Puneet's Page

1. Flight Lt. Vijay Kumar Wahi - 10144 F(P) Vikram Wahi was my class mate in Class V, in 1971. When the Indo-Pak war broke out in December 1971, our Class V final examinations were on. Many 'fauji' families had to grapple with the stress of these exams, with the war as a backdrop. There were two papers each day, and between them, during the break, I remember seeing the Air Force's fighers landing close by at Palam, after a Combat Air Patrol sortie... On the 7th of December, 1971, we - all 10 year olds were busy writing whatever we had crammed, in our answer sheets, when all of a sudden, we noticed some commotion at the back of the classroom. We saw Vikram Wahi, breaking down, and sobbing away inconsolably. We ten year olds did not quite comprehend the problem, and got back to our answer sheets. That was the last we saw of Vikram Wahi. Till this day, I do not know where Vikram went, and where he is. On the 6th of December, Vikram's family received the news t

It was November 4, 1977. A TU 124 passenger jet, of the Indian Air Force's elite communication squadron took off from Palan airport at 5.00 pm. The communications squadron better known as the VIP squadron, is tasked with carrying VIPS from one destination to another. Obvioulsy, the squadron consists of the 'cream' of the IAF, as far as both - 'men' and 'machines are concerned. The passengers on board this flight were non other than Morarji Desai, the Prime Minister of India, his son - Kantibhai Desai, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh - Mr. PK Thungon, and the Chief of the Intelligence Bureau - Mr. John Lobo. The crew of the flight consisted of Wing Commanders Clarence D'Lima and Joginder Singh, Squadron Leaders Mathew Cyriac, VVS Shankar and OP Arora, five in all. Around the time when the flight reached Jorhat, it developed engine trouble, and lost considerable height. At this point the pilots reached the conclusion that crash landing the plane w

Pakistan attacked in India in 1965, the second time after independence, with Kashmir as the objective. The fighting initially was confined mainly to the ground. But as the war progessed, the two Countries began air operations against each other. Pakistan was confident of its air superiority, the Air Force havind equipped itlself with the then 'state of art' fighters like the F-86 Sabre and the F-104 Starfighter . By contrast, the Indian Air Force, had mostly old and aging aircraft in its fleet - like the Vampires (the first jet fighter ever, in the IAF's fleet, was still on active duty in 1965), Orugans (renamed 'Toofanis' ), Mysteres and some part of the fleet comprising of relatively modern planes like the Gnat and the Hunter . At the end of the war, both India and Paksitan made claims and counter claims as to which Air Force had won. The Pakistani's claimed between 60 - 100 Indian aircraft destructions, whereas India claimed a lower attirtion rate (l