Arjan Singh, India’s eldest five-star ranked armed force officer and marshal of Indian Air Force passed away earlier this evening. He was 98 years old. He had suffered a heart attack in the morning and was admitted to the army hospital in Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman had met him in the hospital earlier in the day.
Arjan Singh was the sole beneficiary of Air Force Marshal rank, the first in India. The rank of Air Marshal is equivalent to field marshal of Indian Army. Arjan Singh was also awarded by Padma Vibhushan by the previous president, Shri Pranab Mukherjee.
Indian Air Force had renamed a base after him. The Air Force Base situated in Panagarh (West Bengal) is now known as Air Force Station Arjan Singh. Arjan Singh was the only IAF officer, who got a base named after him while being alive. Another achievement in his kitty included being the chief of Indian Air Force at just 44 years of age.
Arjan Singh was born in 1919 at Lyallpur (Punjab), currently in Pakistan. He joined Royal Indian Force in 1938 and got commissioned as a pilot officer at 19 years of age. He fought for British Indian Army in 1944 in world war 2 in Burma and was awarded Distinguished Flying Cross for “fearless and exceptional” service in 1944. In his career as an IAF officer, he flew over 60 types of aircraft and that continued until his retirement in 1969.
After his retirement, Arjan Singh served as Ambassador to Switzerland in 1971 and high commissioner of Kenya in 1974. He was also made lieutenant governor of Delhi in 1989. In 2002, he was promoted to the five-star rank and became the first IAF officer and only the third Indian officer across forces to get the honour.