Wing commander Sen carried out a through project study for setting up of 35 mm movie projection system in the Air Force Academy from Air Force Welfare Funds, Funds generated from this venture were channeled towards construction of an open Air Theater, which again was designed by Wing Commander Sen after a second project study. The personal interest taken by him in contacting Local Government and private agencies for release of steel, cement, and other restricted quota items, and getting the project going with rapidity speaks highly of his initiative. The theater, the construction was started in December, 1973, was ready for operation on 1st April, 1974, largely due to consistent interest taken by Wing Commander Sen. He has also designed and locally fabricated a Kiran Wireless Trainer for training wireless mechanics on Kiran signals installation.

The dedicated work, drive and leadership of Wing Commander Sen was largely instrumental in ensuring establishment of sound and effective signal echelon at Air Force Academy. His consistent zeal to execute all assignments from inception to successful frutition, made heavy demands on him well beyond the call of duty. He has rendered distinguished service of a high order.

Master Warrant Officer Chandran was enrolled on 1 Nov 42. He was posted to Air Force Academy where he was in-charge of Harvard second line servicing. It was largely due to his efforts that inspite of the age of the Aircraft, the training targets could be adhered to and courses passed out on schedule. Notable amongst his achievements is elimination of Counter Weight shaft failures. In 1974 there were incidents of the front cowling of Harvard aircraft fouling with the propeller. With his professional knowledge and personal participation he evolved suitable servicing instruction to prevent recurrence of such incidents. His contribution to make flying safe is substantial.

Wing Commander Nipani Lakshmi Narayana Rao (4837) Flying (Pilot) has been on the posted strength of Air Force Academy with effect from April 1973 as Chief Operation Officer. During 1974, Wing Commander Nipani Lakshmi Narayana Rao was called upon to take over the duties of Chief Flying Instructor Harvard Training Squadron in addition to the Chief Operation Officer's duties in the absence of a regular incumbent on the establishment of Air Force Academy. These two appointments jointly placed lot of responsibilities on him. It was due to his devotion to duty, hard work and perseverance that not only the flying training task was completed in time, he himself did 400 hors of supervisory instructional flying during this period. Wing Commander Nipani Lakshmi Narayana Rao has done over 6000 hours of service flying out of which 2000 hours are instructional.

Wing Commander Nipani Lakshmi Narayana Rao was also entrusted with various welfare responsibilities at the Air Force Academy which he performed in an excellent manner. The results produced by him were only possible due to his high sense of responsibility, devotion to duty, integrity and working long hours with single mindedness of purpose without caring for personal comforts.

For his distinguished service of a very high order, Wing Commander Nipani Lakshmi Narayana Rao is awarded Vishisht Seva Medal.

Wing Commander Sundaram Kalyan Sundaram was commissioned in the Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical) Branch of the Air Force in November 1968.

He has been the Chief Engineering Officer of the Air Force Academy since 16 September 1976. Undeterred by the high Aircraft-onGround rate of rotables and ARS spares, and the problems faced on the tail plane, nosewheel assembly and canopies, Wing Commander Sundaram displayed intelligent planning, effective material management, high devotion to duty an cordial relationship with HAL, thus raising the serviceability progressively to 70%. Wing Commander Sundaram Kalyan Sundaram has all along deployed outstanding work, intelligence, management ability and a high sense of devotion to duty and has thus rendered distinguished service of a high order. The President is pleased to award him Vishisht Seva Medal.

Flying Officer Nav Ratan Shukla was commissioned in Jun 81 and since then has been posted at the Air Force Academy as Officer-in-Charge CR&SS.

Despite the introduction of various modifications, technical instructions and servicing bulletins, the snags of 'Nose Red' and Canopy Unlocking Warning have been occurring on the Kiran aircraft. Fg Offr Shukla designed and fabricated a special peg spanner for effectively locking the nose undercarriage downlock micro switch actuating pin, introduced vide Mod 287A. He evolved a system of determining the requirement of shimmying for this pin to render the microswitch operation foolproof. This has considerably reduced the 'Nose Red' incidents on post-Mod 287A/334 aircraft. These rigging instructions have since been accepted by both HAL and the IAF. Standard Technical Instructions, incorporating his design, are under issue.

Earlier, he suggested rigging instructions for clam shell operating mechanism, to overcome play in the canopy locking mechanism, which often resulted in a canopy unlocked warning. These instructions, accepted by HAL (BC), have since been issued for implementation. This has virtually eliminated the canopy defects.

As Officer-in-Charge CR&SS, Fg Offr Shukla has maintained a very high production output. His achievements and exceptional devotion to duty, have been a source of inspiration to maintenance personnel at the Academy.

For his commendable initiative and innovative skills, the President is pleased to grant Vishisht Seva Medal to Flying Officer Nav Ratan Shukla.

Group Captain Jaspal Singh Gujral was commissioned on 31 Dec 67 as a fighter pilot. A graduate of Defence Services Staff College and Instiute of Defence Management, he commanded a MiG-21 fighter squadron during 1985-87. For exceptional devotion to duty, he was awarded Vayu Seva Medal in 1988. Gp Capt Gujral is an A-2 Qualified Flying Instructor and has flown more than 3800 accident free hours on single engine aircraft.

For his professional competence, Gp Capt Gujral was specially selected fro appointment of Chief Instructor (CI) Flying at Air Force Academy (AFA), the premier flying training institution of the IAF. In this appointment, he was overall incharge of ab-initio and advance flying training of pilots. Gp Capt Gujral produced excellent results while training 547 pilot trainees - the mainstay of the IAF during times to come. His personal involvement in all aspects of training culminated in consi derable improvement in flight safety. Flight safety record of zero landing accidents sine 30 Sep 91, and zero spin accident of trainees since 01 Dec 90 are visible indicators of his superb performance. Besides, Gp Capt Gujral has coordinated and led seven fly pasts during Graduation Parades, remodified Academy orders concerning local flying areas (LFA) management and fabricated a scale model of LFA. In addition he compiled and excellent précis on "service etiquettes" in the IAF. His services have contributed immensely in producing highly accomplished officer. While attaining this objective, he also ensured that no aircraft were lost during conduct of training.

For distinguished service of a high order, the President is pleased to award Vishisht Seva Medal to Gp Capt Jaspal Singh Gujral.

Group Captain RS Tathgur was commissioned on 29 Dec 68. A veteran fighter pilot with over 4100 hours of accident free flying to his credit, he is also an A-2 flying instructor. Further his track record as Flight Commander and Commanding Officer of two operational Squadrons is excellent.

Group Captain RS Tathgur was posted as Academy Flight Safety & Inspection Officer in Apr 93 and took over as Chief Operations Officer in Apr 94. The Academy flies over 18,000 hours per annum. Most of this is carried out by ab-initio trainees, which explains the crucial role of both the above appointments in maintaining a safe flying environment. That the Officer has more than met the standards expected of him is evident from the fact that the Academy accident rate for the year 1993-94 was zero. Further as Chief Operations Officer he has maintained a continuous check on potential hazards to flying by eradicating bird roosting areas in the aerodrome vicinity, paying great heed to aerodrome maintenance, introducing Red & Green periods for flying and personally surveying and clearing sectors for low flying. He was also responsible for revamping the pre-accident plan and ensuring its regular practice. These achievements undoubtedly contributed a great deal to the Academy winning the Best Flying Training Establishment trophy for two consecutive years and the coveted Flight Safety Trophy in 1993-94.

For distinguished service of a high order, the President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Group Captain RS Tathgur.

Group Captain Sajjad Rahim (13031) AE (M) was commissioned as an Engineer in the Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical) Branch on 17 Jan 72. He has held the appointments of Flight Engineer Leader, Officer Commanding, Director at Air HQ and Chief Engineering Officer, Air Force Academy. He is a graduate from Defence Services Staff College, a postgraduate in Aerospace Engineering from IIT, and holds Master Degree in Business Administration. During his tenure as JD/Director, Armament & Safety Equipment, he evolved a concept and methodology to rejuvenate life expired bombs by opening up the bomb body, removing the life expired charge and replacing it with advanced High Explosive charge. The recycling of the 3200 old bombs held the potential of saving of Rs 30 crore initially at the rate of Rs 95,000 per bomb. This has now become a regular practice. As Chief Engineering Officer at Air Force Academy, since 09 Nov 98, by dedication, hard work and professionalism he changed the work culture and made the organisation more focussed. His skillful management resulted in improvement of Kiran fleet average serviceability from 59% in 1998 to 83% in 2000. The corresponding figures for HPT-32 aircraft were 69% and 85%. 100% serviceability was achieved on Kiran and HPT-32 fleets on 39 and 59 occasions respectively. The sustenance of high serviceability resulted in smooth conduct of annual flying training task of 5,500 hours for Kiran and 11,500 hours for HPT-32. During his stewardship 48 Kiran and 56 HPT-32 aircraft were recovered from prolonged non-availability. The non- availability of critical components like cooling Air pack and Artificial Horizon for Kiran was overcome by putting in place a system for transferring the components between flying aircraft, thus improving aircraft availability. In addition, the serviceability of systems such as Radiotelephony, Arrester barrier, Telephone exchange, etc was maintained over 99%. By tactful liaison with DoT, the Ultra High Frequency linked telephone circuit was changed over to optical fibre cable, without any breakdown of communication links, leading to a saving of Rs Two lakhs annually.

For his dynamic leadership, professional dedication and distinguished services of a high order, the Hon'ble President is pleased to award 'Vishisht Seva Medal' to Group Captain Sajjad Rahim.