Rakshak is interested in compiling a personal history of the veterans that have served with the IAF in the course of its rich history. Operational and wartime histories are valuable and interesting in their own right but the details and insights available in personal testimonials are an equally valuable resource. We are looking for ex-service personnel and veterans who will be willing to share their experiences and service particulars that would help us create an archive of material on the History of the Indian Air force.

1. How can I help in this Project?
2. Who is Bharat Rakshak and why is it collecting this information?
3. What kind of material - information are you looking for?
4. What are the sub-projects that you are working on right now?
5. I am not a veteran, but I want to help you. How can I?
6. How do I contact you?

How can I help?

If you have served in the Indian Air Force we are interested in hearing about your service, your career highlights and any reflections on the Air Force that are illuminating for Indians. While operational histories of the Air Forces are available, these often leave out details on the men behind the scenes and their lives. We would like to pay attention to these to bring a human face to the Air Force and to ensure that future generations are able to learn about the lives of the men and women that fought for the country. Please consider taking a moment to contact us using our Feedback Form.

Business Standard : Read about the Veterans Project and its progress as covered in Business Standard news paper

Who is Bharat-Rakshak and why is it collecting this information?

If you need more information on Bharat Rakshak, its background and its membership, profile and interests please check this link. If you want to know about the specific people working on this project you can read about them here

You can also read the news report published in Business Standard to get an idea of the people behind the project

But what kind of material constitutes a personal history?

As an example of the kind of historical material that we are collecting and making available on the website, you might want to check out some of the links as indicated below. These include, for example, a photo album made available by members of 7 Squadron through the years, the personal collection of Air Cmde RHD Singh, essays on IAF pioneers, Flt. Lt Samar Shah's photo collection on 8 and 27 Squadrons, operational and personal histories of the 1965 operations, articles on 20 Squadron (Lightnings), a pilots account of the Longewala battle and so on.

We are also interested in hearing about activities in the non-flying components of the IAF. As examples we would be interested in hearing about the code-cracking efforts during the 1965 and 1971 wars, the innovations and modifications that ground-bound personnel came up with which made a difference to the fliers, work done by logistics personnel in maintaining the flying operations and so on.In compiling these, we hope to bring a human face to the IAF. We also hope to perhaps put veterans from different eras in contact with each other and to restablish connections between veterans that have been lost over the years.

What are the 'sub-projects' that you are working on?

It is also the objective of the History Project to publish well written comprehensive histories of the conflicts in which the Indian Air Force took part.  Our first sub-project, the 1965 air conflict has been completed and is now a published book. Work on the 1971 War History has started in earnest and collection of information is going on right now. Other projects that are conceptualized for the future include the IPKF Operations , the 1947-48 Kashmir Operations etc. 

I'm not a veteran, but I'd like to help

If you know a veteran of the Indian Air Forces such as a family member, a neighbour or family friend, please consider encouraging them to visit our website and participate in this project. If this is not possible, perhaps you can help us out by encouraging them to supply us with the information on their service profile, career highlights and reflections on the Air Force that are illuminating for Indians. You might want to encourage the veterans to visit the website and see some of our work themselves, or you can solicit the relevant information and send it to us. We can compose a  questionnaire that is relevant to the person you want to meet and e-mail it to you. It  will  serve as a guide for your conversation.

Please do remember that while we are grateful for any assistance provided in this project, we would like to respect the need for privacy of the veterans and their families that you meet and interact with. Excessive demands on their time are not likely to be met kindly, so please do maintain the proper respect that is due to these families.

How do I Contact You?

You can email us at Feedback Form . 

Some contributions from visitors as well as some results of our previous efforts

Veterans Recollect

• Battle Damage!    Recollections of Wg Cdr Don Michael (Retd.)
  Remembering the accident in a damaged Tempest II during Kashmir Operations.

• Exercise Shiksha - India US Face off by Wg Cdr Donald Michael (Retd.)
  The first India US joint combat aircraft exercise from 1963

• An Airman's tour in Burma - Conversations with Wg Cdr HK Patel -1
  Recollections of a World War Two Veteran who started off the war as an Airman

• Flying Operations on the Burma Front - Conversations with Wg Cdr HK Patel -2
  After completion of flying training, the airman turned officer saw action on the Burma Front

• Independence to the 1962 War - Conversations with Wg Cdr HK Patel -3
  Last in the series of the Interview of Wg Cdr HK Patel - about his India China War experiences.

• Ground Tenures by Wg Cdr (Retd.) Venu Kondath 
  A technical officer's first ground posting at a 'happening place' - Ambala!

• Liberator Tales by Wg Cdr (Retd.) Venu Kondath -
  Recollections of a Flight Signaller with No.6 MR Squadron

• Dakota Dispatches by Wg Cdr (Retd.) Venu Kondath -
  Recollections of Wg Cdr Kondath's experiences from the 1962 Conflict

• The An-12 in the bombing role by Sqn Ldr (Retd.) Douglas Augier
  The unknown story of a band of pilots tasked with a 'suicidal' mission.

• Comments on the An-12 'Bomber' Article  by Wg Cdr (Retd) RA Rufus
  Wg Cdr Rufus sends in his comments on the Dinky Augier's article..

• Flying the An-12 into Ladakh by Gp Capt (Retd.) AG Bewoor VM
  How the IAF perfected operations from a 10,500' AGL airfield surrounded by 18.000 ' high mountains.

• IAF Pilots in the USA - The first batch by Air Marshal (Retd.) Philip Rajkumar
  Experiences of a pilot deputed to the United States Air Force and who flew the F-86 Sabre

• IAF Pilots in the United States by Flt Lt (Retd.) Peter Brown
  A delightful narration of the stint by a group of Indian Pilots in the United States

• Eye Witness to the Six Day War by Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava (Retd.)
  A Test Pilot's work in Egypt is interrupted by an unforeseen event - in this case, the Six Day War!

• The Naked Apes in the Indian Air Force   by Group Captain Kapil Bhargava (Retd.)
  A new recruit's view of a hairy problem in the IAF

• Battle of Longewala by Wg Cdr (Retd.) KS Suresh VrC
  The story of the 45 Tanks Vs 4 Hunters retold by one of the pilots who was there.

• Partition Troubles by Wg Cdr (Retd.) GV Kuriyan
  Things weren't always smooth during partition, as this young Flying Officer was to find out.

• The Catterpillar Club by Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) CV Parker, MVC VM
  When the little gremlins combine forces during a flight, you  have an engine fire and a classic baleout from a Tempest!

• The Vampire's Last Flight by Air Vice Marshal Subhash Bhojwani
  The Vampire was retired by the IAF in Dec 75. But IB-1738 was to make one last unofficial flight and is saved the torch!

Encounters with Veterans

• Tales of Vengeance - Mukund Murty

• Air Cmde HS Ratnagar - Back to India - Jagan Pillarisetti

• Air Cmde HS Ratnagar - Lysanders to Hurricanes - Jagan Pillarisetti

• Wg Cdr CHL Digby - Senior Officer and Retirement - K S Nair

• Wg Cdr CHL Digby - Panther Boss - K S Nair

• Wg Cdr CHL Digby - Squadron Service and Instructional Duties - K S Nair

• Wg Cdr CHL Digby - The Fledgling Years - K S Nair

• Wg Cdr CHL Digby - In the land of the Mikado - K S Nair

• The Sky was the Limit : Wg Cdr Murkot Ramunny - K S Nair

• Wg Cdr PS Bhachu - Flying Otters in NEFA - Anandeep Pannu

• Fg Offr Neville Gill - A World War II Pilot's Story  - S Nanda Kumar

• Air Cmde Peter Wilson PVSM VrC - Part 1 - K S Nair

• Air Cmde Peter Wilson PVSM VrC - Another perspective - Wg Cdr (Retd.) K S Suresh VrC

• IAF Reunion at Sydney, 2002  - Samir Chopra

Personal Photo Archives

• Wg Cdr Digby's Photos of No.23 Squadron in 1958

• Wg Cdr Digby's Photos of CTU Hakimpet and the 58 Pilots Course

• Air Marshal AR Pandit PVSM AVSM DFC - Photo Albums

• Group Captain R Sundaresan VrC VM Photo Album

• Wing Commander PS Bhachu's Photo Album (Caribous)

• Air Cmde R H D Singh's Photo Album

• Squadron Leader J F 'Joe' Josephs' Photo Album

• Flight Lieutnant Des Peter's Photos from 221 Squadron

• Flight Lieutnant Des Peter's Auxillary Air Force Days
  

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