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Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon

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Flying Officer
Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon
PVC
A 2000 Indian postage stamp featuring a portrait of gallantry award winner Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, PVC, in military uniform. To his right is a line drawing of a jet aircraft in flight. The stamp includes the Indian Air Force crest and text commemorating 50 years of the Republic of India.
Sekhon on a 2000 stamp of India
Born
Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon

(1945-07-17)17 July 1945[1]
Ludhiana, Punjab, British India[2]
(now in Punjab, India)
Died14 December 1971(1971-12-14) (aged 26)[1]
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Other nameN.J.S. Sekhon
Alma mater
Military career
Allegiance India
Branch
 Indian Air Force
Service years
1967–1971 †
Rank
 Flying Officer
NicknamesNimmy
Brother
Service number10877 F(P)[1]
Unit No. 18 Squadron
(Flying Bullets)
Conflicts
Awards Param Vir Chakra
(posthumous)

Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, PVC (17 July 1945 – 14 December 1971)[1] was an Indian Air Force officer. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military honour, in recognition of his solo defence of Srinagar Air Base against a Pakistan Air Force (PAF) air raid during the India–Pakistan war of 1971.[3] He is the only member of the Indian Air Force to be honoured with the PVC.[4]

Flying Officer Sekhon's remains as well as the exact location of the crash site of his aircraft are still unknown.

Fg Offr Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, PVC
Statue of Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon and his aircraft
Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon in a colorized photograph of the No. 18 Squadron just a few months before the India–Pakistan war of 1971. He is sitting in the 2nd row from the bottom, 4th from the right.

Early life

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Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was born to a Jat Sikh family on 17 July 1945[1] in the village of Isewal, Ludhiana, Punjab Province, British India.[2][5] His father was Indian Air Force Master Warrant Officer and honorary Flight Lieutenant Tarlochan Singh Sekhon,[6] and his mother was Harbans Kaur Sekhon.[7] He was commissioned as a pilot officer in the Indian Air Force on 4 June 1967.

Param Vir Chakra Award

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During the India–Pakistan War of 1971, he was a member of No. 18 Squadron, the "Flying Bullets", flying the Folland Gnat fighter aircraft, based at Srinagar. On 14 December 1971, Srinagar airfield was attacked—as part of Operation Chengiz Khan—by six Pakistan Air Force F-86 jets of No. 26 Squadron from PAF Base Peshawar. Flying Officer Sekhon was on readiness duty at that time. As soon as the first aircraft attacked, Sekhon rolled for take-off as no. 2 in a two-Gnat formation, with Flight Lieutenant Ghumman in the lead, just as the first bombs were falling on the runway. Only delayed due to dust kicked up by the bomb. Sekhon lost no time in singling out the first Sabre pair, which was re-forming after the bombing run. Ghumman lost sight of his wingman just after take-off and remained out of the fight, leaving Sekhon to handle the enemy all by himself. In the ensuing air battle, Sekhon scored a direct hit on one Sabre and set another ablaze. The latter was seen heading away towards Rajauri, trailing smoke.

Salim Baig's F-86 gun camera footage of Sekhon's Folland Gnat

Sekhon, after being hit, was advised to return to the base by ATC Squadron Leader Virendera Singh Pathania.[8] He is said to have flown in straight, wings level for some time, then going inverted and plummeting down, probably due to failure of control system. He attempted a last-minute ejection—as his canopy was seen to fly off—but it did not save him. The wreckage of the Gnat was found in a gorge near the road coming from Srinagar town to the base, a few miles from the base. Despite many efforts by Army and Air Force, his remains were never found due to the mountainous terrain where his fighter went down.

A detailed story of his efforts has been mentioned in an account by Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail.[9] His skill was praised in an article by Salim Baig Mirza, the pilot who downed him.[10] The bravery, flying skill and determination displayed by Flying Officer Sekhon, against odds of 6 to 1, earned him India's highest wartime medal for gallantry, the Param Vir Chakra.

Citation

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The Param Vir Chakra citation reads as follows:

CITATION

FG OFFR NIRMAL JIT SINGH SEKHON

18 SQUADRON 10877 F(P)

Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was a pilot of a Gnat detachment based at Srinagar for the air defence of the valley against Pakistani air attacks. From the very outbreak of the hostilities he and his colleagues fought successive waves of intruding Pakistani aircraft with valour and determination, maintaining the high reputation of the Gnat aircraft. On 14 December 1971, Srinagar airfield was attacked by a wave of enemy Sabre aircraft. Flying Officer Sekhon was on readiness duty at the time. Immediately, however, no fewer than six enemy aircraft were overhead, and they began bombing and strafing the airfield. In spite of the mortal danger of attempting to take off during the attack, Flying Officer Sekhon took off and immediately engaged a pair of the attacking Sabres. In the fight that ensued, he secured hits on one aircraft and damaged another. By this time the other Sabre aircraft came to the aid of their hard-pressed companions and Flying Officer Sekhon's Gnat was again outnumbered, this time by four to one.

Even though alone, Flying Officer Sekhon engaged the enemy in an unequal combat. In the fight that followed, at treetop height, he almost held his own, but was eventually overcome by the sheer weight of numbers. His aircraft was shot down by a gunfire of one of the Sabres and he was killed.

The sublime heroism, supreme gallantry, flying skill and determination above and beyond the call of duty displayed by Flying Officer Sekhon in the face of certain death have set new heights in Air Force traditions.[11]

Honours

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  • Statues of him have also been erected in many cities in India.
  • A marine tanker built in 1985 was named Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, PVC.
  • Indian Army converted the room once used by Sekhon, into a museum called PVC Abode at Badami Bagh in Srinagar. It was unveiled on what would have been his 80th birthday in July 2025, to preserve his legacy of bravery.

Statues and a bust

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Sekhon's statue at Param Yodha Sthal, National War Memorial, New Delhi

A statue in tribute of Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was erected at the district court of Ludhiana (first erected at Samrala Chowk, Ludhiana) in the courtyard next to the flagpole. A decommissioned Folland Gnat fighter is part of the memorial and serves as a gate guardian.

His statue, along with a decommissioned Folland Gnat, has been placed in the Indian Air Force Museum, Palam.

Relief Mural at Balidan Stambh Jammu

Balidan Stambh, the war memorial in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir in 2009 paid tribute to him by inscribing his name on the pillars alongside the martyrs of the 1971 war. His name is displayed near the Amar Jawan Jyoti (Eternal Flame) and as relief mural[clarification needed] on the outside background wall with the Param Vir Chakra awardees who were killed in Jammu and Kashmir.[12]

Sculpture of N.J.S. Sekhon at Shaheedi Park, New Delhi

Air Marshal BR Krishna unveiled Sekhon's bust in 2021 at Govt. Senior Sec. School, Issewal in Ludhiana, his birthplace.[13]

This memorial with his aircraft model is located at the District Court Complex Ludhiana.
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References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Service Record for Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon". Bharat Rakshak. December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  2. 1 2 Vasdev, Kanchan (30 January 2003). "Sekhon's hamlet to be 'adarsh village'". The Tribune (Chandigarh). Archived from the original on 1 March 2004. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "Batchmates remember of IAF's lone Param Vir Chakra awardee recall his valour". The Indian Express. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  4. ↑ "IAF scales 3 virgin peaks in Ladakh region". Hindustan Times. 27 July 2012. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Param Vir Chakra winners since 1950". The Times of India. Indiatimes News Network. 25 January 2008. Retrieved 14 November 2016.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  6. ↑ "The Tribune, Chandigarh, India – Ludhiana Stories - 'Nirmal did us all proud'". The Tribune. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  7. ↑ "Stories of Gallantry Award | Indian Air Force | Government of India". indianairforce.nic.in.
  8. ↑ "Indian Air Force Day 2020 : Story Of Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon". Mind Stick. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "A Hard Nut to Crack". kaiser-aeronaut.blogspot.com/. 21 November 2008. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  10. ↑ Baig, Salim (September 2000). "Air Battles December 1971-My Experience". Defencejournal.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  11. ↑ Param Vir Chakra (PVC) Awardee: Fg Offr Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon, PVC, The War Decorated India & Trust, retrieved 1 September 2014
  12. ↑ "A Monument of Sacrifice". Daily Excelsior. Retrieved 29 December 2024.
  13. ↑ "Bust of Flying Officer Nirmal Jeet Sekhon PVC unveiled, IAF holds airshow". Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  14. ↑ "Independence Day Special: 8 Patriotic Indian TV Serials That Were Way Better Than the Present Saas-Bahu Saga". Lokmat Times.
  15. ↑ Madhu Jain (15 August 1990). "Mandi House hardsells Kashmir in its serial 'Gul Gulshan Gulfam'". India Today. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  16. ↑ Puri, Reena (2015). Param Vir Chakra. Amar Chitra Katha. pp. 38–47. ISBN 9789350858424. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  17. ↑ Cardozo, Ian. Param Vir Chakra Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon. Lotus. ISBN 9788174369246. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
  18. ↑ "Border2: Diljit Dosanjh to Play Param Vir Chakra Awardee Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon in 'Border 2'". Bru Times News.
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