Coursemates of IAF’slone PVC awardee go down memory lane

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 29

As coursemates of Flight Lieutenant Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon, the Air Force’s only recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, paid tributes to his gallantry and camaraderie at their annual get-together here today, the squadron to which he belonged to also got recognition for its services when it was awarded the President’s Standards yesterday.

For members of the 97 general duty (pilot) and 36 general duty (navigator) courses, who had passed out in June 1967, it was a nostalgic trip down memory lane as old reminiscences of their flying days and wartime experiences came alive. They had came from all over the country for the event.

Flight Lieutenant Sekhon was serving with No.18 Squadron at Srinagar and was decorated posthumously with the nation’s highest gallantry award for taking upon and shooting several Pakistani Sabre aircraft that had attacked Srinagar airfield during the 1971 Indo-Pak War. Sekhon’s Squadron, also known as Flying Bullets, had been raised on Gnat fighters at Ambala in 1965 and at present is flying MiG-27 ground attack aircraft. The President, Pranab Mukherjee, presented the Standards to 18 Squadron as well as No.22 Squadron at a grand ceremonial parade held at Hasimara.

“Nirmaljit was a gem of a person. Although a bit rustic, he had tremendous grit, determination and courage,” Wg Cdr Kamal Nath (retd), who holds a record of logging over 28,000 flying hours with the Air Force and later in the private sector, recalled. Sekhon was among the toppers of his course.

“Our course had 186 pilots, 27 navigators and three foreign cadets,” Wg Cdr CS Grewal (retd) said. “Two among us made it to the top with Air Marshal AK Singh and Air Marshal AD Joshi retiring as Commanders-in-Chief of the Western Air Command

and Strategic Command respectively,” he added. Among the course is Ari Cmde AD Karandikar, the IAF’s first Boeing 737 pilot, who later commanded the Communications Squadron, tasked with ferrying the top leaders, and logged a record of 13,900 accident free flying hours.