Air Marshal Cheppudira Devaiah Subbaiah (born 6 March 1924) is a former pilot and officer in the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ar ...

Early life

Air Marshal Devaiah Subbaiah, PVSM, VrC, was born as Cheppudira Devaiah Subbaiah on 6 March 1924, and was also known as C D Subbaiah. He was commissioned in April 1942 at the age of 18 and his service number was 1866.

World War II Pilot

He was one of the notable

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they ar ...

from

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. During the Second World War, he was a Flying Officer in the 8th Squadron of the IAF. During the

Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it access ...

campaign in the same war, he was a Spitfire pilot. He was awarded the

Vir Chakra Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋ iː ɾ a tʃ a kɾa) is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy on the battlefield and is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards and ...

and later on the

Param Vishisht Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) ( IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

. He was also part of Squadron 4 that was involved in operations against Japan.

Kashmir War 1947 (Vir Chakra Award)

During the 1947-48 Kashmir Operations Flt. Lieutenant C D Subbaiah was distinguished for the operational missions flown during the war. He was made Squadron Leader and was known to inspire his Squadron Pilots. He flew 70 sorties for a month and a half. The resistance of the enemy at Gurais broke down. This contributed to the successful capture of Gurais by the Indian Army. For this he was awarded the

later on 26 January 1950, the first Republic Day.

Later life

In 1948, three Vampires arrived and were under a unit called the ATU which was under Sqn Ldr Subbaiah. In mid 1949, the ATU was merged with the 7 Squadron with Sqn Ldr Subbaiah taking command. As Group Captain, in 1962–1963, he was the Commanding officer for AFS Hyderabad and stationed at Begumpet. Later he was made Air Vice Marshal and took over command of the Western Air Command. He was involved in studying the air operations planning the missions in the Western Sector during the

Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani Instrument of Surrender, Pakistani ...

. For this and for his distinguished career he was awarded a

Param Vishist Seva Medal Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) ( IAST: ) is a military award of India. It was constituted in 1960 and since then it is awarded in recognition to peace-time service of the most exceptional order and may be awarded posthumously. All ranks of the ...

in 1972. In 1977–1978, he was the commanding officer for MC and stationed at Nagpur as AOC-in-C. In May 1978, as AOC-in-C, he instated the phoenix crest for the Base Repair Depot of the maintenance units. He retired as Air Marshal in 1978 after serving a full tenure.

References

External links

Gallery of Royal Indian Air Force images during WWII
{{DEFAULTSORT:Subbaiah, C D 1924 births Possibly living people Indian Air Force officers Indian Army personnel of World War II Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 Kodava people People from Kodagu district Recipients of the Vir Chakra