India’s sole Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh passed away just two years short of a century in New Delhi on 16
th Sept 2017.
Singh, was the first and the only Chief of the Air Staff to be awarded this rank, a rare honour bestowed to only two army chiefs since independence.
Born on April 15, 1919 in Lyallpur, Punjab, now in Pakistan, Singh was a legend in the Indian Air Force throughout his career.
One of the early pioneers who joined the Royal Indian Air Force, he took part in the Arakan campaign in Burma (Myanmar), before being posted as part of the force sent to defend the city of Imphal in India’s North East against the advancing Japanese Imperial forces.
Arjan Singh: Know More- Born in a traditional military family, Singh’s father had served in the Hodson’s Horse, a reputed cavalry unit that was converted into a armored regiment in independent India.
- Trained at the Royal Air Force College at Cramwell, Singh spent a few years in the North West Frontier Province, (now in Pakistan) before moving to the Arakan campaign.
- Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, he was one of those handful of Indian pilots who would form the nucleus of the Indian Air Force.
- Singh was also known for his exceptional leadership as the Chief of Air Staff, when India and Pakistan went to war in September 1965.
- In 2002, the government of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee took the historic decision to appoint him as India’s first Marshal of the Indian Air Force.
- Known to only a few people, Singh started a Foundation with a generous grant of $317,400 (INR 2 crore) for the welfare of the air force personnel and their families.
- He was one of those rare Chiefs who had flown every aircraft in independent India’s inventory, from the Canberra to the Hunter and the MiG-21s as they arrived just before his tenure and were pressed into service.
- After retirement Singh was appointed as India’s ambassador to Switzerland and the Vatican and then the High Commissioner to Kenya.
- Years later, he was also appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi for a year, before being appointed as India’s first Marshal of the Indian Air Force in 2002.
- A state funeral will be accorded to Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh + and the national flag will fly at half mast in all government buildings here on Monday in his honour along with a 21 gun salute.
- Singh, who had flown more than 60 different types of aircraft, had played a major role in transforming the IAF into one of the most potent air forces globally and the fourth biggest in the world.
- He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest civilian honour, in 1965.
