Mustache having its own mustache! Wing Commander Abhinandan flies in MiG 21 with Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa at Pathankot

New Delhi, September 02: Serving the last sortie on the fighter jet that has witnessed a lot of border wars and made India win the fights, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa and Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who piloted a MiG-21 Bison during the air strike at a terror camp in Pakistan's Balakot, today flew together the Russian origin legacy jet.

 

 

"This is my last sortie on a fighter jet. Both of us have two things in common, first, both of us ejected and second, both of us have fought Pakistanis. I fought in Kargil, he fought after Balakot. And third, I've flown with his father. It's an honour for me to do my last sortie in the IAF, in a fighter aircraft, with his son," the Air Chief Marshal said.

 

This is a day before the Indian Air Force inducts eight US made Apache AH-64E attack helicopters at the Pathankot Air Force Station. India signed a multi-billion dollar contract with the US government and Boeing in September 2015 for 22 Apache helicopters.

Having flown the MiG-21 several times in the last few months, Air Chief Marshal Dhanoa led a four aircraft 'Missing Man' formation in honour of the servicemen killed during the Kargil conflict on the twentieth anniversary of the war.

Whereas, the MiG-21 Bison piloted by Wing Commander Varthaman had shot down an advanced American origin F-16 of the Pakistani Air Force in the dogfight in February.The air battle took place a day after India's Mirage 2000 jets crossed the Line of Control and bombed a camp of the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot in retaliation against a suicide attack that killed 40 soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

 

The MiG-21 has seen several crashes over the years and has had its share of bad press. The MiG-21 Bison, which is the definitive variant of the legacy fighter, will start being phased out of the IAF from 2019 onwards