98-year-old Sqn Ldr Jasbir Singh Gill passed away yesterday. Unknown to most, he was the first lot of Navigators to be commissioned in the IAF in 1946 and later a veteran of UN Congo ops of 62. His life story epitomises the struggles & aspirations of the times. (1/11)
Born on 1 Feb 1924 in Punjab, he completed his matriculation from Lyallpur in 1943. While his father encouraged him to study more, he was keen to start working to support the family. He saw an advertisement to join the IAF and applied. 2/
A needy Gill joined the Airman Training Centre in Bangalore in 1944. Conditions were very tough, and he considered quitting numerous times but persevered and qualified as Radio Operator & was posted to Begumpet. 3/
Keen to grow, he applied for a commission and went for SSB in 1945 and was selected to be an officer cadet. He joined the 38th Pilot course of the IAF and was posted to Initial Training Wing at Poona (Parsi Orphanage) for initial ground trg. 4/
Stage 2 was at EFTS, Jodhpur for basic flying trg. Also, trg with him was the Maharaja of Jodhpur (as an Honorary officer) and Gill remembered his first drink in life was courtesy of the Maharaja at a party hosted by him to commemorate the completion of trg. 5/
Gill was commissioned as Acting Pilot Officer on 25 Feb 46. In those days, commissioning happened before the advanced flying stage. Only on completion of the advanced stage could he earn the coveted “wing” though. 6/
At RAF Ambala, Gill thought the British instructors were not very professional due to the impending partition and his luck was particularly poor. He did not clear the stage and was offered to become a trainee navigator – a fledgling experiment at that stage. 7/
He agreed but was sent to SSB again to be interviewed for a Nav officer. On clearing the same, was sent to Risalpur for training. It is here that the 12 Sqn of IAF was acting as the de-facto Nav School. 8/
Gill completed the basic training & later in 1946 was sent to Willingale to train on Anson Avro with Straight aviation training company based at Chipping Ongar, East of London. Chipping Ongar was an RAF Bomber base during WWII but now a reserve airfield used for trg. 9/
On return, Gill was posted for unit service – 12 Sqn (47-48), Comm Sqn (49-49), Instructor with TTW & C&T Sqn (49-52), FIS Adjutant, Nav instructor with AFFC Jodhpur & TTW (53-58) before converting to Canberra that gave him the chance to be part of the UN Congo ops(1962). 10/
In 1965, he joined Air India from where he retired in 1982 & settled in Chandigarh (Golf & Solan No.1 for company). Recently he decided to relocate to New Zealand with his kids & son-in-law (Glen Turner of cricket fame). He breathed his last on 19/Aug. Fare well Sir. 11/11
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