
Air Marshal Arjan Singh being offered sweets by his wife Teji Arjan Singh on his 83rd birth day in New Delhi in 2002. (File Photo | PTI)
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Air Marshal Arjan Singh being offered sweets by his wife Teji Arjan Singh on his 83rd birth day in New Delhi in 2002. (File Photo | PTI)
NEW DELHI: Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh breathed his last today.
Singh, the hero of 1965 India-Pakistan war and the only Air Force officer to be promoted to five-star rank, died here yesterday. He was 98.
IN PICTURES: Nation bids adieu to IAF Marshal Arjan Singh
He breathed his last at the Army's Research and Referral hospital, marking an end to a glorious era of the IAF.
Here is a timeline of his life:
April 15, 1919 - Born in Lyallpur, present-day Faislabad in Pakistan
1938- At 19 years was selected for a pilot training course at Royal Air Force College, Cranwell 1939- Training cut short by World War II. Joined Sqdn 1 in Ambala
1943- Became Commanding Officer Sqdn 1 1944- Led his squadron to Imphal against the Japanese during the Arakan Campaign.
1944- Received the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for leading the squadron during Imphal Campaign by Lord Mountbatten
August 15, 1947- Led the fly-past of over a hundred IAF aircraft over the red fort.
August 1, 1964- Arjan Singh took over as the Chief of Air Staff in the rank of Air Marshal
1965 - Arjan Singh was awarded the Padma Vibhushan for his leadership of IAF during the '65 war with Pakistan August 1969- Retired from the Indian Air Force after serving for three decades
1971- Appointed India's Ambassador to Switzerland.
1974- Appointed Indian High Commissioner to Kenya.
1980s- At the height of militancy in Punjab he was part of a 5-member committee that would go door to door in the state and try to bridge the differences between Hindus & Sikhs.
1989- Janata government appoints Arjan Singh as the L-G of Delhi as an attempt to apply balm to the wounds of the Sikh community
2002- Conferred with the rank of the Marshal of the Air Force making him the first and the only 'Five Star' rank officer with the Indian Air Force.
April, 2011- Wife Teji Singh passes away at the age of 80.
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