MiG_21_India

List being compiled - can you help with photographs

India -

Draft Listing - alterations and additions will be forthcoming - if you can help please contact me

Chronological Listing of Indian Air Force, Naval Air Force and related Ejections

Date	Air Force	A'cft	Unit / Serial	based	crashed	crew	photo	seat
21st December 1963	Indian A. F.	MiG-21F		28 Sqdn	MAC with another Mig 21 F near Ambala.	Sqn Ldr Malcolm S Dundas Wollen
21st December 1963	Indian A. F.	MiG-21F		28 Sqdn	MAC with another Mig 21 F near Ambala.	Sqn Ldr Arun Kanti Mukherjee
5th December 1971	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL	C-764	29 Sqdn	SD AAA 1530 Hrs Suliemanke	Flt Lt Harish Singhji
6th December 1971	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL		4 Sqdn	AAA fire damage, ran out of fuel. Gauhati	Sqn Ldr Dopey Rao
8th December 1971	Indian A. F.	MiG-21 FL		No.45 Squadron Pathankot	Pakistan AAA in the Chamb area	Sqn Ldr Denzil Joseph Keelor VrC. ejected spine was injured		KM-1
12th December 1971	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL		28 Sqdn	AAA Dam Ejected on way to Agartala	Sqn Ldr K J S Gill
17th December 1971	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL	C-716	29 Sqdn	SD by F-86 over Pasrur	Flt Lt Tejwant Singh
1st December 1972	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL		3 Sqdn	Bird HIt	Pilot nickname was 'Oz' ejected DNE
1st August 1973	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL		3 Sqdn	DNE - Bird hit at Hindon, Ejected	Sqn Ldr Jasjit Singh VrC
1st June 1974	Indian A. F.	MiG-21MF		7 Sqdn	Flameout at Chandigarh,	Fg Offr Thapa ejected after DNE		Date Not Exact
25th February 1975	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U		3 Sqdn	AC caught fire/ Pilots rescued by chopper flown by Sqn Ldr Manjit Singh Sekhon, who was awarded the Shaurya Chakra for the mission.
25th February 1975	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U		3 Sqdn
1st April 1975	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL		28 Sqdn	Eng Flame out Bird Hit on TO Tezpur	Flt Lt Partha Das Gupta VrC ejected but killed		Type-77 ejection seat had a minimum ejection height of 110
1st June 1982	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			DNE Ejected after Engine fire	Gp CaptK N Pillai
29th October 1982	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U	U-553	7 Sqdn	Bird Hit after TO from Knpur to	Flt Lt R M Arora
29th October 1982	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U	U-553	7 Sqdn	Bird Hit after TO from Knpur to	KKD Sandy Ejected
24th September 1988	Indian A. F.	MiG-21		HAL	Cr in field Pimplegaon 100 km fm Nasik	Wg Cdr Rakesh Sharma AC
8th November 1988	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis	C-2798	17 Sqdn	Cr Delhi Nazafgarh during flypast 4 k on ground	Sqn Ldr R Malhotra
2nd December 1988	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Mid air collision 1 k on ground	Sqn Ldr H N Manerikar
2nd December 1988	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Mid Air Collison over Chabua Guwahati
10th May 1989	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis		3 Sqdn	BO Engine flame out at Jaisalmer	Wg Cdr R K Ghosh
10th November 1989	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			4 km from adampur Kathania Vill	Sqn Ldr B V K Reddy
28 December 1990	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Tezpur Cr Rota Darrang dist
1st March 1991	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis		4 Sqdn	DNE - Hit hill on approach at Jaisalmer	Fg Offr Sikka
19th July 1991	Indian A. F.	MiG-21		8 Sqdn	Cr after TO frm Baghdogra	Plt OffrR Ahmed
7th August 1991	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			From Ambala	Fg OffrS S Rana
26th April 1992	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Simolodenga N Lakhimpur Pt BO
4th June 1992	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			cr rahibal morigaon dist fm tezpur AFS
25th September 1992	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis		3 Sqdn Leh AFB	A demonstration low level flight for the press at Leh. Aircraft was taking a turn thru a valley. Crashed during the approach due to a combination of rarefied air and sluggish engine response	Flt Lt Ranjit P. Damle ejected on impact. Chute failed to deploy in Rarefied Air. Died of injuries at crash scene	photo : Damle family	KM-1
3rd December 1992	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			padumari Vill Tezpur Dist
15th December 1992	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis		4 Sqdn	G-LOC during Spin over Uttarlai	Fg Offr Kuttappa		Date Not Exact
15th April 1993	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U		32 Sqdn	AOC 32 Wing and OC 32 Sqn flying the MiG. Engine Flamed out in takeoff mode, failure to initiate early ejection resulted in death of both pilots. One of pilots ejected at 10m AGL and died on hitting a rock.	Air Cmde Sanjiv Sahai
15th April 1993	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U		32 Sqdn		W/C P G Malvi OC Killed Lndg Jodhpur AFS
27th April 1993	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Rajasansi AFS Amritsar Tyre Burst on Ldg
26th June 1993	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Cr bhind Dist on Army Camp 4 K on Gd	Fg OffrP Handa
25th August 1993	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Cr near Jamnagar
30th September 1993	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Cr near Nalia AFS Kutch
14th February 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG-21		8 Sqdn	Baghdogra AF Cr on runway on lndg	Plt Offr A Negi
21st February 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL			Cr Dekurgaon Central Assam	Plt Offr P P Upendra
1st March 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis		37 Sqdn	During Exercise Akashdeep in Feb-Mar 94 DNE - caught fire due to fuel leak on runway
10th March 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			During Exercise Akashdeep in Feb-Mar 94 DNE - Crashed on Runway at Ambala Pilot Killed
15th March 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			During Exercise Akashdeep in Feb-Mar 94 DNE - Hit a hill over Pathankot - Pilot Killed
29th March 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG 21 Bis			Canopy failure at high speed.during Ex Trishul. Crashed at Ambala, India	Sqn Ldr Pawan Arora ejected		KM-1
11th August 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis	C-2217		systems failure	Pilot ejected
18th October 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M		101 Sqdn	From Sirsa Cr	Fg Offr Pankaj Ahluwalia
12th December 1994	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis	C-2277		Rolled over on landing and Cat2 Damage.
6th January 1995	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis	C-2251		Flameout after birdhit	Pilot Ejected
9th June 1995	Indian A. F.	MiG-21	C-1666			pilot ejected
13th March 1996	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Crashed in Jalandhar area, Punjab, after it stopped responding to controls due to an engine malfunction soon after takeoff from Adampur air baseFrom Adampur, Cr nr Jalandhar	pilot ejected safely
4th April 1996	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL		MOFTU	Tejpur during landing phase.	Wg Cdr N K Rao The seat-man separation and not take place and the pilot was found dead in the seat in the semi closed capsule
18th July 1996	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Engine Failure Cr near Salempur	Pt Ejected
9th October 1996	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			cr 2 miles (3km) from Zikarpur, Punjab, after the aircraft began to disintegrate following sudden engine failure on approach to land after a combat training exercise	pilot ejected safely
17th October 1996	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Cr Noriati Sonitpur	Pt Ejected
4th November 1996	Indian Air Force					Cadet Bismi Devassy		Martin - Baker
29 January 1997	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			108 km from Pathankot
9th June 1997	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M			Chursoo village, Pulwama district, South Kashmir, around 0940 hrs following birdstrike	Fg Offr Tofkar ejected
21st June 1997	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL		52 Sqdn	MACW Mig after TO frm Chabua
21st June 1997	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL		52 Sqdn	MACW MiG Chbua Both Pts Killed
2nd September 1997	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL	C-992		T-77 Ambala Airfield HE
17th September 1997	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Bhuj Airfield Tech Defect
21st January 1998	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M			Cr outside Sirsa Engine Failure
21st March 1998	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Cr near Chandigarh - MoD statement in LS
12th May 1998	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M			crashed into a shopping mall in the north of the country, killing four bystanders. The pilot ejected in mid-air over the city of Pathankot early on Tuesday after his fighter jet malfunctioned, sending the warplane plunging into a car showroom, the United Press Trust of Indian said. Four shoppers were burned alive in the crash	Wg Cdr A K Tewari
4th June 1998	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Uttarlai Cr sodahkar vill	Fg Offr S Nerkar*
24th June 1998	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Cr Suratgarh AF
27 July 1998	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			rashed in the Balijan Tea Estate, Dibrugarth district, Assam	ejected
27 July 1998	Indian A. F.	MiG-21				ejected
14th August 1998	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Cr Harrupia Village Barmer Dist. The Falling Debrs injured a passer by. The Aircraft developed a technical snag soon after take off and caught fire.	Fg Offr C G Trivedi
15th March 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U			Dibrugarh, Assam	Pilot ejected
15th March 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U			Dibrugarh, Assam	Pilot ejected
16th March 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Nalia AFB Cr Kotadi Mahadevpura Vill	Fg OffrKuldip Singh
26th March 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-23BN			Cr Halwara TD			KM-1
26th March 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Tolewala Bridge Sangrur	Fg Offr R Gupta
7th April 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Rajasansi AB Bird Hit	Fg Offr R D Singh
13th April 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M			Rania Mandi, Sirsa AFB	Pilot ejected
13th May 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Nal
27th May 1999	Indian Air Force	MiG-21M	C-1539	17 Sqdn	air strike against the Islamic forces- near Kargil - Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir SD by Pak Army Anza Missile in Kargil Ops	Sqn. Ldr. Ajay Ahuja ejected and broke his left knee during the fall - killed on ground Body returned		KM-1
19th June 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Near Barmer, Eng failure due to Bird Strike	pilot not found
18th August 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis		Srinagar AFB	Take Off from Srinagar AFB No.2 in a two aircraft take off. Pilot was too close to No.1 and lost control in the slipstream and crashed after take off. ATC called out for him to eject. No1 in the formation responded to the wrong call and ejected	Fg Offr G S Dhindsar
18th August 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis		Srinagar AFB.	Take Off from Srinagar AFB No.1 in a two aircraft take off. Responded to a misguided 'Eject' Call given by the ATC to Fg Offr Dhindsar who was the No.2	Flt Lt K S Deswal
13th September 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Cr while Landing at Uttarlai	Pt Ejected
15th December 1999	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL			Tezpur Pt Ejected. No Casualities on Ground	Sqn Ldr Gurcharan Arora
4th January 2000	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Cr near Chandigarh	Fg Offr A Saini*
6th May 2000	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Ambala
23rd May 2000	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Nimbala vill 32km fm Barmer , TO Uttarlai 07156 Hr	Fg Offr A Jetley*
16th October 2000	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U		MOFTU	MACW MiG Darrang Sonitpur , Assam Dis	Fg Offr K N Gupta
16th October 2000	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U		MOFTU	The crash of the fighters, one of them a trainer, took place while four aircraft were involved in a medium level tactical exercises in the Darrang-Sonitpur area of lower Assam. While Fg Off Jot Singh, who was flying the trainer, died after the plane crashed, his . The pilot of the other MiG-21, Fg Off K N Gupta, also ejected from the fighter and was rescued.	Fg Offr Jod Singh*
16th October 2000	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U		MOFTU		instructor, Sqn Ldr G Kago, bailed out to safety
6th November 2000	Indian A. F.	MiG-21		Cr Pathankot AFS,		Sqn Ldr Bandhopadhyay bailed out and suffered injuries
27 March 2001	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			Cr Dhanga Pir, Nurpur Dist HP	Fg Offr S Grover
10th April 2001	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			TO Srinagar, Cr S of Gulmarg	Flt Lt P K Arun*
8th June 2001	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M			Cr Kangra Dist, TO from Pathankot	The pilot landed in Boojpur village, three km from the crash site, by a parachute and is safe
28 August 2001	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL			Cr Dipota Grid Substation Sonitpur Dist Assam	Fg Offr A Bansal*
17th September 2001	Indian A. F.	MiG-21		23 Squadron, Panthers Suratgarh Air Force Base	on an exercise flight crashed soon after taking off from the IAF base in Rajasthan about 1.5 kilometres from Pilibanga Canal	Flight Lt. Abhijit Anil Gadgil killed No ejection		KM-1
26th September 2001	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M			TO Pathankot, Cr Dasuya	Sardanand
27 December 2001	Indian A. F.	MiG-21FL			Tezpur Rs 1.5Cr Loss
4th April 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Cr Jhelu-Gagari vill Jodhpur Dist	Sqn LdP K Bundela VM*
26th April 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M			Cr near Sirsa	Fg Offr Paul
3rd May 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis	C-2797	23 Sqdn	Ejected over Jallandhar City - Eight on Ground k	Flt Lt S K Nayak
27th June 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Barrackpore Rs 1.5 Cr Loss
15th July 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U			TO from Baghdogra	Sqn Ldr R. D. Hem Raj
15th July 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U			TO from Baghdogra	Flying Officer A K Singh
9th September 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis	C-276?		Rajasthan.	Flt Lt Rajat Tyagi
9th September 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bison		3 Sqdn	Cr. Naggal area near Ambala	Sqn Ldr Rajat Nangia
11th October 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U T69		MOFTU	Cr Rangapura Sonitpur dist, assam	Pilot ejected
11th October 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21U T69		MOFTU	Cr Rangapura Sonitpur dist, assam	ejected
21st October 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis	C-2800		on approach to Uttarlai - Night flying	Flt Lt Pratap Singh
26th December 2002	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Cr near Badgam at Srinagar Airfield	Fg Offr B K Singh
7th April 2003	Indian A. F.	MiG-21			TO from Ambala	Flt Lt H Garg
28 November 2003	Indian A. F.	MiG-21Bis			Cr Rajasthan at Nal	Fg Offr A Gupta
4th December 2003	Indian A. F.	MiG-29			25km from Adampur	Sqn Ldr Jawahar Mohammad		K-36
20th February 2004	Indian A. F.	MiG-21M	C-1635		Cr near Jamnagar 4k on grd	Fg Offr G S Ghuman
1st November 2004	Indian A. F.	MiG-21	C-2084		Cr BikanerCanasaur	Fg Offr S Mitra
Tuesday, 4th January 2005	IAF	MiG 21 Type 75,		Nal Air Base	crashed in a farm at Inda village, 20 km from Bikaner, soon after taking off on a routine sortie from the Nal air base near, Bikaner in Rajasthan	Sqn Ldr. S. Kaila, ejected safely		KM-1
Wednesday 26th October 2005 12:45 h	Indian Air Force	MiG-21UTI ?		Airforce Systems and Training Establishment(ASTE)	Crashed on take - off from Bangalaore Air Port	Test pilot Sq. Ldr. K R Murthy, ejected but died in hospital during the evening		KM-1
Wednesday 26th October 2005 12:45 h	Indian Air Force	MiG-21UTI ?		Airforce Systems and Training Establishment(ASTE)	Crashed on take - off from Bangalaore Air Port	Test Engineer Squadron Leader K D Bhat ejected taken to local hospital		KM-1
Tuesday 13th December 2005 11:56 h (IST)	IAF	MIG-21 Type 77		Tezpur Air Base	On routine flight Crashed into a paddy field in Pithakowa area in Assam	Squadron Leader S. Alok [??] Bansal, ejected safely	21 MIG-21s belonging to the Indian Air Force have crashed. Since 2001. The type is being phased out.	KM-1
Tuesday 17th January 2006 11:00 a.m. local	IAF	MiG-21		Jamnagar Air Base, Gujarat	Experienced an ''engine surge'' during pull-out from a dive crashed near the Sarmat firing range, ten km from near Jamnagar	Squadron Leader J P S Bains ejected safely having pointed aircraft into a safe direction		KM-1
Tuesday 21st March 2006 3.35 p.m. (local)	IAF	MiG-21 Type-69 Trainer		101 Sqn Falcons	Crashed in open field 16 km from Uttarlai village in Barmer district, Rajasthan
Tuesday 21st March 2006 3.35 p.m. (local)	IAF	MiG-21 Type-69 Trainer		101 Sqn Falcons		Sqn. Ldr. P.K. Chikkara died in crash	Flight Lieutenant Aniket V. Kolhe died in crash
Tuesday 22nd May 2007	IAF	MiG-21 Type-75		Udhampur airbase	Crashed in the Basantgarh-Mahore mountains in Reasi district. Pilot and plane wreckage wreckage found in high mountainous reaches of Kathua district, southeast of Jammu	Pilot Lakhanpal missing	Pilot Squadron Leader P. G. Reddy [Ready] Killed
Friday 15th February 2008	IAF	MiG-21		Bhuj airbase	Routine training sortie crashed in marshlands in Kutch near the Indo-Pak border	Flight Lieutenant S Agashe ejected		KM-1
Friday 23rd May 2008	IAF	MiG-21 Type 77		Bagdogra airbase	Routine sortie. Emergency belly landing following a fault in the undercarriage. Caught fire on ground	Squadron Leader Falguni Roy ejected safely		KM-1

I am indebted to the two authors P. V. S. Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra for allowing details within the book to be used.

Also for their generous help and assistance in compiling this listing to P. V. S. Jagan Mohan for providing information from his researches and on his excellent website

more references and acknowledgements will follow shortly

FEEDBACK

Dear Mike
I was in the process of relocating to Bangalore, hence could not connect to
the net till very recently. Thus I could not reply to your mail either.

I finally got a chance to look at the links to the Indian Air Force. The
list and information is exhaustive. Congratulations on your efforts.

There are a few things I would like you to add in that link, to add to the
accuracy:-
(1) Fg Offr Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon - Ejection on 14 Dec 1971. He was the
first and the only awardee of highest Indian gallantry award - Param Vir
Chakra (PVC), posthumously.
(2) MAC over Chabua, Gauhati-on 02 Dec 1988. The aircraft was Hunter, and
not MiG 21, and the other pilot was Sqn Ldr S Dev. Sqn Ldr HN Manerikar lost
his life dur to collision.
(3) Flt Lt M Raj Kumar* - 25 Apr 2000. Raj's rank must read as Sqn Ldr.
(4) The listing of both Indian Air Force and Navy includes various
accidents, and not just ejections. You may write Indian Air Force as IAF and
Indian Navy as IN, the accepted acronyms here.

I have personally known the pilots listed at (2) and (3) and several others
who find a mention at this link. It actually brings back some sad memories
as well as a few memories of good association with them. I am sure this
must be the reaction of all, who have been associated with the pilots who
lost their lives.

On the other hand, your project 'Project Get out and walk' - probably
reaffirms the faith that a safe ejection system and timely decision to
eject, lets one live to fly another day.

hope things are fine with you and your project.
with warm regards
Sanjiv