Military Digest | The 1965 IAF war hero who deserved Param Vir Chakra

Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke quit the Indian Air Force in 1968 and immigrated to Australia.

Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone

As the country marks the 60th anniversary of the 1965 war, there is still time to correct some mistakes of the past when it comes to gallantry awards. One case in point is that of Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke, who was awarded the Vir Chakra in an action against Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Sabre jets near Kalaikunda in West Bengal in September 1965.

Cooke’s gallantry in taking on four Pakistani Sabre jets, out of which he shot down one, damaged two and chased away a fourth (the last one without any ammunition) definitely entitles him to India’s highest gallantry award, Param Vir Chakra. For reasons unknown, Cooke was awarded the third-highest gallantry award.

The Vir Chakra citation

The citation for Vir Chakra of Flt Lt Cooke, as published in the Gazette of India in 1966, is reproduced here:

“On the 7th September, 1965 when Kalaikunda airfield was under attack by six Pakistani Sabre Jet aircraft Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke who was leading two of our aircraft on combat air patrol immediately led the aircraft into intercept them. Although our own anti-aircraft guns had already started to fire, he had engaged two of the enemy aircraft in complete disregard of his personal safety. The enemy aircraft tried evasive and counter-offensive manoeuvres; but with firm determination and exceptional skill Flight Lieutenant Cooke outmanoeuvred the enemy and pressed home his attack and shot down one of the enemy aircraft which disintegrated in mid air. Subsequently, he skillfully put his aircraft in a favourable position behind another enemy aircraft, but by then he had no ammunition left. However, he kept the enemy on the run and the remaining enemy aircraft fled in confusion. In this action Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke displayed great courage, leadership and devotion to duty in the best traditions of the Indian Air Force (IAF).”https://d-30130404841941845330.ampproject.net/2509031727000/frame.html

This issue has been highlighted in a previous edition of Military Digest, too, but the 60th anniversary of the war dictates that it must be highlighted again in the hope that someone in the IAF hierarchy will notice the glaring injustice done to Cooke.

Subsequent investigations by military historians and aviation experts, including former IAF pilots, have concluded that the Vir Chakra citation does not adequately address the valour shown by Cooke in those fateful minutes of combat. Incidentally, Flt Lt Cooke’s wingman, Flt Lt Subodh Mamgain, was also awarded the Vir Chakra in the same action.

A former Mirage pilot, Squadron Leader Sameer Joshi, has written an exhaustive account of Cooke’s air battle at Kalaikunda, and this matches the one which has been given by Cooke himself. A leading aviation historian of the country, Jagan Pillarisetti, has also written a detailed account of Cooke’s action in his book on the 1965 war co-authored with Sameer Chopra.

The air battle fought by Cooke

On the morning of September 7, 1965, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had launched a raid on the Kalaikunda air force base of India in West Bengal from its Tezgaon air base in East Pakistan. The early morning raid by six PAF F86 Sabre aircraft had been successful, and the PAF commanders thought to press home their advantage by mounting yet another raid at around 10.30 am to catch the IAF in a state of disarray.

This time, four PAF Sabres were pressed into attack, led by Flight Lieutenant Haleem. Interestingly, these raiders were from No. 14 Squadron of PAF, and the Hunter aircraft of Flt Lt Cooke and Flt Lt Mamgain that intercepted them were from No. 14 Squadron IAF. The IAF squadron was commanded by Wing Commander Dennis Anthony La Fontaine, who went on to become Chief of Air Staff.

Cooke and Mamgain, who were on a Combat Air Patrol (CAP), were vectored towards the intruding Pakistani aircraft. The duo arrived at Kalaikunda airfield to see that three PAF Sabres were strafing the ground positions while the fourth aircraft was orbiting high above, serving as a lookout.

In his detailed account of the air battle, Squadron Leader Sameer Joshi writes that Cooke asked Mamgain to interdict the orbiting Sabre while he dived to take on the three Sabres attacking the airfield.

In an intense chase, Cooke shot down a Sabre flown by Flying Officer Afzal Khan. He next took on the Sabre flown by Flt Lt Tariq Habeeb and shot it up so badly that Habeeb broke away from the fight and headed back to Tezgaon. Pakistani accounts confirm that his aircraft was useless for the rest of the war due to the damage.

With two PAF aircraft out of the fight, Cooke now engaged in air combat with a third Sabre flown by Flt Lt Haleem and shot off pieces of his aircraft, leading Haleem to quit the fight and head back to his base.

By now, Cooke had also suffered hits on his aircraft, was exhausted and had run out of ammunition. However, he still had fight left in him, and now he took on the fourth PAF Sabre, which engaged in a chase with Mamgain. With no ammunition, Cooke chased the Sabre through every twist and turn and may even have rammed into it, but the enemy pilot broke loose and flew to safety, perhaps perplexed as to why he had not been shot.

It is undeniable that Flt Lt Cooke had exhibited valour of the highest quality in taking on the four Pakistani aircraft and saving Kalaikunda air base from certain destruction. However, it is not clear why he was awarded a Vir Chakra when he clearly deserved the highest gallantry award, Param Vir Chakra.

Alfred Tyrone Cooke quit the IAF in 1968 in the rank of Flight Lieutenant and immigrated to Australia, where he now lives. He visited his old squadron, No. 14, in Ambala in 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1965 war and gifted his Vir Chakra to the Squadron.

It is time that the IAF revisits this gallant action over Kalaikunda in 1965 and decorates Flt Lt Cooke with the Param Vir Chakra that he deserves.

A US perspective on medal upgradation

In May 2021, US President Joe Biden awarded the US’s highest gallantry award, Medal of Honour, to Col Ralph Puckett Jr, 93, for acts of valour during the Korean War in November 1950. It was an upgrade from the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest gallantry award in combat in the US, which Colonel Puckett was initially awarded.

In September 2023, Capt Larry Taylor, 81, was awarded the Medal of Honour by President Biden for an act of valour in the Vietnam War in June 1968. This, too, was an upgrade. He had earlier been awarded the Silver Star, the third-highest gallantry award in combat in the US.

ALSO READ | Military Digest | Fallen but not forgotten, the Commanding Officers who died in battle in 1965

In both the above instances, the original gallantry award had been upgraded to the highest gallantry award decades after the actual action took place in combat. This was done after a campaign to upgrade the award was undertaken by friends and military historians.

The same must be done by the IAF for Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke.

Justice J.B. Pardiwala, Justice K.V. Viswanathan, Supreme Court

The Court said that the Wing Commander Anupama Joshi was entitled to grant of pension computed from such date that she would have completed 20 years of service i.e. completion of 20 years of service

The Supreme Court of India directed the Union of India to grant pension along with other benefits to Wing Commander Anupama Joshi, who was released from the Indian Air Force (IAF) upon completing 15 years as a Short Service Commission Woman Officer (SSCWO).

The Bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K.V. Viswanathan observed, “As a result, we declare that the applicant is entitled to grant of pension computed from such date that she would have completed 20 years of service i.e. completion of 20 years of service.”

Case Brief

An Appeal was filed by a Wing Commander, who was released from the Indian Air Force (IAF) upon completing 15 years as a Short Service Commission Woman Officer (SSCWO).

She sought for the relief of directing the Union Ministry of Defence to provide her with consequential pensionary benefits of her Permanent Commission, computed on the basis of completion of 20 years of service, as has been done to the other parties in the judgment of the Supreme Court in Wg. Cdr. A.U. Tayyaba (Retd.) V. Union of India (2023).

Court’s Observation

The Supreme Court noted that the Applicant was also one of the Petitioners in the Judgment rendered by the Supreme Court in Secretary, Ministry of Defence v. Babita Puniya and Others (2020), however, by the time the decision was pronounced in the Babita Puniya case, the Applicant had already completed 15 years of service and was released.

The Bench underscored, “It was brought to our notice that on completion of 15 years, she was offered permanent commission but the same was declined as by that time, the applicant had already taken up some other employment. But for the decision in Babita Puniya (supra), she would not have been entitled to pension having not completed 20 years of pensionable service.”

Thereafter, the Court noted that in its decision in the WG CDR A.U. Tayyaba case, the Apex Court extended the benefit of the Babita Puniya case to identically placed SSCWOS. The benefit was granted irrespective of the fact whether the officers had completed 20 years of service or not.

Subsequently, the Court said, “It is the case of the applicant that having completed 15 years of service, she qualifies to be deemed to have completed 20 years of service in terms of WG CDR A.U. Tayyaba (Retired) (supra) and also being one of the petitioners in Babita Puniya (supra).”

The Court held that the Short Service Commission Women Officers who are granted permanent commission in pursuance of the above directions would be entitled to all consequential benefits including promotion and other financial benefits. However, these benefits would be made available to those Officers in service or those who had moved the Delhi High Court by filing writ petitions and those who had retired during the course of the pendency of the proceedings.

Accordingly, the Court observed that the Applicant was entitled to the benefit of the judgment in WG CDR A.U. Tayyaba (Retired) case. The Court held that the Applicant was entitled to grant of pension computed from such date that she would have completed 20 years of service i.e. completion of 20 years of service.

“We direct the Union of India to undertake the necessary exercise for grant of pension with arrears including all other benefits to which the applicant is entitled to, like the benefits which have been extended to other similarly situated Officers”, the Court said.

Cause Title: WG CDR Anupama Joshi Retd V. Union of India & Ors.

Squadron Leader Avani Chaturvedi flew the MiG-21 solo in February 2018 from Jamnagar Air Force Station. (Image: PTI)

For decades, women were barred from becoming fighter pilots in the IAF, but when the opportunity came, they took the reins and tamed the MiG-21 Bison. Like generations of their male counterparts, India’s women fighter pilots also cut their teeth on the MiG-21s. They did it so fittingly that its final flypast was led by Squadron Leader Priya Sharma.

They came to the battlefield late, but they took over the reins of the bull of a workhorse like a natural. These are the women fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force who flew the Mig-21 Bison. They have since transitioned to advanced fighters like the Dassault Rafale, Su-30MKI, and the LCA Tejas, but their very first combat flights were on the MiG-21. As the jets made their last sortie into the sunset on Friday, the flypast over Chandigarh Air Force Station was led by Squadron Leader Priya Sharma. Among the many reasons the MiG-21 will be remembered is that it was the first fighter jet ever flown by women in the Indian Air Force, with a woman leading its final flypast.

Defence Minister stresses need for advanced technology along with trained manpower to secure the Indian coast line

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said maritime threats were becoming increasingly technology-driven and multi-dimensional and mentioned how advanced technology was needed along with trained manpower to secure the Indian coast line.

The minister was speaking at the Indian Coast Guard Commanders Conference in New Delhi and called for the need for a futuristic roadmap, technology-aided vigilance and indigenous strengthening of maritime security.

The minister said India’s 7,500-km-long coastline, along with island territories of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, pose enormous challenges, requiring advanced technology, well-trained personnel, and round-the-clock surveillance.

He stressed maritime security was not on predictable patterns of smuggling or piracy. New threats include sophisticated operations using GPS spoofing, remote-controlled boats, encrypted communications, drones, satellite phones, and even networks operating on the dark web.

Terrorist organisations exploited modern tools such as digital mapping and real-time intelligence to plan their activities. He said to the Coast Guard commanders that “we must be ahead of criminals and adversaries by integrating artificial intelligence, machine learning-based surveillance, drones, cyber defence systems, and automated response mechanisms into our maritime security framework.

The three-day (September 28 to 30) conference brings together the senior leadership of Coast Guard to deliberate on strategic, operational and administrative priorities in the backdrop of evolving maritime security challenges and the growing strategic significance of the Indian Ocean Region. The Coast Guard operates 152 ships and 78 aircraft.

Since its establishment in 1977, the Coast Guard has apprehended 1,638 foreign vessels and 13,775 foreign fishermen involved in illegal activities within Indian waters. It has also seized 6,430 kilograms of narcotics, valued at Rs. 37,833 crore.

It was easy for officials to shift the blame on him when a five-year-old Ladakhi protest turned violent

LAST week, when Ladakh erupted in violence and four persons were shot dead by security forces, police and other officials started blaming Sonam Wangchuk for inciting the protests, describing him as anti-national, while saying that they were also investigating “his visit to Pakistan in February” — as if that was a crime against India by itself.

I know about that visit only too well. He was an invitee to a conference organised by Dawn group, one of Pakistan’s leading media houses. The conference was about tackling climate change. I know about it because I was invited as well. I wrote about the conference in the columns of this newspaper.

That’s where I met Wangchuk for the first time — in Islamabad. Dawn had embarked on an ambitious South Asian project to draw awareness to climate change. The media group brought together people from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India, making the case that climate change was a challenge that needed an “all of South Asia” approach. After all, the countries in the region are all joined by mountains to the north, rivers and river systems flowing east and west, and coastlines and seas further down. An environmental disaster in one country does not leave its neighbour untouched. When a dust haze settles over Delhi in the winter, Lahore is similarly enveloped. The floods that devastated Punjab caused widespread destruction in the Punjab province of Pakistan too. And so on.

I recall thinking all the time during the two-day conference that this is what SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) might have devoted itself to quite usefully, had it not been so uselessly defunct. After India’s refusal to attend the Islamabad summit in 2016 over the Uri attack, SAARC has died in Delhi’s eyes. BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) became India’s most-favoured go-to alternative regional grouping, but Delhi’s interest in this group too has waned with Sheikh Hasina’s departure from Bangladesh. Now, India has no real friends in the neighbourhood. But that’s another story.

‘Breathe Pakistan’ was the title of the Islamabad conference. Dawn’s publisher Haroon Hameed, who has a fund of interesting stories about his road journeys in India back in the day when this was possible, was the moving force behind it. The venue was the renovated Jinnah Convention Centre, where the SAARC summit would have been held had it taken place, up a small hill past the Diplomatic Enclave.

When I was posted in Pakistan as the correspondent of The Hindu, I heard Karen Armstrong speak at the convention centre on the topic of ‘Tolerance and Islam’. That was in February 2008 when she visited to celebrate the golden jubilee of the Aga Khan, the head of Islami Shia sect of Islam, and Pakistan was grappling with a string of deadly terrorist attacks by then newly-formed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan.

The others in the group from India were Wangchuk’s wife Gitanjali Angmo, Soumashree Sarkar of The Wire and Harjeet Singh of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative (Harjeet also heads the Satat Sampada Climate Foundation). Soumashree and I were in a panel discussion on focusing media attention on climate change.

Wangchuk was on a panel titled ‘Glacial Melt: A Sustainable Strategy for the Water Towers of South Asia’, where he spoke about the Ice Towers that he helped construct in Ladakh. His panel was chaired by the UN coordinator in Afghanistan, Indrika Ratwatte. The other participants were Kanak Mani Dixit of Nepal, Dechen Tsering of the UNEP Asia-Pacific regional office and Aisha Khan, who heads a civil society coalition on climate change in Pakistan.

During his presentation, Wangchuk explained the ‘Ice Stupa’ concept as the creation of artificial glaciers in the winter, which would melt and provide water in the summer. “Freeze, freeze, and freeze”, he said, and those are the three words I noted down of his speech. I also recall clearly that he showered praise on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his visionary leadership in tackling climate change.

What actually surprised me most was that no one seemed to know who Wangchuk was. When the panel discussion began, I was seated next to Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir in the audience. Wangchuk’s formal introduction contained no hint of his political activism or his hunger strikes. He was introduced as a climate change activist and innovator from Ladakh. So I asked Hamid if he had heard of Wangchuk before.

When he replied in the negative, I asked him if he had seen 3 Idiots, the Aamir Khan movie. He had, and I told him the story, apocryphal or not, that the character played by Khan in the movie was based on him. I also told him about Wangchuk’s padayatra in 2024 from Leh to Delhi for Ladakh’s statehood and other rights.

Ever the newsman, Hamid stood up like a shot, went up close to the dais and began taking photos of Wangchuk. He may have alerted his TV channel as well, for soon after the panel discussion, Wangchuk was surrounded by crews asking him for a ‘byte’. Before that, the only people who seemed to know of him were a group of youth from Gilgit-Baltistan. Wangchuk asked me to take a photo of him with the group. I asked them who they were, and Wangchuk replied: “They are my brothers from the other side”. They all posed in an awkward semicircle next to the stage, with Wangchuk in the middle.

At a get-together after the conference, I asked a senior person in Dawn why they had not given Wangchuk a full-spectrum introduction. He laughed and said: “There was no need. This was a climate conference, saying all that would have shifted the focus”.

Over the last few days, as I thought back on that trip to Islamabad and tried to reconcile it with the accusations about Wangchuk the “anti-national”, I also thought about a government that strung Ladakhis along for over five years on their demand for more agency over their own lives — Sixth Schedule, statehood, demographic protection, rights over their land, the right to representation.

When a five-year-old protest turned violent, and the security forces responded with what seems like disproportionate force, and four people were killed in a place that has remained peaceful, it was easy to shift the blame on “Wangchuk who went to Pakistan”. Officials accused him of inciting protestors by talking about the Arab Spring and Gen Z protests in Nepal. Did no one think of cautioning him when he actually made those speeches, or did the Centre just fail to see that it had turned a peaceful little town into a festering site of people’s grievances and unfulfilled aspirations that was just waiting to burst?

Just over six years ago, on August 5, 2019, Ladakh celebrated the abrogation of Article 370, its freedom from Jammu & Kashmir and its own status as a brand new Union Territory. As we saw last week, so much has changed these past six years.

Nirupama Subramanian is an independent journalist.

Amid nostalgia, bonhomie, pilots bid adieu to MiG-21 with fond memories

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Ceremony to mark culmination of aircraft’s operational flying held at Chandigarh Air Force Station

“It was the darling of fighter pilots,” Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, the most recent Air Chief who had commanded a MiG-21 squadron to have retired, quipped on the venerable fighter jet that made its last operational flight at Chandigarh today after serving the IAF for 62 long years.

As scores of serving officers and veterans, who had been associated with the MiG-21, touched base at Chandigarh for the ceremony marking the culmination of the aircraft’s operational flying, bonhomie and nostalgia flowed in endless measure, and fond memories and old associations were revived.

ACM Dhanoa had commanded a MiG-21 squadron during the 1999 Kargil conflict and among the missions he flew was a covert sortie along the Line of Control carrying the then Chief of Air Staff, ACM AY Tipnis, to assess the battle situation.

ACM Tipnis, who served in No. 28 Squadron, the fist MiG-21 unit as a young officer and later commanded No. 23 Squadron, the last squadron to operate this aircraft, and was present at the ceremony, had said in a podcast released by the IAF that “the MiG-21 taught us how to be innovative and produce results”. He said IAF pilots used their agility with adaptability, because it was built for high altitude flying, but the IAF started using it for strike purposes which spoke tremendously for the IAF.

Group Captain Shubhansu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to have visited the International Space Station, said he had flown different versions of the MiG-21 in the earlier days of his career and had fond memories of the aircraft. Expressing nostalgia at the event, he said the MiG-21 was an important part of his aviation career and the aircraft had taught him a lot.

Among the attendees was Air Cmde Tapas Kumar Das. At 91, he was the oldest MiG-21 pilot to make it to the occasion. Having taken part in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, he termed the MiG-21 as a “beautiful toy”.

“In the early days, the aircraft did not have any guns and was armed with two air-to-air missiles. We were full of enthusiasm because of the capability of the missiles,” he added. He had commanded No. 18 Squadron and No. 47 Squadron.

“It was a lovable machine with amazing characteristics, just like a sports car with an unbelievable power to weight ratio,” said a former test pilot who was the first to evaluate locally overhauled MiG-21s. “I was fortunate to have flown it and my love for flying overcame any fear of flying,” he added.

“Though my flying with the MiG-21 was limited as compared to my peers, I can never forget the experience. I often wake up after a dream of flying the MiG 21 and it shows how embedded the aircraft is in the minds and hearts of pilots,” said Gp Capt Tarun Kumar, who also served with No. 23 Squadron. “It is an awesome machine and its last encounter against Pakistan after the Balakot airstrikes shows that it has proven its worth,” he added.

“For any pilot, every day is a different day. It is a constantly learning process,” said Air Cmde SS Tyagi (retd), who has logged 4,300 hours on the MiG 21, among the highest for any pilot on this type. For the pilots, the MiG-21 was a demanding yet reliable aircraft that rewarded skill and punished carelessness.

The Tribune Editorial: Though the Tejas Mk-2, AMCA and TEDBF projects hold promise, delays, supply issues and technological dependencies remain key risks

HE MiG-21’s final flight over Chandigarh on September 26 symbolised more than the retirement of an aircraft; it marked a transition in how India must think about air power. For decades, this Soviet-era fighter was more than a machine — it was a statement of intent by a young nation eager to secure its skies. Its endurance reflected India’s ability to stretch limited resources, but also the tendency to delay modernisation until crises forced change. The MiG’s twilight years exposed those vulnerabilities. The jet’s longevity became its weakness. Over 300 crashes and repeated technical snags turned it into the dreaded ‘flying coffin’.

The legendary fighter jets streak through Indian skies for the last time after being part of the IAF’s combat fleet for more than six decades

Culmination ceremony of the MiG-20 at the Air Force station in Chandigarh on Friday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar

In the backdrop of Russia making a pitch for manufacturing the Su-57 fifth-generation fighter in India, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday that the MiG-21 fighter, which finally retired today, was not just an aircraft or a machine but a powerful example of the deep relations between India and Russia.Speaking at a ceremony held at the Chandigarh Air Force Station to mark the culmination of the operational flying by MiG-21 after serving for 62 years, the Defence Minister said that the aircraft was a mighty machine, national pride and a defence shield that shaped the nation’s confidence and inspired generations of air warriors.

“The MiG-21 performed far better than the expectations of both the sellers and buyers The design on which this jet was built in the 1950s was the best according to the technology of that time. Over time, state-of-the-art systems were added to it. This is the reason why MiG-21 continued to earn the trust and respect of our air force for such a long time,” he said.

He pointed out that while the MiG-21’s journey began in 1963, the aircraft that were inducted in the 1960s and 1970s have long been retired from service and the MiG-21s that were flying until now were at least 40 years old — completely normal by the standards of such aircraft: “In many countries, such fighter jets are kept active for just that much time. But a special thing about MiG-21 is that it has been kept technically updated all the time,” he said.

The Defence Minister said that as an interceptor, MiG-21 served to stop the enemy. In the ground attack, it demonstrated its aggressive capability. As an air defence fighter, it protected the skies and also trained countless air warriors as a trainer aircraft.

Rt

“The point is that with every flight, the MiG-21 has further strengthened India’s future: The highly skilled fighter pilots of today owe their foundation, in some way, to MiG-21. This is why the MiG-21 has always stood by us like a charioteer in India’s security journey. “MiG-21 has taught us not to fear change, but to harness new energy from it and move forward,” he added.

Stating that the chapter of MiG-21 in the history of the Indian Air Force will be written in letters of gold, Rajnath said that as we bid farewell to this glorious chapter, it is also a tribute to the countless heroes whose sacrifices have made this machine a living legacy. “Their contribution will forever remain immortal in our memory,” he said.

“We are also taking this assurance that in the coming tomorrow, our new generation will take defence manufacturing and air power to even greater heights with the same spirit. I am confident that in the times to come, when the world looks at India, it will say this is the country that started with MiG-21 and today is the leader of the world in future technology,” Rajnath said.

“We must not allow this legacy to break. The contribution of MiG-21 is not just history, it is a lesson, it is DNA, which will take us forward. We must consider the success of LCA-Tejas as the beginning of our next mission; and infuse this confidence into the upcoming fighter aircraft, Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft and other programmes that India can overcome every challenge,” he added.

MiG-21 was inducted into the IAF at Chandigarh in 1963 with No.28 Squadron, the First Supersonics, then commanded by Wg Cdr Dilbagh Singh who later rose to become Chief of the Air Staff.

The last operational sortie today was by the present Air Chief, Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, with the call sign Badal-3, who was joined in the final flypast by pilots of No.23 Squadron, the Panthers, the last unit operating the MiG-21.

Chief of Defence Staff, Gen Anil Chauhan, Chief of Navy Staff, Admiral Dinesh Tripathi, several former Air Chief, including Air Chief Marshals AY Tipniis, S Krishnaswamy, SP Tyagi and BS Dhanoa, as well as Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station, were among a large number of serving and retired officers associated with MiG-21 to be present.

Gp Capt Shukla has been a MiG-21 pilot and has flown various variants of the fighter before converting to other aircraft.

MiG-21 was the first supersonic fighter inducted into the IAF, and over 870 were procured, with many being manufactured locally by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. They formed the backbone of the IAF combat fleet for decades and played critical roles in the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan, the 1999 Kargil conflict and the 2019 Balakot airstrike. MiG-21s are being replaced by the indigenous Tejas.