Sqn Ldr Asit Kumar Ghosh

Sqn Ldr Asit Kumar Ghosh hailed from West Bengal, but was born in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh on 06 Apr 1933. He joined the Indian Air Force and was commissioned on 06 Nov 1954 at the age of 21 years. He joined the flying stream of the IAF and got trained as a transport pilot as part of 64th Pilots' Course. After completing his flying training, he served with various flying squadrons located at different  Air Force bases. He became a Flying Officer on 06 Nov 1955 and subsequently got further promotions to Flt Lt and Sqn Ldr.

By 1965, he had put in around 11 years of service and had been promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader. By that time he had evolved into a professionally competent transport pilot having expertise in various air operations. During 1965 he was serving with No 2 Transport Training Wing (TTW) based at Yelahanka, in Bangalore.

Indo-Pak War (Air Support Operations) : 07 Sep 1965

During 1965, Sqn Ldr Asit Kumar Ghosh was serving with 2 Transport Training Wing (2 TTW) based at Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bangalore. Initially formed as a conversion and training squadron at Agra in 1948, it moved over to Begumpet in 1957 and was renamed as Transport Training Wing (TTW). In 1963 after the Sino -Indian conflict, the necessity for expanding training on transport aircraft became imperative. To facilitate this requirement; existing TTW was retained at Begumpet and No.2 TTW was established at Yelahanka, in Bangalore, where an airfield of world war II vintage was already in existence. This airfield was re-commissioned after necessary repairs on August I, 1963 and began functioning under the command of Gp Capt PL Dhawan. However as the war with Pakistan in 1965 flared up in the Chhamb sector on 1 Sep, 2 TTW with Group Captain John Francis Lazaro as its commanding officer was called upon to carry out various air support operations. Sqn Ldr Asit Kumar Ghosh was tasked for one such operation on 07 Sep 1965.

The operational task assigned to Sqn Ldr Asit Kumar Ghosh was an air supply mission in Dakota C-47 aircraft with Flying Officer Jagat Singh Toor as his navigator. On 07 Sep 1965, Sqn Ldr Ghosh along with his navigator Fg Offr Toor took off as planned after carrying out the pre-flight checks. The aircraft was carrying Naval munitions from Naval Station at Cochin to Jamnagar. However the aircraft developed serious snag on the way, making the aircraft uncontrollable. Eventually the aircraft crashed over Baba Budan range near Mangalore. As a result Sqn Ldr Ghosh & Fg Offr Toor could not survive the crash and were martyred. Sqn Ldr Asit Kumar Ghosh was a committed air warrior and professionally competent pilot who laid down his life at the age of 32 years in the line of his duty. 

Sqn Ldr Asit Kumar Ghosh is survived by his wife Smt Mohua Ghosh and son Shri Aroop Ghosh.