Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...

Swaroop Krishna Kaul,

PVSM Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) (IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

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(born 20 December 1935) is a former Chief of the Air Staff of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

. Kaul served as the Air Chief from 1993 to 1995.

Personal life

Swaroop Krishna Kaul was born in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, into a Kashmiri Pandit family, to K K Kaul. He did his schooling from Besant college in

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

and his graduation from Government College,

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

in 1951.

Career

Kaul joined the National Defence Academy in 1951 and was commissioned in the IAF on 17 July 1954 During the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971, as a Wing Commander Kaul led several missions into the Pakistani held areas of East Pakistan (now

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

) to photograph strategically vital areas. As

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of 37 Squadron, he was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, the second highest war-time military decoration in India. After Commanding the

Central Air Command ''Nigrahya Rasava shastrava'' , colors = , colors_label = , battles = 1962 Sino-Indian War, East Pakistan Operations 1971, Operation Meghdoot, Orissa Super-Cyclone Relief, 1999 , anniversaries = , commander1 = Air Marshal Amar Preet Sin ...

and the

Western Air Command , colors= , colors_label= , battles= 1962 Sino-Indian War, 1971 India-Pakistan War, Operation Meghdoot , anniversaries= , commander1= Air Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran, AVSM, VM , commander1_label= Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief(AOC-in-C) , n ...

, Kaul took over as the 16th Chief of the Air Staff of the

. In November 1994, Kaul was appointed as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. He retired from the Air Force in December 1995. He had over 3,700 hours of accident free flying to his credit.

Awards

Kaul was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for a show of conspicuous gallantry during the 1971 war and the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 1992. (Effective date of award – 4 December 1971) ''At the outbreak of hostilities, Wing Commander Swaroop Krishna Kaul, the Commanding Officer of a fighter bomber squadron volunteered for an urgent task to photograph certain areas which were badly needed in order to finalise our Army’s assault plans. The officer carried out four missions deep into enemy territories to cover the heavily defended sectors of Comilla, Sylhet and Saidpur. At times, Wing Commander Kaul had to fly as low as 200 feet over the most heavily defended enemy locations. Undaunted, he flew through these barrages, making repeated runs in each of his missions, and successfully completed the task. On 4th December, 1971, Wing Commander Kaul again volunteered for another task, to photograph the Tezgaon and Kurmitola airfields. His reconnaissance flights over these two airfields, in the face of the most sustained and heavy enemy ground fire stand out as acts of heroism, extreme gallantry and devotion to duty. In addition to his reconnaissance exploits, Wing Commander Kaul led the very first eight aircraft strike mission over Dacca. In this raid, his formation encountered four enemy aircraft near the target area. With exemplary leadership, Wing Commander Kaul maneuvered his force in such a manner that two of the enemy aircraft were shot down and the other two fled. The target thus became clear for attack. Throughout the period of operations Wing Commander Swaroop Krishna Kaul displayed conspicuous gallantry, determination and professional skill.''

References

External links

Air Chief Marshal Swaroop Kishna Kaul
, by B.N. Sharga, ''Kashmir Sentinel'', March 2003 (retrieved 11 September 2006). {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaul, S. K. 1935 births Kaul, Swaroop Krishna Living people Indian Air Force air marshals Recipients of the Maha Vir Chakra Kashmiri people Recipients of the Param Vishisht Seva Medal Indian air attachés