Born in 1909, Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh joined the Indian Air Force on its formation in 1932 as a technician. He served in the ranks till 1942 when he was granted a Commission in the Technical Branch. Since then, he has served in both Command and Staff appointments. He was appointed Officer Commanding, Base Repair Depot, in 1949 and Air Officer Commanding Maintenance Command, in 1955 when that Command was formed. The status of Maintenance Command was raised and A.V.M. Harjinder Singh was promoted in his present rank and appointed Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Maintenance Command.

In early 1960 it was decided to manufacture in the country a transport aircraft to replace Dakotas which were in short supply. After a decision by the Government to manufacture the AVRO-748 aircraft was taken, this task was given to A.V.M. Harjinder Singh who was asked to build the first aircraft as soon as possible and to set up a manufacturing line at the Base Repair Depot at Kanpur. This modern jet transport aircraft could only be manufactured with skilled and experienced personnel. An aircraft manufacturing depot was established alongside the Base Repair Depot at Kanpur under the Command of A.V.M. Harjinder Singh who was asked to undertake the manufacture of this aircraft. Jigs and tools were set up in the record time, mostly from available resources under the personal supervision of A.V.M. Harjinder Singh. Air Force personnel who have so far been accustomed exclusively to repair and overhaul work were trained in the factory methods and given the task of manufacture. With the assistance of a few specialists from England, the I.A.F. personnel numbering about 440 in all, built the first production model of the AVRO-748 in the aircraft manufacturing depot at Kanpur in a record time of 17 months when the production model was still being manufactured in the U.K. The Indian made AVRO-748 gave a flying display on 26th November 1961, when the Prime Minister blessed its maiden flight in Delhi.

The speed with which this aircraft was constructed by Air Force personnel with no previous manufacturing experience and with the resources which previously were mostly used for maintenance and repair and the quality of workmanship itself, which even the A.V. Roe of U.K. have acknowledged as something unique in aircraft industry, are a tribute to the tireless energy, skill and personal example of Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh. Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh has thus rendered distinguished service of the most exceptional order.

On 9th November 1960, Flt. Lt. R.K. Mehta was detailed to fly a Gnat aircraft. While coming in to land at Palam airfield his engine flamed out due to a bird entering the intake. Though the engine had flamed out at a low height, Flt. Lt. Mehta did not abandon the aircraft but proceeded to attempt a landing fully aware of the risk to his life. He was not, however, able to make a safe landing and died instantaneously as a result of belated ejection.

Flt. Lt. Mehta was an experienced pilot and he was fully familiar with the Gnat aircraft. He faced the emergency with a remarkable degree of calmness and courage and did not even spare his life in his attempt to save his valuable aircraft. This selfless act of Flt. Lt. Mehta, his devotion to duty and personal courage were in the highest traditions of the Air Force.

On 12th March 1961, Flying Officer, V. Ganesan of the Auxiliary Air Force, along with Flying Officer C.R. Mohan (Aux. A. F.) while on an instrument flying training exercise in a Harvard aircraft, was faced with an emergency due to excessive vibration of the engine. In spite of corrective action by Flying officer Ganesan, the aircraft continued to lose height. As captain of the aircraft he ordered flying officer Ram Mohan to abandon the aircraft, which he did. As he was about to follow suit flying officer Ganesan noticed a village in the immediate vicinity. Appreciating that the aircraft, if abandoned, would crash in the village and possibly cause death or injures to a number of innocent people, he stayed back and manoeuvred the aircraft away from the village. In doing this, he was fully aware of the risk to his own life but even so in deliberate disregard of his personal safety he attempted a crash landing away from the village and sacrificed his life.

Flying Officer Ganesan displayed airmanship and courage of high order and has set a noble tradition of bravery and self sacrifice for the Auxiliary Air Force.

On 12th October, 1961, Flight Lieutenant Madhusudan Ray (5004) GD(P), Captain of a Dakota aircraft while engaged on a training flight had to crash-land the aircraft at Mahesh owing to loss of power immediately after take-off from Barrackpore airfield. He deliberately manoeuvred his aircraft so as to crash-land in the only available open space between inhabited multi-storeyed buildings. A crash into any of these buildings would have caused extensive damage to life and property. Flight Lieutenant Madhusudan Ray was able to ward off what might have been a disaster of great magnitude and in doing so sacrificed his own life and those of his crew.

In saving the lives of others, Flight Lieutenant Madhusudan Ray displayed gallantry, skill and spirit of self-sacrifice, which are in keeping with the highest traditions of the Air Force.

On 1st May 1961 Flt. Lt. Desoares was engaged in a sortie to drop food supplies to an Army detachment on the northeastern border. While nearing the dropping zone, he noticed that his Dakota was losing height very rapidly due to a down draught. Despite all the corrective actions taken, the aircraft-continued to go out of control. Flt. Lt. Desoares, with great presence of mind, skillfully directed the aircraft out of the wooded area and landed it on the snowcovered portion of the hill. On impact, a fuel tank of the aircraft caught fire and a portion of the aircraft disintegrated. Flt. Lt. Desoares though injured managed to extricate himself from the crashed aircraft and pulled his copilot out. He then rushed to the rear of the burning aircraft, in utter disregard of his personal safety, to rescue other personnel who might be injured or trapped.

Flt. Lt. Desoares continued to help his comrades and managed to rescue two of the Army ejection personnel. Thereafter he proceeded to recover the bodies of other crew members from the burning aircraft again disregarding his own personal safety.

Due to the psychological state of the survivors and the extent of their injuries, Flt. Lt. Desoares decided to keep his party near the aircraft for the next two days. With hardly any food, water, or warm clothing, he, by his personal example, infused confidence and courage in the survivors which helped them to pass two nights in a blizzard.

On the third day Flt. Lt. Desoares decided to leave the place of the accident and skillfully led the survivors through treacherous moun tainous terrain and forests with thick undergrowth to safety.

Throughout the operation, Flt. Lt. Desoares displayed the highest form of leadership and devotion to duty, in keeping with the best traditions of the Air Force. His exemplary action will be a source of inspiration to other pilots engaged in similar missions over difficult terrain.

On 19th January, 1961, while on a training flight, Flight Lieutenant Kalsia found that the engine of his aircraft had flamed out. The aircraft was heading towards Jamnagar city and had he bailed out and abandoned the aircraft, it would have crashed in the city, causing extensive damage to life and property. Realising this, Flight Lieutenant Kalsia turned his aircraft away from the populated area and in doing so lost valuable height. He then attempted a force landing as he was left with no other option and was killed in the attempt.

Flight Lieutenant Kalsia displayed courage of a very high order and gave his own life to avoid an accident which might have resulted in the loss of several other lives. His gallant action was in the highest traditions of the Air Force.

On 14th May 1962, Flight Lieutenant Vijayaraghavan was on an instructional sortie with Pilot Officer Evans as pupil. During a spinning exercise by the pupil, it was noticed that the aircraft failed to come out of the spin. At this moment, Flight Lieutenant Vijayaraghavan, took over the controls of the aircraft which however still failed to respond and started losing height rapidly. He twice ordered Pilot Officer Evans to bale out but by the time the latter did so, the aircraft had reached too low a height for Flight Lieutenant Vijayaraghavan to abandon it. Pilot Officer Evans escaped with minor injuries. The aircraft crashed killing Flight Lieutenant Vijayaraghavan instantaneously.

Flight Lieutenant Vijayaraghavan displayed conspicuous gallantry and a spirit of supreme self-sacrifice in saving the life of his pupil which was in the highest traditions of the Indian Air Force.

As Commanding Officer of Aircraft Manufacturing Depot since its inception, Wing Commander Chawdhry has been closely associated with the production of the first Transport aircraft manufactured in India - Avro 748.

With very limited resources, inadequate tools and equipment and technical personnel untrained for manufacture of aircraft, Wing Commander Chawdhary achieved his objective by diligent planning, personal example, leadership and untiring efforts.

Under his command scrapped plant, machine tools and materials were successfully reclaimed and utilized.

The initiative shown and the great responsibility courageously shouldered, inspite of his comparatively junior rank, were of a high order.

Wing Commander Chawdhry has displayed outstanding leadership and devotion to duty and has thus rendered distinguished service of an exceptional order in the successful production of Avro 748.

Wing Commander S. Das was nominated at short notice to undertake the first flight of the first prototype of the HF-24 Mk. 1 Aircraft. The HF-24 is designed and developed entirely in India by Hindustan Aircraft Limited. This is an aircraft in the supersonic category comparable with modern aircraft of the class manufactured by only a few countries. This aircraft embodies design features, which are entirely new and have not been tested before in powered flights. Wg. Cdr. Das, therefore, had no previous experience of this aircraft, nor was he familiar with its characteristics in the air. Inspite of this, the officer undertook its first flight on 17th June, 1961, after spending only a few days with the Members of the Design Team. Wg. Cdr. Das who has over 1,000 hours of test flying on nearly 35 different types of prototype and production aircraft has brought to bear his vast experience and knowledge in ensuring the success of the inaugural flight of HF-24. In undertaking the first successful test flight, Wg. Cdr. Das has rendered distinguished service of most exceptional order to aviation in India. This achievement calls for knowledge of a high caliber, great skill, courage and devotion to duty of an exceptional order.

Flight Lieutenant Kuppuswamy Lakshmi Narayanan is posted as a Flight Commander to one of our helicopter flights operating in the forward areas of J & K. He has been one of the pioneers in the operation of helicopters in this region and has succeeded in landing at some of the most difficult and hazardous outposts.

On 17th May 1962, an emergency call was received for immediate evacuation of a seriously ill army Jawan from one of our forward posts. In spite of unfavourable weather condition, Flight Lieutenant Narayanan ventured to penetrate the difficult territory and landed his helicopter at a spot where no other helicopter had landed before. But for this timely evacuation rendered possible by this courageous officer there would have been little chance of saving the life of the Jawan.

Again on 6th August, 1962, an emergency call for the evacuation of a Havildar was received from one of our forward posts. The possibility of landing at the helipad had previously been rejected because the area was extremely small and the surrounding hills with its associated turbulence did not permit operations by helicopters. The height of this helipad was 16,000 ft. and critical approach and take off conditions left no margin for an error. However, when this request was repeated by the oupost, Flight Lieutenant Narayanan once again volunteered to carry out what seemed to be an impossible task. He was fully aware of the hazards of this particular operation but with complete disregard to his personal safety, this officer successfully evacuated the Havildar.

The above mentioned actions of Flight Lieutenant Narayanan has proved beyond doubt that he has been a great asset to our forces in Ladakh area. This officer has been operating continuously for over two years and has flown 700 helicopter operational hours in this area. Throughout this period he has displayed conspicuous gallantry with complete disregard to his personal safety. By his gallant efforts he has contributed greatly to the morale of our forces in the forward area.

Wing Commander Suares was the Commanding Officer of the Canberra Unit operating with UN Forces in the Congo. On 6th December 1961, he and his navigator Squadron Leader (then Flight Lieutenant) Takle were on an air-to-ground operational strafing sortie against an enemy airfield and other installations in Katanga. These officers carried out the attack despite intense enemy fire from the ground and destroyed the target thus enabling the ground forces to achieve their objective. A number of bullets hit the aircraft. One of them hit the navigator in the thigh and he began to bleed profusely. Disregarding his own safety, Wing Commander Suares set the aircraft on auto-pilot and rendered first aid to the navigator and thus helped save his life.

In doing this Wing Commander Suares showed courage in keeping with the highest traditions of the Air Force.

Squadron Leader (then Flight Lieutenant) Takle was the navigator of a Canberra aircraft which was on an air-to-ground strafing sortie against an enemy airfield and other installations in Katanga. The aircraft was hit at several places by enemy fire. One of the bullets wounded Squadron Leader Takle and he was bleeding profusely. Despite this he continued to direct the aircraft into attacks until the target was effectively destroyed and did not inform the pilot of his condition until he had calculated and set the course for home. In doing so, Squadron Leader Takle displayed devotion to duty and gallantry of a high order.

On 20th October, 1962, Squadron Leader A S Williams was ordered to find out the position prevailing at one of our Army posts in NEFA which had been subjected to heavy attacks by Chinese invaders. To carry out the task, he flew in a helicopter but it was damaged by heavy anti-aircraft fire by the Chinese. In order to save the aircraft from further damage, he skillfully maneuvered it towards the nearest helipad at another post. Unfortunately, the helicopter developed engine troubles as a result of the damage caused by enemy fire and he was forced to crash land it two miles from the helipad. He then trekked to the nearest Army post and was eventually evacuated to his own unit.

Earlier, on 12th October 1962, Squadron Leader Williams had flown several sorties in a helicopter by day and night to evacuate casualties from forward posts in the same area.

The courage and devotion to duty displayed by Squadron Leader Williams in difficult conditions were of a high order.

One of our Army posts in Ladakh have been surrounded by Chinese invaders, had to depend solely on air support. Our troops who had endured the siege had to be relieved and this could be done only by helicopter. On 4th October 1062, Squadron Leader Badhwar and Flight Lieutenant Narayanan flew several sorties to carry out this task. During one of the sorties, they experienced loss of engine power and eventually force-landed in a river-bed after avoiding a few Chinese posts. In order to obtain relief, they walked towards one of our posts, but after some time they observed a large number of armed Chinese troops. They then returned to the helicopter and decided to chance a flight. Meanwhile, about 150 Chinese had taken up positions on the hill tops near the helicopter and were beckoning to them to surrender. With great presence of mind, they managed to get to the helicopter and piloted it safely to one of our posts and thus saved valuable lives and equipment.

The cool courage displayed by Squadron Leader Badhwar and Flight Lieutenant Narayanan in a difficult situation was of a high order.

One of our Army posts in Ladakh have been surrounded by Chinese invaders, had to depend solely on air support. Our troops who had endured the siege had to be relieved and this could be done only by helicopter. On 4th October 1062, Squadron Leader Badhwar and Flight Lieutenant Narayanan flew several sorties to carry out this task. During one of the sorties, they experienced loss of engine power and eventually force-landed in a river-bed after avoiding a few Chinese posts. In order to obtain relief, they walked towards one of our posts, but after some time they observed a large number of armed Chinese troops. They then returned to the helicopter and decided to chance a flight. Meanwhile, about 150 Chinese had taken up positions on the hill tops near the helicopter and were beckoning to them to surrender. With great presence of mind, they managed to get to the helicopter and piloted it safely to one of our posts and thus saved valuable lives and equipment.

The cool courage displayed by Squadron Leader Badhwar and Flight Lieutenant Narayanan in a difficult situation was of a high order.

On 18th December, 1961, Flight Lieutenant Ramchandran was detailed to lead a section of two Vampires in close support of the ground forces in Diu. While flying over the area, he noticed a patrol boat heading towards an IN Ship which was about two miles from the shore. On his own initiative he decided to fly low to survey the patrol boat . When the boat as well as Diu fort opened heavy fire at his aircraft. Undeterred by the hostile fire, he attacked and blew up the patrol boat which was full of high explosives. During the attack his aircraft was damaged by hostile fire.

Flight lieutenant Ramachandran displayed courage and initiative of a high order.

On 10th October, 1960, Squadron Leader M S Grewal (3481) was detailed as the leader of a formation exercise comprising 5 aircraft. The aircraft was peeling off after completion of the exercise at a height of approximately 1000 feet when the No.2 collided with Sqn Ldr Grewal's aircraft resulting in damage to the elevator of such a nature that the control column could be moved backward with difficulty but not forward at all. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that the port drop tank was full due to failure of the fuel transfer system.

This extreme emergency, caused by no fault of his, called for the highest degree of airmanship, and Sqn Ldr Grewal by his coolness, presence of mind and skill, carried out a successful flapless landing thereby preventing what possibly could have been a fatal accident involving the total loss of the aircraft and a valuable life.

During his operational tour in NEFA area as Navigator and later as Navigational Leader, Sqn Ldr M D Mendhekar has flown a thousand operational hours, which is very creditable indeed. He has also been serving in the J and K area where he has completed an additional 650 hours of operational flying. As a Navigator, he has set a very high examples to his juniors by his devotion to duty and superior skill in navigation. He has built up the morale of the Squadron in general and of the junior navigators in particular.

After 1947 Indian Air Force was faced with the ardous task of disposing of stocks of accumulated war surplus explosives. This task was also hazardous since deterioration had already set in and the stocks had become highly sensitive and dangerous to handle.

In 1953, Squadron Leader P K Desikan took over command of an ammunition depot which had large stocks of heavily corroded 20mm High Explosive / Instantaneous Ammunition, deteriorated high explosive bombs, 40mm ammunition , practice bombs and other miscellaneous explosive stores. Infact the deterioration was so much tat even slight friction while handling the round or while lifting the ammunition boxes could cause a serious explosion. Squadron Leader P K Desikan, fully aware of the hazards and risks involved, undertook the disposal task on operational priority and carried out the demolition at a fast rate. As the Commanding Officer of the Depot from 1953 to 1955, Squadron Leader P K Desikan directed and supervised the task of demolition of the unserviceable and dangerous stock of these explosives. He exposed himself to grave danger for a period of two years while engaged in the execution of the task..

In accomplishing the task, Squadron Leader P K Desikan has displayed a very high sense of duty, courage and professional skill.

He was entrusted with the task of reclaiming plant and machinery for establishing machining facilities. He showed outstanding technical ability and initiative in successfully carrying out major modifications/overhaul to modernize some of the obsolete and wornout machines from surplus stocks. He thus was instrumental in saving large sums of foreign exchange that would otherwise have been spent to purchase new machinery for the AVRO Project.

Without specialized training or previous experience this S.N.C.O. who was in charge of manufacturing section, undertook some of the most difficult task involved in aircraft manufacturing. His initiative and skill displayed were exemplary.

As a Senior N.C.O. in the Assembly Section of the Project, he has been largely responsible for the structural build up of the AVRO 748 aircraft. His ability in management and capability of hard work has been outstanding and inspiring throughout.

He has shown technical knowledge and displayed outstanding ability in the instrumentation of the aircraft and in establishing and organizing the work in the pre-production aircraft control section.

As the performance of his duties as N.C.O. i/c Technical Control and as Inspector incharge instrumentation he showed considerable technical ability and managerial capacity in discharge of his duties.

As NCO i/c Tool Control and working in a field with no specialized training or previous knowledge he was primarily instrumental in establishing the tool department procedures efficiently. Throughout the period he applied himself diligently and displayed a high degree of initiative and profound sense of duty.

As N.C.O. i/c Jig Erection Section he has shown exceptional technical ability and proficiency of high order, in the work connected with Jig manufacturing his services were outstanding throughout.

In discharging his duties as Inspector, Aircraft Manufacture he has displayed technical ability of a high caliber in various stages of Jig, tools and aircraft inspection. Throughout his ceaseless efforts and considerable planning ability, he made it possible for the inspection to proceed according to schedule.