New Delhi: Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth made history by becoming the first Indian woman fighter pilot to participate in a Republic Day flypast at Rajpath on Tuesday.
Bhawana Kanth was part of the Air Force tableau, with the theme ‘Indian Air Force: Touch the Sky with Glory’. They showcased scale models of the Light Combat Aircraft, Light Combat Helicopter, Su-30 MK-I aircraft and the Rohini radar.
2015: Ten women were commissioned as fighter pilots following an experimental plan to join the Indian Air Force’s combat stream. After training for class first, Kanth got a chance to choose a fighter stream.
2016: The 28-year-old Flight Lt was one of the first three women chosen for the IAF fighter stream. She was selected along with Mohana Singh and Avani Chaturvedi.
2017: Bhawana joined the Fighter Squadron and a year later, she flew the MiG-21 aircraft solo over the Indian skies for the first time.
2020: She received the Nari Shakti Puraskar.
Bhawana Kanth is a resident of Begusarai in Bihar. She is currently posted in Rajasthan and flies a MiG-21 Bison jet.
Bhawana’s did her schooling in Begusarai. She then went to Bengaluru for her engineering degree from BMS College of Engineering.