#OTD in 1930, Air Mshl S Raghvendran was born in the village of Perinkolam but spent his early years in Ooty. He went to RIMC, Dehradun in 1942 and was selected for @IAF_MCC in 1947. "Rags" retired as Vice Chief in 1988 after serving for 41 years. He passed away in 2020. (1/7) 
Rags had an illustrious career - He commissioned with the 51st Course. He was a flying instructor soon after and spent tenures in AFA & Iraq. Apart from a/c in IAF, he flew the Yak-18 & Hunting Jet Provost. He served as Flt Cdr with 5 Sqns- 2 Vampire, 2 Toofani,and a Hunter (2/7)
1n 1958, he was sent to Fighter Combat leaders Course (Equivalent of Top Gun school) in UK and scored an astonishing 74% in air-to-air firing (25% was considered enough). He put this learning to great use for the IAF and penned his thoughts here - bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/19… (3/7)
In 1959 he took over 23 Sqn (The Panthers) and converted it to Gnats - Becoming the first Gnat-operated sqn in the world. He would command this sqn again as a Wg Cdr in the 1965 war where it scored the first air combat kill in IAF since WWII! (4/7)
After his Staff college, he went as OC Flying and then as Stn Cdr to Bareilly - a base that managed the An-12s of 44 Sqn bombing missions. Soon after as an Air Cmde, he would command Ambala stn, his 9th posting to the station. bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/3… (5/7)
He served as Assistant chief Pers & Ops, both the senior-most positions in those Directorates. took over as AOC-in-C SWAC and retired as VCAS. In his twilight years he penned his thoughts on Bharat Rakshak in nearly a dozen write-ups (See the link in previous tweet)(6/7)
Hardly a few can claim a similar career profile. He finally wrote two books, narrating his life and career, and are a must-read for any military aficionado - "Panther Red One: The Memoirs of a Fighter Pilot" & "Panther Red One: The Sequel". May he rest in peace! (7/7)
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