Last Flight of Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Bhadauria in MiG 21 Fighter Aircraft

IAF: Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria Flies His Last Sortie In Fighter Aircraft
Outgoing Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria flew his last sortie in a fighter aircraft as Air Force Chief on September 13 at 23 Sqd, Halwara, the IAF announced.

Outgoing Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria flew his last sortie in a fighter aircraft as Air Force Chief on September 13 at 23 Sqd, Halwara, the IAF announced on Saturday. The IAF further said, “His flying career had begun with the same 'Panthers' Squad flying MiG-21, ended in the same aircraft of the same squadron at the same airbase.” Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria is set to retire from service on September 30 2021. It was earlier announced that Air Marshal VR Chaudhari, presently Vice Chief of Air Staff, will be the next Chief of Air Staff. Bharat Bhushan Babu, the spokesperson of Defence Ministry tweeted the following announcement, "Government has decided to appoint Air Marshal V R Chaudhari, PVSM, AVSM, VM presently Vice Chief of Air Staff as the next Chief of Air Staff. Current Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC retires from Service on 30th Sep 2021."

Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria's career
Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria assumed office on September 30, 2019, and has clocked over 4,250 hours of flying. He also has experience on over 26 different types of fighter jets and transport aircraft. Bhadauria was commissioned into the fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on June 15, 1980, with the Sword of Honour and since then, he has held several positions like Commander of a Jaguar Squadron at a front line base in the South-Western sector; Commanding Officer of Flight Test Squadron at Aircraft and System Testing Establishment; Chief Test Pilot and Project Director of National Flight Test Centre on the Tejas LCA project; Air Attache in Moscow; Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Projects); Commandant of the National Defence Academy; Senior Air Staff Officer at Central Air Command and Deputy Chief of the Air Staff. Across his 39-year career, Bhadauria has been awarded on several occasions with medals like the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (January 2013), the Vayu Sena Medal (January 2002) and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (January 2018). He was also appointed as the honorary air force ADC to the President of India on January 1, 2019. Later, Bhadauria was inducted into the Mirpur Hall of Fame at Defence Services Command and Staff College, Bangladesh.Six days after an Indian Air Force pilot was killed in a MiG-21 crash in Punjab, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria on Thursday visited the fighter squadron based at Suratgarh in Rajasthan and flew a MiG-21 Bison fighter along with the squadron’s commanding officer as a tribute to the fallen pilot, officials said on Thursday.Panthers (the squadron) paid tribute to Sqn Ldr Abhinav Chaudhary by flying a ‘Missing Man’ formation, as they recommenced their op (operational) flying. The senior most serving ‘Panther’, CAS (Chief of Air Staff) flew a Bison & joined the CO in the aerial tribute. CAS later interacted with aircrew & technicians of the base,” the IAF said.The MiG-21 Bis (an upgraded variant of the plane flown for the first time in 1976) was further upgraded to MiG-21 Bison in India in 2000.

IAF operates four squadrons of MiG-21 Bison aircraft — a squadron has 16 to 18 fighter jets. The last of these upgraded MiG-21s are set to be phased out in the next three to four years. The air force got its first single-engine MiG-21 in 1963, and it progressively inducted 874 variants of the Soviet-origin supersonic fighters to bolster its combat potential.Of the 874 MiG-21 variants inducted by the IAF, more than 60% were licence-produced in India.

More than 400 MiG-21s have been involved in accidents that have claimed the lives of more than 200 pilots during the last six decades, earning the fighters ominous epithets such as “Flying Coffin” and “Widow Maker”.

KEY HIGHLIGHTSAir Marshal Sandeep Singh has been appointed as the new Vice Chief of Air StaffSingh will succeed incumbent Air Marshal VR Chaudhari who will take charge as the next IAF chief on September 30
Outgoing Indian Air Force (IAF) chief RKS Bhadauria flew his last sortie in a fighter aircraft as Air Force chief on September 13, confirmed the IAF on Saturday.

Bhadauria will complete his two-year term as IAF chief on September 30 and will be superannuated.

The IAF said, "Outgoing Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria flew his last sortie in a fighter aircraft as Air Force Chief on September 13 at 23 Squadron, Halwara. His flying career had begun with the same 'Panthers' Squadron flying MiG-21, ended in the same aircraft of the same squadron at same airbase."