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Friday, Feb 18, 2005

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Air warriors get nostalgic

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, FEB. 17. The Navy House here hosted a reunion of the No. 20 squadron of the Indian Air Force on Wednesday evening, where air warriors who had served together during the 1971 war met and turned nostalgic.

The Chief of the Naval Staff, Arun Prakash, on deputation to the IAF at that time, was part of the squadron. The squadron, led by (then Wing Commander) Air Vice Marshal (Retd), C.V. Parker, performed exceedingly well during the conflict, winning two Maha Vir Chakras (MVCs) and five Vir Chakras, apart from several other gallantry awards. The present Naval chief was among those awarded the Vir Chakra for gallantry in skies over West Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir.

The squadron's wartime diary reveals a saga of courage and professionalism. The squadron carried out attacks on a range of enemy airfields, radar units and economic targets in the North-West Frontier Province, West Punjab and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

It was credited with destroying 14 Pakistani aircraft, both on ground and in the air, apart from severely damaging enemy infrastructure at eight airfields. It lost two pilots, Squadron Leader Mistry and Flying Officer Murlidharan.

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