Cavalier India Defence Training Academy

The man in Indian Air Force uniform is Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather, with India's Ambassador to France jawed Ashraf, and Chairman of Dassault Aviation, Eric Trappier The first batch of the much-awaited five Rafale fighter jets that took off from France on July 27, 2020. In the moment of euphoria over the arrival of one of world's best fighter jets, Indian social media users were quick to point out the important role played by Hilal Ahmad Rather in the quick delivery of Rafale. Air Commodore Hilal Ahmad Rather is presently India’s Air Attaché to France. Hilal hails from South Kashmir's Anantnag district. He became India's first pilot to see off the batch of Rafale jets from France to India on July 27. Reports suggest that he played a crucial part in early delivery of the Rafales, and was previously associated with the weaponisation of the Rafale jets according to the Indian requirements. Hilal was commissioned in Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot on December 17, 19...

Tomorrow, Dalip Singh Majithia , who retired as a Squadron Leader in the Indian Air Force in August 1947, the year of our independence, turns 100. Dalip Singh Majithia retired as a Squadron Leader in the Indian Air Force in August 1947. On August 5, 1940, a young Sikh pilot took off on his first training flight in a Tiger Moth aircraft from the Walton airfield in Lahore with his two British instructors. 17 days later, Dalip Singh Majithia, then just 20, flew his first solo flight, a flight that paved the way for a lifetime in aviation - first in the Air Force and then as a private pilot. Along the way, Majithia had his share of adventures as a fighter pilot flying the legendary Hawker Hurricane on the Burma front during the Second World War to becoming the first person to land a plane in the Kathmandu Valley several decades later.   Tomorrow, Dalip Singh Majithia, who retired as a Squadron Leader in the Indian Air Force in August 1947, the year of our independence, turns 100. On 23...