India’s oldest combat pilot Squadron Leader Dalip Singh Majithia (retd) dies at 103

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 16

Squadron Leader Dalip Singh Majithia (retd), India’s oldest combat pilot, died at Rudrapur in Uttarakhand today. He was 103.

Born on July 27, 1920, in Shimla, Squadron Leader Majithia was commissioned on August 1, 1940, and retired from the Indian Air Force (IAF) in August 1947.

The IAF said he was commissioned into the erstwhile Royal Indian Air Force in 1940, joining No.1 Flight (Coastal Defence) based at Madras, now Chennai. He had participated actively in the Burma campaign during World War II. Squadron Leader Majithia was flight commander of the No. 4 Squadron — “The Fighting Oorials” — from 1942 to 1943 at Burma. Affectionately called ‘Maji’ by his friends, he earned the ‘Best Pilot Trophy’ during his training at the Initial Training School in Walton, Lahore.

The IAF bid farewell to Squadron Leader Majithia (retd) on his “final flight”.

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