During the operations against Pakistan in December, 1971, Flying Officer Satish Chandra Sharma was attached to a Brigade in the Eastern Sector for duties as a Forward Air Controller in the Air Contact Team of the Brigade. On the 7th December, 1971, Flying Officer Sharma was detailed to accompany a Company which was airlifted by helicopter to a site behind the enemy occupied area at Sylhet. He landed at the helipad at 1700 hours with a small party and signal sets, under heavy enemy fire. He immediately took control fo the situation and brought his men safely to vantage point from where he directed the incoming helicopters sorties to strike enemy postions at the branch on river Surma and enemy Headquarters at Circuit House. This strike was so effective that the enemy did not fire for quite sometime. The enemy resumed its fire pressure at the subsequent landings on the morning of 8th December 1971. Flying Officer Sharma again went to a vantage point under heavy enemy shelling and successfully directed our bombers on the enemy positions and targets. These strikes were so accurate that the enemy firing ceased immediately. On the night of 8th/9th December, 1971, the enemy occupied positions around two of our forward block companies and engaged then with heavy MMG and mortar fire. Flying Officer Sharma again went to a vantage point and effectively directed our air strike. Undeterred by the enemy fire all around him, he led his escort party towards the forward company location. Enroute, he encountered a small enemy patrol, who fired at his party from a nearby grove. Though unfamiliar with infantry tactics, Flying Officer Sharma ordered his small party to attack the enemy, and personally led the charge on the enemy patrol. This spontaneous and swift action resulted in the death of two enemy personnel. Flying Officer Sharma and his party moved forward with confidence and reached a suitable vantage point close to the forward block company. From that position, he directed air attacks on the enemy occupied area. The air strikes were so accurate and effective that they disorganized enemy’s preparation for a possible attack on the forward block company.

Throughout, Flying Officer Satish Chandra Sharma displayed gallantry, leadership and professional skill of a high order.

On the 26th August, 1981, Flying Officer Jankiraman Balasubramanian (15558) Flying (Pilot), took off for an air dropping sortie in Eastern Sector. The Dropping Zone was one of the Southern-most low lying dropping Zone. The flight was uneventful till the aircraft reached the dropping Zone. On his very first run for the drop, Flying Officer Balasubramanian heard a loud backfiring noise from his port engine followed by severe vibrations and smoke. Flying Officer Balasubramanian quickly checked his engine instruments and confirmed the failure of port engine. He not only controlled the aircraft at this critical stage of flight but avoided the hill in front of him in a cool, confident and courageous manner and simultaneously shut down the port engine. Flying Officer Balasubramanian found that his aircraft was not climbing on one engine. He quickly ejected the load and managed to gain the badly needed height of 1500' which was his minimum escape route height. He flew the stricken aircraft on one engine for over one hour over hilly terrain fighting turbulence and keeping a hawk's eye on the temperature of his live engine. He thus succeeded in bringing the aircraft back to base and made a perfect touch down.

Flying Officer Jankiraman Balasubramanian, with his flying experience of only 270 hours, handled the grave emergency in an exemplary and professional manner and thus saved eight valuable lives on board.

Flight Lieutenant Martins was serving with a transport squadron operating in NEFA. During the different phases of the battle of Walong, the vital supplies required by the piquets and retreating columns had to be supplied by airdrops. Flight Lieutenant Martins carried out numerous sorties over hazardous and unmapped areas for this purpose. In spite of the danger of anti-aircraft fire from the encircling Chinese troops, he always volunteered to undertake these missions, in complete disregard of his personal safety.

Flight Lieutenant Martins displayed courage and devotion to duty of a high order.

Fg. Offir. Krishna Vishwanath Rajagopal has been employed in a transport squadron engaged in airlift operations in Assam area since March, 1962. He has carried out over 1000 operational sorties at the various landing grounds and dropping zones in NEFA and elsewhere. He has fulfilled vital Army operational requirements by carrying out operational sorties in difficult terrain in bad weather conditions. Throughout, Fg. Offir. Rajagopal displayed courage and devotion to duty.

Fg. Offir. Jatinder Mohan Singh has been serving with a transport Squadron engaged in airlift operations in the Assam area. During the last four years, he has carried out many difficult air landings and dropping missions to several forward areas in NEFA and Nagaland. On many occasions, he voluntarily undertook difficult missions to hurriedly setup army posts and carried out emergency droppings under difficult conditions. He has flown over 2200 hours, including 1700 hours of operational flying.

Throughout, Fg. Offr. Jatinder Mohan Singh displayed courage and devotion to duty.

Fg. Offir. Ved Prakash Kala has been engaged in transport support operation in the eastern sector since December 1961. In early 1963, he was assigned the task of carrying out reconnaissance for dropping zones in the mountainous terrain in Joshimath and Badrinath areas. He carried out the task successfully. He has always volunteered for difficult and dangerous missions and has been able to operate under adverse weather conditions, flying over 130 hours per month even during the rainy season.

Throughout, Fg. Offir. Kala displayed professional skill, courage and devotion to duty.

Fg. Offr. Sadanand Ramchandra Pedgaonkar has been serving with a transport squadron engaged in airlift operations in NEFA and Nagaland sine May 1962. During the course of about 3 years, he has flown over 2000 hours, of which about 1500 hours have been on operations. He has successfully carried out landings and air dropping operations in many advance landing grounds and dropping zones. At times, when the exigencies of service so demanded, he flew as many as six to seven sorties a day. He flew over 180 hours in about a month's time during the Chinese aggression in 1962.

Throughout, Fg. Offr. Pedgaonkar displayed courage and devotion to duty.

Flight Lieutenant Tarlok Singh Dhaliwal is serving as a pilot in a transport Squadron engaged in an air maintenance role in the eastern regions. He is a qualified flying Instructor and has flown a total of 3,360 hours out of which 1,650 hours are on operational missions. During the Chinese aggression in 1962, he carried out many supply dropping sorties. His intimate knowledge of the terrain of NEFA and Mizo Hills and his experience in carrying out numerous landings at Advance Landing Grounds has been very useful in the training of junior pilots. He has been a source of great inspiration to his junior colleagues.

Throughout, Flight Lieutenant Tarlok Singh Dhaliwal displayed courage and devotion to duty in the best traditions of the Indian Air Force.

Flight Lieutenant Ashutosh Kumar Tripathi joined a flying unit in 1964. During his tenure in this Squadron, he has flown 2,586 hours, of which more than 1,500 hours were on air maintenance operations over the hazardous mountainous terrain in the Eastern area. He has always shown willingness to undertake the most arduous and demanding missions and has successfully accomplished the tasks. He has thus been a source of inspiration to others in the Squadron.

Throughout, Flight Lieutenant Ashutosh Kumar Tripathi displayed courage and devotion to duty.

Flying Officer Baldev Singh has been a Dakota pilot since June. 1967. He has a total of 2200 hours of which 1200 hours have been flown on operational sorties over hazardous terrain in the Eastern Sector. His flying has been accident free throughout and he has obtained a high operational status. On the 10th September, 1972, he was detailed to carry out an Air Maintenance sortie. While joining circuit at the Drooping Zone, he experienced severe vibration and smoke from the port engine. He decided to abort the sortie. The vibration further increased forcing him to feather the engine. Despite his best and repeated efforts the engine failed to feather and the aircraft started to lose height very rapidly bringing him below the safe height in the hills. He took correct and timely decision and ordered the load to be ejected so as to maintain minimum height for clearing the hills through the escape route, but the aircraft still did not maintain height. The live engine temperature started increasing rapidly and because the malfunctioning engine was windmilling, he restarted the engine maintaining partial power to counteract the drag of the windmilling propeller. After ejecting 57 bags of load aircraft maintained a slower rate of descent. After flying the crippled aircraft for one hour, under adverse conditions of weather he executed a safe landing at Base.

Flight Lieutenant Baldev Singh thus displayed courage, professional skill and devotion to duty in the best traditions of the Air Force.

Flight Sergeant Devraj has been serving with a Transport Squadron in the Eastern theatre since April, 1972. From September, 1967 to March, 1972, he had served with a heavy Transport Squadron in Jammu and Kashmir. He has always volunteered for difficult sorties and has flown a total of 3,960 hours, out of which 1706 hours have been on operational sorties. During the Indo-Pak Conflict 1971 he had flown a large number of operational hours and had taken part in the operations in Western as well as Eastern Sectors. He also took part in paratrooping operations. During his stay of less than two years in Assam Sector, he flew a total of 1,600 hours including 1400 hours on operational sorties.

Throughout, Flight Sergeant Devraj displayed courage, professional skill and exceptional devotion to duty.

Squadron Leader Gopal Krishan Mehta was on the posted strength of a transport Squadron for two years and was employed in the capacity of Flight Commander. Unmindful of his personal comfort, he ceaselessly worked for long hours in coordinating and supervising the air maintenance task given to the squadron and completed it ahead of schedule. He himself flew a total of over 900 hours, out of which 550 hours were flown on operational missions in Nagaland and Mizoram. He has to his credit, a total of 4,784 hours of flying out of which 2,010 hours have been flown on operational missions over mountainous terrain and under adverse weather condition. He is an 'A' category transport pilot with Master Green instrument rating. With his professional competence and organisining ability, he has brought about all round improvement in the categorisation state of pilots in the squadron. He accompanied them on such flights, trained them and brought them up for categorization. His personal involvement has motivated his subordinates to give their best to the Air Force.

Squadron Leader Gopal Krishan Mehta has thus displayed professional competence, leadership and devotion to duty of an exceptional order.

Wing Commander Venkataraman Shankar has been the Officer Commanding of a Packet Squadron since 29th April, 1976. Ever since he took over Command of the Squadron, he realised the need to activate his team into a wellknit and cohesive force. As a result, the Squadron has been able to meet all operational and training Commitments that were entrusted to it and has achieved an excellent state of operational status. A man with strong love for flying and decisive and poised in handling emergencies, he was successful in maintaining the morale of the officers and men of his Squadron very high. As a pilot, he has to his credit a total of 6800 hours of accident/incident free flying and 3900 hours of purely operational flying in both Eastern and Northern Sectors. He stands fully qualified for operations in J&K, Ladakh, Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh where flying calls for the most stringent standards of professional competence and acumen. By his keen insight into the working of men and material and capability to quickly anlayse situations, he has been able to bring the aircraft serviceability state of his Squadron to an all time high. It is during his stewardship that the Squadron has been adjudged the best Squadron for Flight Safety and has been awarded the Flight Safety Trophy for the year 1977. He has achieved the highest 'A' /Master Green on three different aircraft and has maintained this status for the past 14 years.

Wing Commander Venkataraman Shankar has thus displayed leadership, high professional skill and devotion to duty of an exceptional order.

Wing Commander Ajit Singh Mann was on the posted strength of one of the transport Squadrons in the Eastern Sector for over four years. During his flying career he has flown over 5125 hours out of which 2805 were flown on operational commitments in the most hazardous and difficult mountainous terrain of Ladakh, Nagaland, NEFA, and Mizo Hills. This entire flying has been accident­free. He has carried out numerous trials of initial reconnaissance and acceptance of new dropping zones. Professionally he has achieved exceptional standard in instrument flying and upgraded his rating to Master Green. He is a Right Hand Seat Check Pilot who has been instrumental in training young Squadron Pilots and upgrading the operational qualifications of a large number of Pilots. He brought up the Pilot categorization state to 97.5% and has been maintaining it.

The Squadron has an accident­free record for the last three years with maximum flying hours to its credit. During this period the Squadron carried out 24,515 hours of flying and there was no other transport Squadron in the Air Force with such flying record. Squadron has won the flight safety trophy for the three consecutive years. This remarkable achievement has been primarily due to untiring efforts by him as senior most flight commander of the Squadron.

Wing Commander Ajit Singh Mann has thus displayed professional competence, leadership capabilities and devotion to duty of an exceptional order.

Group Captain Shyamal Kumar Banerjee was commissioned as a pilot in the flying branch on 04 June 1967. He has held the appointment of Flight Commander at Elementary Flying School Bidar, the Chief Flying Instructor at Transport Training Wing Yelahanka and Deputy Director Air Staff Inspection at Air Headquarters. As an experienced Qualified Flying Instructor he assumed the command of an AN-32 Squadron on 29 Jun 92, three months after a fatal Cat I accident in which both the Flight Commander and Navigation leader were killed.

The Squadron aircrew categorization state and the operational clearance state for different roles were low. With his untiring efforts, unflinching determination and perseverance, he tackled this task in an exemplary manner. Under his close supervision, 25 pilots, 13 navigators and 09 Flight Engineers upgraded their aircrew category/Instrument rating. Also 10 pilots and 08 navigators achieved fully operational status. In addition, three Qualified Flying Instructors were cleared for the instructional duties in air maintenance role and two pilots were trained to perform the duties of Right Hand Seat Check Pilot. The aircraft serviceability state of the Squadron improved. The average night flying effort of the Squadron and the average tonnage per hour for air maintenance sorties also increased.

Group Captain SK Banerjee has to his credit 7600 hours of accident free flying. Under his leadership the Squadron has been adjudged the Best Transport and Helicopter Squadron of EAC for two consecutive years 1992-93 and 1993-94. For exceptional devotion to duty, the President is pleased to award 'Vayu Sena Medal' to Gp Capt Shyamal Kumar Banerjee.

Flight Lieutenant Sunil Kumar Kashyap is on the posted strength of an AN-32 Sqn in the Eastern Sector since 08 Dec 91.

On 02 Aug 95, Flt Lt Kashyap was authorised to fly an air maintenance supply drop sortie to a forward Dropping Zone (DZ). This DZ is small in size and is situated in a narrow valley. Due to this only part load can be dropped on one circuit. Further, topography of DZ necessitates an immediate climb after the drop as there are steep hills in the direction of drop and on the down wind side. Flt Lt Kashyap decided to drop three skid boards during the first circuit. As the skid boards were being released from the aircraft, the star-board engine failed. Flt Lt Kashyap remained calm and put on additional bank which brought the aircraft to the limits of its flight envelop. He skillfully turned the aircraft in the narrow valley clearing the high hills around the DZ. After clearing the immediate hills he tried to climb to route safety height but could not do so as the aircraft refused to respond due to prevailing high temperature and humidity. He then decided to follow the escape route by following the valley and crossing over high ridges with very little safety margin. Throughout the emergency he remained calm, continued to fly skillfully and safely landed the aircraft at Chabua. He displayed unflinching determination and professionalism of a very high order, in keeping with the highest traditions of the Air Force, in handling of the emergency and safe recovery of the aircraft.

For exceptional courage, the President is pleased to award 'Vayu Sena Medal' to Flight Lieutenant Sunil Kumar Kashyap.