Review by Brig D S Sarao

A tribute to Zoru Bakshi by Brigadier Rattan Kaul. Indian Army Lost a Gallant Solider On 24th May 2018. Zoru as he was called by his seniors and colleagues, we younger generation of the Regiment 5th Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) used to quietly also refer to him as Zoru, but otherwise also as General Zoru Bakshi, completed a page of Braves of Indian Army. If you asked him to what Regiment he belonged, before 1980, he would say SECOND FIVE; a diehard Second Fiver (Second Battalion the Fifth Gurkha Rifles (Frontier Force) till he was elected as Colonel of the Regiment in 1980.

This story is dedicated to Lt Gen Harbaksh Singh Padma Vibhushan, VrC, Padma Bhushan GOC-in-C Western Command 1965 and Lt Col Megh Singh Rathore VrC CO 9 PARA CDO BN..... True legends.   

A Sailor's Story, by Vice Admiral N.Krishnan. Edited by: Arjun Krishnan - Book Review by K. Chandni

INAS 311 was commissioned by the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Nirmal Verma on 12th May 2009 at INS Dega in Vishakapatnam.

INAS 311, commanded by Commander Sanjay Nandan, operates the Dornier 228 aircraft.

The Talwar class has its origins in the Severnoye (Northern) Design Bureau that developed intothe Project 1135.6 vessel using an earlier Project 1135.1 design. This back to the early 1980s. The extensive scope of redesign and re-engineering for these vessels has realised a multipurpose surface combatant of about 4,000 ton displacement (this increase being attributed to additional weapon systems and the replacement of light alloys with steel), tailored to meet the Indian Navy's specific mission and performance requirements.

An exclusive item from our archives.  A publicity booklet from the Second World War with photographs and illustrations about the IAF on the Burma front. Most of the photographs seem to be from Nos 1, 6 and 7 Squadron Operations

 Precy D'Costa was ten months old when the tragedy struck her family. Her father, an Aviation Radio Officer, A M Da'Costa, happened to be on the ill-fated flight of the Beech 18  carrying the then Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Balwant Rai Mehta on 19th September 1965. The aircraft on a flight in remote Bhuj was intercepted by a PAF F-86 Sabre and was shot down with the loss of all lives. For many years she was not aware of the circumstances. She narrates her journey to find closure, and her visit to the crash site, 56 years later. 

Gp Capt Ajit Keshav Agtey 12188 F(P) , a graduate of the Air Force Test Pilots School was one of the few pilots to have been associated with the Vintage Aircraft Flight of the 1980s. He writes about the flights he undertook in the Tiger Moth of the VAF, which is currently flying with the Heritage Flight.