Air Force shows a bit of its capability
Deepkamal Kaur
Tribune News Service
Adampur, November 16
It was a treat to watch the parade, drills and acrobats of the Indian Air Force (AIF) teams as they performed during a ceremonial parade during the award of President’s Standards to two units of the Indian Air Force at Adampur here today.
President Ram Nath Kovind, serving and retired IAF officers, politicians and mediapersons sat in the gallery to watch the show. The first performance was of Air Warriors Drill Team Arjun, named after IAF Marshal Arjun Singh, who passed away recently. Incidentally Arjun Singh hailed from Chuharwali village of Adampur.
The drill team played with .303 rifles like toys swinging them in air in synchrony. They made various patterns and the most fascinating was tunnel formation in which the team leader passed through the gap between two rows of participating members as they kept swinging rifles across one another.
Next came the Sarang Acrobat Team in which four helicopters crossed one another from very close while flying at the same level.
The Squadron that scored 102/142 hits in 1986
The 223 Squadron of IAF based in Adampur which received the President’s Standard has a record that it formed 31 years ago, which surprisingly still stands. Then with its MiG 23 MF aircraft, the Squadron took a record number of hits, 102 out of 142, in an air-to-air gun firing in September 1986. It was then called ‘Swing Wing Interceptors’. The Squadron had Wing Commander IJS Boparai, as the first CO, who had retired as Air Commodore.
Politics at function
While Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh was to attend the event, the state government entrusted the job to its Power Minister Rana Gurjit Singh. During his welcome, the IAF authorities read out words in his praise which the SAD-BJP leaders at the ceremony found hard to digest. “Perhaps the speech was given to the IAF authorities by the government. We are not able to figure out when the minister during his MP tenure brought big projects to Punjab, including flyovers, second phase of Pushpa Gujral Science City and Rs 100 crore for Punjab Agricultural University,” said SAD general secretary Pawan Tinu, former BJP minister Manoranjan Kalia and former CPS KD Bhandari. The name of our Union Minister of State Vijay Sampla was not even read out,” they fumed.
