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On September 19, 1965, when the second India Pakistan war (commonly known as the 1965 war) was on, a civilan aircraft – a ‘Beechcraft-18’, an eight seater passenger plane belonging to the Govt. of Gujarat, took off from Ahmedabad with a VIP passenger – the Chief Minister of Gujarat – Balwantrai Mehta. His co-passengers included his wife Mrs. Sarojben Mehta, three members of his personal staff, and one reporter from “The Gujarat Samachar” The crew consisted of the pilot Jehangir ‘Jangoo’ Engineer. Jangoo finished an illustrious career with the Indian Air Force and then with Indian Airlines, before being employed by the Govt. of Maharashtra as Chief Pilot. At the time of the incident he was on loan to the Gujarat Government. His co-pilot was D’Costa. (Jangoo’s family holds the unique distinction of sending four of its sons to the IAF. All of them became pilots. One rose to the rank of Chief of Air Staff, and another was the Air Officer Commanding, Western Command, during the 1971 war...

Context In the 1971 India - Pakistan war, Pakistan's submarine - PNS (Pakistan Navy Ship) GHAZI, was destroyed and sunk off the coast of Vishakhapatnam (India's Naval Base on the East Coast facing the Bay of Bengal) sometime between December 3, 1971 (the day Pakistani Air Force fighter planes attacked major air bases in India, and started the war), and December 5, 1971. India claimed that Ghazi was destroyed and sunk in course of Naval operations, by INS Rajput (a guided missile destroyer of the Indian Navy). This Naval victory was widely publicized by the Indian Navy and the Government, as part of its war time propaganda to demoralize the enemy - Pakistan, and to raise the morale in India in general. However, with passage of time, the credibility of this claim waned, as various agencies - individuals who saw action in the Naval war, and war historians delved deep into the information available. To this day, it is not clear at all, as to how the GHAZI sank.  ...

Most Indians do NOT as a matter of habit, remember our National heroes especially t hose, that put their lives at peril to guard the frontiers of our Country, and made sure that we live - independent and free, each day. One such soldier of the soil - Brigadier Sawai Bhawani Singh MVC - also the Maharaja of Jaipur, fought bravely for the Nation, during the 1971 Indo - Pak war. So bravely, that the Nation decorated him with India's second highest gallantry award - the Maha Vir Chakra. Yet, when he died on April 17, 2011, his death went virtually un-noticed in the backdrop of  the cricket, the scams and the other problems that took precedence in this Country. Sawai Bhawani Singh Bahadur was born on October 22 1931 to Sawai Man "Jai" Singh II (Maharaja of Jaipur from 1911) and Marudhar Kanwar of Jodhpur, the first of his father's three wives (who would die when her son was 13). Given the nickname "Bubbles" by his British nanny because of the ...

This is a story about when the plane carrying the Prime Minister of India, crashed, and the Prime Minister walked out of it virtually unscathed! However, five members of the crew - the best aviators in the Indian Air Force, perished in the crash. November 4, 1977  The Prime Minister of India, Morarji Desai was scheduled to visit the North Eastern States of India, on an official tour. He was to fly from Delhi to Jorhat (Assam), and for this journey an aircraft of the Indian Air Force HQ Communications Squadron (also known as the  Comm Sqdn. or the VIP squadron), was to ferry the PM and his entourage to Jorhat, and return to Delhi.  Accompanying the PM were his son Kantibhai Desai, Mr. John Lobo(Chief of the Intelligence Bureau) and Mr. PK Thungon, the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh. The crew comprised of Wing Commander Clarence Joseph D'Lima, Squadron Leader Mathew Cryiac (pilot in command, and co-pilot respectively), Wing Commander Joginder Singh (...