The Blue Skies Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In the last and final part of our interview with Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, we discuss his experiences inducting the Jaguar into IAF service. We also discuss his role in the repatriation of Flt. Lt. Nachiketa, during the Kargil War.

In Part 3 of our interview with Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, we discuss his experiences training with the Royal Air Force on the Jaguar Aircraft. He was among the first batch of 12 pilots to be trained on that deep penetration strike aircraft. Learn how he was taught to drop "bombs in a bucket" from the RAF. 

Guest host and aviation historian Anchit Gupta takes us through the organization of the Air Forces in India prior to Independence.

In this interview we change gears to understand now a Surface to Air Missile (SAM) or Surface to Air Guided Weapon (SAGW) works. In an interview with a past guest of the program, Gp. Capt. Anil Kumar ("Toots") Ghosh, who commanded an SA-2 Dvina unit, we understand the intricacies of ground based detection of hostile targets and defence against them.

Learn more about the SA-2 Dvina here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-75_Dvina

In Part 2 of the 2-part interview with Air Marshal BD Jayal, we discuss his leading the Jaguar Project Team (JPT) in the UK, how the IAF anticipates equipment requirements and plans for it, and what should be done about the threat environment in the Indian sub-continent.

Air Marshal Jayal's profile is here: http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/4972

A compilation of his writings in the Times of India are here,
and in the Telegraph are here.

This week's interview is Part 1 of a 2-part interview with a legend of the IAF, Air Marshal BD Jayal. From a Tiger Moth to Mirage 2000 and everything in between, Air Marshal Jayal has flown it, 77 types and 4,200 hours, in fact. In Part 1 we discuss his early experiences flying Toofanis and Mysteres, converting to the MiG-21 in the Soviet Union as part of the first batch of Indians to train there, and becoming a test pilot.
 

Part 2, covering Jaguar induction, Defence procurement, the Indian threat environment, etc., will come out next week.
 

Air Marshal Jayal's profile is here: http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/4972

A compilation of his writings in the Times of India are here, 
and in the Telegraph are here.

This week's interview features Wg. Cdr. Jai Singh Gahlawat, who saw action flying Hunters during the 1971 War for the Liberation Bangladesh, for which he was awarded a Vir Chakra. In great detail, he takes us with him as he mounts attacks deep in West Pakistan. 

Wg. Cdr. Gahlawat is also one of the Air Force's few A1 instructors, and we discuss those experiences too.

Wg. Cdr. Gahlawat's profile is here. http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/11280. His Vir Chakra citation is a really thrilling read.

00:00:00 Guest introduction, journey into IAF
00:13:13 Commencement of hostilities
00:15:50 First mission: Strike Sakesar Radar
00:36:52 Destroying bridge in Kathua
00:43:38 Being attacked by 6 Mirages
00:48:00 Destroying tanks in Chhamb
00:53:10 Nearly shot down own Hunters
00:56:06 Becoming an A-1 Instructor

This episode features an interview with Gp. Capt. Sunil Palkar (Retd.), who was a Navigator on AN-12 aircraft during the 1971 war with Bangladesh and was in the lead aircraft for the famous Tangail paradrop. In addition to that mission, we discuss navigation in the AN-12, flying Caribous in the North East, Electronic Intelligence gathering, flying VIPs in the Boeing 737, etc. 

This week's episode features PVS Jagan Mohan, co-author of "The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965", "Eagles over Bangladesh" and "The Westland Wapiti in the Indian Air Force" and others. He is also a pillar of the IAF section of the Bharat Rakshak website, and runs https://www.warbirdsofindia.com/ which documents locations of former military aircraft. 

In this episode, we speak to Wg. Cdr. Namrita Chandi, who was among the first few batches of lady officers commissioned into the flying branch. Over 15 years in uniform, she flew over 2,000 hours in Chetaks and Cheetahs from the heights of Siachen to the deserts of Rajasthan.

Wg. Cdr. Chandi's profile can be found here: http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/24109