New Delhi, Sept. 16 (PTI): Marshal Arjan Singh, who led the Indian Air Force during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, died this evening. He was 98.
The only officer of the air force to be promoted to five-star rank, Singh was admitted to the Army's Research and Referral hospital in the morning after he suffered a cardiac arrest. He is survived by his daughter and son. His wife, Teji, died in 2011.
A fearless and exceptional pilot, Singh will always be remembered for his role in the 1965 war when, as a 44-year-old, he led a fledgling air force to victory against a Pakistani air force that was better equipped with American support.
Then defence minister Y.B. Chavan had written: "Air Marshal Arjan Singh is a jewel of a person, quiet, efficient and firm; unexcitable but a very able leader."
He was born on April 15, 1919, at Lyallpur in Punjab in undivided India into a military family - his father, grandfather and great grandfather had served in the cavalry.
Educated at Montgomery, now in Pakistan, Singh joined the Royal Air Force College Cranwell, in England, in 1938 and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in December the following year. He was the air force chief from August 1, 1964, to July 15, 1969.
"His contribution to the Indian Air Force is monumental.... The IAF grew with him. He was the epitome of military leadership in the classical sense," former air force vice-chief Kapil Kak said.
Singh was honoured with the rank of Marshal of the Indian Air Force on the Republic Day in 2002. Field Marshals Sam Manekshaw and K.M. Cariappa of the army are the only other military officers with a five-star rank.
After retirement, he serves as ambassador to Switzerland, the Vatican and Kenya.
"A perfect gentleman, most generous and a great man," is how sister-in-law Geeta Bedi remembers him.
Bedi, whose sister Teji was married to Singh for 63 years, had last met him on Thursday and had planned a lunch with him today.
"I have known him since I was 5 years old. All three sisters would tie a rakhi on him as he didn't have sisters," she said.
