At Air Force Station Bidar Air Marshal Kulwant Singh Gill, ADC, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Central Air Command, flew a three aircraft close formation sortie on Hawk Mk 132 with his son Flying Officer Shahbeg Gill also part of same formation.

The three aircraft formation took-off approximately at 1500 hours and landed after approximately one hour. When Air Marshal was asked how he felt flying a sortie with his son he replied: “I can easily say that IAF is the elitist service in the world, that’s why I leave half of me with the Air Force”. He wishes to see more brave sons of this great land to opt for flying and fighting for the nation.

When father and son landed after the sortie, Ranjit Gill, Shahbeg’s mother, was emotional and said, “The two dearest people to me in this world have flown together in close formation and I cannot describe my feeling in words, obviously I feel I am one of the proudest wives and mothers”.

Air Marshal K.S. Gill was commissioned into the Flying Branch of the IAF in December 1977. In a career spanning 38 years, he has held instructional, directional and command appointments, including Commandant of the National Defence Academy. He has more than 7,000 hours of accident/incident-free flying experience to his credit.

Flying Officer Shahbeg has done his matriculation form St Peter’s School and 12th Standard from Army Public School, both in Patiala. Flying Officer Gill says right from childhood he wanted to be like his father and today he has taken a major step towards that.