Wing Commander (Retd) Venugopalan "Venu" Kondath was commissioned in the IAF in 1951. He flew as a Flight Signaller with No 6 Squadron, operating Liberators, in the 1950s; and with No 11 Squadron, operating Dakotas, in the early 1960s; becoming Signals Leader of both squadrons. He retired from the IAF in 1981, and worked for a period for HAL thereafter.