Veera Venkata Satyanarayanamurty Sunkar

Biography

Squadron Leader Veera Venkata Satyanarayanamurty Sunkar was commissioned as a Pilot Officer in the Indian Air Force on 07 November 1963. He joined the technical branch and trained as an Aeronautical Engineer in the Mechanical stream as part of the 27 DEO course. Over the following years he served at various Air Force bases, gaining wide experience across the many technical activities associated with IAF assets. He later qualified as a flight engineer and became part of the air crew. By 1977 he had completed around fourteen years of service and had risen to the rank of Squadron Leader. During November 1977, Sqn Ldr Sunkar was serving with the Air Headquarters Communication Squadron, based at Air Force Station Palam, whose primary role was to convey VVIPs, VIPs and visiting heads of state. On 04 November 1977, Prime Minister Shri Morarji Desai was to fly from Delhi to Jorhat, Assam, aboard a TU-124 jet named 'Pushpak', and Sqn Ldr Sunkar was selected to undertake the mission as Flight Engineer. The aircraft took off from Palam at 5 pm and reached Jorhat about 100 minutes later, where the airfield lay in darkness under heavy cloud and lacked the ground instrument landing equipment needed by the aircraft. On the second approach, the landing gear grazed a treetop and damaged the nose wheel. To avoid risking an explosion on the hard runway, the crew executed a crash landing in a soft paddy field some 25 km from the airbase, deliberately taking the maximum impact on the cockpit. The daring action saved the Prime Minister and all passengers, but the entire cockpit crew perished. Sqn Ldr VVS Sunkar laid down his life in the line of duty, a committed and gallant air warrior.