On this day in 1930, Air Mshl S Raghavendran was born in the village of Perinkolam but spent his early years in Ooty. He went to RIMC, Dehradun in 1942 and was selected for IAF in 1947. “Rags” retired as Vice Chief in 1988 after serving for 41 years. He passed away in 2020.
Rags had an illustrious career – He commissioned with the 51st Course. He was a flying instructor soon after and spent tenures in AFA & Iraq. Apart from a/c in IAF, he flew the Yak-18 & Hunting Jet Provost. He served as Flt Cdr with 5 Sqns- 2 Vampire, 2 Toofani, and a Hunter.
1n 1958, he was sent to Fighter Combat leaders Course (Equivalent of Top Gun school) in UK and scored an astonishing 74% in air-to-air firing (25% was considered enough). He put this learning to great use for the IAF and penned his thoughts here.
In 1959 he took over 23 Sqn (The Panthers) and converted it to Gnats – Becoming the first Gnat-operated sqn in the world. He would command this sqn again as a Wg Cdr in the 1965 war where it scored the first air combat kill in IAF since WWII!
After his Staff college, he went as OC Flying and then as Stn Cdr to Bareilly – a base that managed the An-12s of 44 Sqn bombing missions. Soon after as an Air Cmde, he would command Ambala stn, his 9th posting to the station.
He served as Assistant chief Pers & Ops, both the senior-most positions in those Directorates. took over as AOC-in-C SWAC and retired as VCAS. In his twilight years he penned his thoughts on Bharat Rakshak in nearly a dozen write-ups.
Hardly a few can claim a similar career profile. He finally wrote two books, narrating his life and career, and are a must-read for any military aficionado – “Panther Red One: The Memoirs of a Fighter Pilot” & “Panther Red One: The Sequel”. May he rest in peace!
Originally published on Twitter
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