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Wing Commander Vipin Vilas Takawale
| Service No & Branch | 26320 F(P) |  | |||||||
| Date of Birth: | Commissioned: 16 Dec 2000 | Course: 166 Course | |||||||
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| Google the Bharat Rakshak Website for : "V V Takawale" | |||||||||
| Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry) | ||||
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| Sqn Ldr | Vipin Vilas Takawale | 26320 F(P) | Award Date 26 Jan 2014 | Announced 26 Jan 2014 |
| Details : | Squadron Leader Vipin Vilas Takawale (26320) Flying (Pilot) is a Chetak, Cheetah type instructor and is posted in an operational helicopter unit since May 2012. The flash floods in Uttarakhand had taken the entire nation by surprise and rescue of stranded civilians was of paramount importance. Sqn Ldr Takawale was detailed as Detachment Commander of a two helicopter Cheetah detachment at Gauchar. On 21 Jun 13. the detachment was tasked to drop food packets in the Kedarnath valley. Sqn Ldr Takawale got airborne within minutes of getting SOS call and commenced his food dropping mission. While dropping relief material, he heard a distress call from a civil helicopter which had crashed and was on fire in the treacherous terrain of Jungle Chatti. Despite not being prepared for a casualty evacuation mission, the officer on receiving a SOS call displayed good leadership qualities and took a courageous decision to proceed to crash site. Though this was his first sortie in the area, he was quick to correlate the map and displayed exceptional navigations skills in locating the crash site within 10 minutes of the crash. He noticed that the crashed helicopter was at a site which posed many dangers like dense HT and LT cables, electrical poles, narrow valley, thick vegetation and absolutely no place to land. The inhospitable terrain coupled with adverse wind conditions left him with no margins for error: however, he remained undeterred and after a quick in-flight briefing decided to winch up the casualty. He used all his experience and skill to manoeuvre the helicopter in and extremely restricted area to position it over the crash site while at the same time keeping adequate safe distance from the HT and LT cables. Since the length of winch cable was not enough, he decided to take a well calculated risk of lowering the hover height with further reduced his margin of error and demanded that the helicopter be flown with precision. This herculean courageous effort of the officer resulted in the casualty being rescued safely. The devastation caused during the Uttarakhand disaster was extremely unnerving, however Sqn Ldr Takawale maintained his composure and displayed qualities of courage. decision making and ability to react to a situation. He did all this with extreme confidence and without compromising flight safety. This mission definitely enhanced IAF s image as being ever ready to provide succour to the affected. For his exceptional courage, in the face of adverse conditions, and unparalleled dedication to duty. Hon'ble President is pleased to award Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry) to Squadron Leader Vipin Vilas Takawale. | |||
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| Reference : Air Force Day Booklet | ||||
The data in the header section of this page comes from the Gazette of India - Click here to see the source
The URL for this page is http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/26320
Note: All the data available here is publicly available in the Gazette of India, published by the Indian Government, or from public domain sources, press releases about Awards and Right-To-Information (RTI) Requests. Additionally data shared by veterans is added to the page with permission. No data with respect to serving officers below the rank of AVM is displayed. Information in Gazette of India and Award citations and photographs as released by the Indian Air Force are the only details displayed.