Arjan Singh

Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, DFC (15 April 1919 – 16 September 2017) was a senior air officer of the Indian Air Force. He served as the 3rd Chief of the Air Staff from 1964 to 1969, leading the Air Force through the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. He was the first and only officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to be promoted to five-star rank as Marshal of the Indian Air Force, equal to the army rank of Field Marshal.

Singh attended the Royal Air Force College Cranwell at the age of 19 and graduated in 1939. He joined the No. 1 Squadron IAF and served in the North-West Frontier Province. In World War II, he commanded this squadron during the Arakan Campaign and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 1945, he attended the RAF Staff College, Bracknell. After the Partition of India in 1947, he led the first fly-past of Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) aircraft over the Red Fort in Delhi. He then commanded Air Force Station, Ambala at the rank of Group Captain. In 1950, after completing the staff course at Joint Service Defence College, Latimer, Buckinghamshire, he was promoted to the rank of Air Commodore and took over the Operational Command. He commanded the Operational Command in two stints. In 1958, the post was upgraded to Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief at the rank of Air Vice Marshal.

After attending the Imperial Defence College in 1960, he served as the Air Officer in charge of Administration at Air Headquarters. In 1963, he took over as the Deputy Chief of the Air Staff and then as the Vice Chief of the Air Staff. Singh assumed office as the Chief of the Air Staff, on 1 August 1964. For his distinguished service in commanding the IAF during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan and in 1966 became the first IAF officer to be promoted to Air Chief Marshal.

After retiring from the IAF, Singh served as a diplomat, politician and advisor to the Government of India. He served as India's Ambassador to Switzerland, the Holy See and Liechtenstein from 1971 to 1974 and as the High Commissioner of India to Kenya from 1974 to 1977. He then served as the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi from 1989 to 1990. In January 2002, the rank of Marshal of the Indian Air Force was conferred on Singh, the first and only officer of the IAF to receive the honour.

Singh was born on 15 April 1919 in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad), a town in the erstwhile Punjab Province of British India (in present-day Pakistan), into a Punjabi Jat Sikh family of Aulakh clan. Men from the family had joined the armed forces, in keeping with community traditions, and Singh was the fourth generation of his family to join the British Indian armed forces.

Singh's father was a Lance Daffadar in the Hodson's Horse at the time of his birth, and retired as a full Risaldar in the Cavalry, serving for a time as ADC to a Division Commander. His grandfather Risaldar Major Hukam Singh served in the Guides Cavalry between 1883 and 1917, and great-grandfather, Naib Risaldar Sultana Singh, was among the first two generations of the Guides Cavalry enlisted in 1854; he was martyred during the Afghan campaign of 1879. Thus, after three generations of men serving in the lower and middle ranks of the army, Singh was to become the first member of his family to become a commissioned officer.

Singh was educated at Montgomery, British India (now Sahiwal, Pakistan) and was a well-known sportsman. Singh then attended the Government College Lahore. He was the captain of the college swimming team and set four Punjab and four University records in swimming. He also won the All-India one-mile swimming event in 1938. Singh entered the RAF College Cranwell in 1938. At the College, he was the vice captain of the swimming, athletic and hockey teams.

"The IAF had already extensive experience of fighting against the Pathans in the North-West Frontier Province, but I was eager to go into battle against the Japanese, then poised for an attack on eastern India, especially the Imphal-Kohima front."