Meet Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon, the only Indian Air Force officer to win the Param Vir Chakra

Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon

Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon was born in the village of Isewal Dakha in Ludhiana District of Punjab. Sekhon hailed from an army background as his father Tarlochan Singh Sekhon was a flight lieutenant. He was commissioned as a Flying Officer in the Indian Air Force in 1967.

Pakistan Air Force, during the war of 1971, had decided on the strategy to neutralize Amritsar, Pathankot and Srinagar airfields as they were crucial to their plans at the time. No. 26 squadron, based at Peshawar, was assigned with the task to carry strikes on Srinagar Airfield. 

Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon was on readiness duty with “The Flying Bullets” of IAF, flying the Folland Gnat fighter aircraft based at Srinagar. When his airfield was attacked by PAF’s Force F-86 Sabre jets, Sekhon rolled for take-off as the No. 2 behind his leader Flt. Lt. Ghumman in a two-Gnat formation. 

The daily attacks by Sabres had caused damage to the runway but the repair gangs always ensured that the runway was never out of permanent service. So, when the Sabres of Pakistani commander Changazi, Dotani, Andrabi and Mir attacked the airfield carrying 500 lbs bombs each, Sekhon lost no time in singling out the first Sabre Pair, which was forming its original position after the bombing run. Nirmaljit’s leader Lt. Ghuman lost contact with the wingman, and therefore, Sekhon was left with six Pakistani Sabres on his tail gunning for his aircraft.

But Nirmaljit never lost sight of those two Sabres and quickly settled his aim on one of them. “I am getting behind one but the other is getting an edge on me,” is how Sekhon had described the situation to his controllers. But as soon as he made contact with the Sabre in front of him, he could feel the air getting thicker on his own tail. While he was busy neutralizing the Pakistani aircraft in front of him another Sabre had come up on his tail.

Nirmaljit, in order to evade the Sabre behind him, started going in circles and it seemed for a while that Nirmaljit had succeeded as the Pakistani commander Andrabi’s voice crackled on the radio, “Three is Winchester” meaning he had exhausted his ammo. Sekhon had successfully hit one Sabre and set another one ablaze which was seen heading towards Rajauri sector covered in smoke.

During the dogfight, Sekhon’s fighter sustained heavy damages and he failed to eject out of the Gnat as the flight control system had failed. Sekhon went down with the aircraft but his legacy was established on that day in the mountains. Coming out on top of six Pakistani Sabres had odds of 1:6, and Sekhon did it in style making the enemy run for cover.

Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon was awarded India’s highest wartime medal for gallantry, the Param Vir Chakra for his exploits in the field, and thereby, he became the only officer from the Indian Air Force to be decorated with the prestigious award.