‘For the last time, cleared to land’: Backbone of IAF’s combat fleet, MiG-21 takes final sortie

One by one all the six pilots, including a woman fighter pilot — Squadron Leader Priya Sharma — dismounted from their aircraft, went around their respective MiG 21s, a compulsory walk to find out if all is well with the aircraft, before lining up before the dignitaries as a final salute.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral DK Tripathi were present on the occasion. Also present were former IAF chiefs AY Tipnis, S Tyagi and BS Dhanoa and Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station, and several veterans, most of whom had flown the MiG-21 during their service in the IAF.

In a solemn ceremony, the Commanding Officer of the Squadron, Group Captain Nanda Rajender, handed over Form 700 of the aircraft to the Air Chief signifying that the unit was no longer operational and its flying machines were now part of the IAF’s heritage flight. Also present was the CO of the first MiG-21 Squadron, No. 28, Group Captain Amit Ranjan, Senior Engineering Officer Wing Commander Bunty Kumar Jha and Warrant Officer Amit Kumar Arya.

The farewell ceremony saw paratroopers from the IAF’s Akash Ganga team jumping from an altitude of approximately 8,000 feet. Some of these paratroopers participated in the salute to MiG-21 with Tricolor parachutes and others with those in the IAF colours.

The MiG-21 then flew in two formations the — the Badal formation and the Panther formation with the Air Chief being part of the former and peeling off in a flypast, bidding farewell. This was followed by an Air Warrior Drill and a short cameo of Jaguar aircraft that were intercepted by MiG-21s displaying their classic role in air combat.

The Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas also flew along with the MiG-21 on the occasion. This was followed by the IAF’s Surya Kiran Team, which performed various aerobatic manoeuvres.

Finally, the MiG-21 aircraft were given a tearful farewell with a water cannon salute. The programme concluded with the release of a special day cover by the Defence Minister.

The iconic Soviet-made Mikoyan-Gurevich (MiG)-21 fighter jets remained the backbone of the IAF’s combat fleet ever since they were inducted in 1963. Wing Commander (later Air Chief Marshal) Dilbagh Singh was tasked with raising and commanding the No. 28 Squadron, the very first operational unit equipped with MiG-21s.

Based initially in Chandigarh with a modest order of battle of six MiG-21s, the squadron represented a quantum leap for the IAF, transitioning from subsonic aircraft like the Mystere IVA to Mach 2-capable interceptors.

The supersonic jets played a major role in the 1971 war with Pakistan as well as in the 1999 Kargil conflict and 2019 Balakot airstrikes.