The Caribous of Cape May, NJ - In the south most corner of the New Jersey Peninsula, in Cape May airport are the relics of eight Indian Air Force Caribou aircraft.
Group Captain Gohain was commissioned in the fighter stream of 110 Pilots Course on 2 Jun 1973. After initial training He was posted to Gnat squadrons and for next seven years or so served in Nos 22, 23 and 2 Squadrons. In 1982 he converted to MiG 21M and served in 37 and 17 Squadrons. he did two instructional tenures in MOFTU where he flew MiG-21FLs and later commanded 52 Squadron. He also commanded 273 SU, an ADDC as Group Captain. A qualified FCL and graduate of Staff College, he took a premature retirement from Air Force in May 2004.
Wg Cdr Joseph Thomas, VM was a young flying officer serving with No.43 Squadron in Ladakh during the 1962 war with China. His experiences during the outbreak of the war are narrated in this article.
Planes of Hindustan was one of the earliest World War II documentaries to be made in India and it was the second to be produced by the company Wadia. The film has rare footage of No.1 Squadron from early 1940, However further information is missing on details available in the film. This is an updated higher resolution version of the clip we had updated seven years ago, with timestamp based analysis and links to the video.
Rare WW2 era footage of former POW Flying Officer K V Nair after his liberation from the Rangoon Jail.
The IAF Award's Database Section has been updated. More than 4800 Award entries, and 3400 Citations to be found in the DB
A Spitfire veteran reminisces - Air Marshal S Raghavendran , who retired as VCAS of the Indian Air Force remembers his favourite aircraft - The Supermarine Spitfire. He was motivated to join the IAF to fly this legendary fighter - and shares his memories of those early years. (Duration : 7 minutes)
The Nawanagar Sword of Honour was a gem-encrusted invaluable sword that was awarded to the newly commissioned Pilot Officers who stood first in their course at the Air Force Academy. The sword was replaced by the Chief of Air Staff Sword of Honour in the 1990s and it disappeared in the sands of time... till one diligent commandant of the Air Force Academy decided to track it down..
Murkot Ramunny, had served in the Indian Air Force, flying Hurricanes in Burma during the War. He left the IAF shortly after Independence, to serve the Government in civil capacities. He does not bother to include his old IAF rank on his letterhead, which reads simply, “Murkot Ramunny, IAS (Retd)”. This is understandable, for his military rank is far eclipsed, in protocol terms, by the civil service ranks he rose to later; and to most people, his status as a former senior civil servant is what counts. But to IAF history enthusiasts like us, he will always be Wing Commander Murkot Ramunny. The article is now updated to reflect a Youtube video - a rare and most certainly the last time he was interviewed on video about his WW2 experiences
Pilot Officer Hukum Chand Mehta was one of the twenty four Indians sent to the United Kindom in1940. The Indians arrived on October 8, 1940, at the height of Battle of Britain, but by the time their training was completed, it would be April 1941. HC Mehta would be one of the six pilots who went to Fighter command. He joined 43 Squadron.