[ Panagarh,NewDelhi]Panagarh Air Force Station Renamed in Honour of 97 Yrs Old Martial Arjan Singh
The key airbase at Panagarh in West Bengal has been renamed as ‘Air Force Station Arjan Singh’ in honour of the Marshal of the Air Force, who turned 97 today.
The renaming of the Air Force Station was announced by Chief of Air Staff Arup Raha at a function in Delhi to mark Singh’s birthday.
Addressing a simple renaming ceremony in Panagarh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command Air Marshal C Hari Kumar said, “It is a proud moment for the Indian Air Force and the state of West Bengal.”
“He is an icon and a role model. We have to work hard to ensure that the name is suitably looked after in terms of capability and performance.
It is for the first time that we have taken a conscious decision to rename an airbase after an individual,” Air Marshal Kumar said.Arjan Singh, DFC is the only officer of the Indian Air Force to be promoted to five-star rank, equal to a Field Marshal, to which he was promoted in 2002. He was born in the Punjab town of Lyallpur, British India.
An icon of the Indian military history, Singh, the first Indian Air Force Chief to lead a young IAF into war in 1965, was hardly 44 years of age when entrusted with the responsibility.
Air Force Station Arjan Singh in Panagarh, approximately 150 kms from Kolkata, will house the C-130J military transport aircraft, capable of carrying out special operations. These planes will be flying with the Mountain Strike Corps along areas bordering China