New Delhi: India’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat’s death in an Mi-17 chopper crash on Wednesday was the first fatality of a top defence officer in nearly three decades.
Eastern Command chief, Lt Gen Jameel Mahmood, died in a helicopter crash in May 1993 during a visit to Sikkim. The chopper involved was also an Mi-17 and his wife was accompanying him.
In November 1963, several senior defence officers were killed in an IAF chopper crash near Poonch — Western Command chief, Lt Gen Daulat Singh, Western Air Command chief, Air Vice Marshal Erlic Pinto, Chinar Corps Commander, Lt Gen Bikram Singh, 25 Infantry Division chief, Maj Gen NKD Nanavati, and 93 Brigade chief, Brigadier SR Oberoi, besides pilot, Flight Lt SS Sodhi.
An IAF de Havilland Devon transport aircraft crashed near Lucknow in February 1952. However, all passengers had a miraculous escape. On board were future Army chiefs Lt Gen SM Shrinagesh and Major Gen KS Thimayya among others.
