Former Vice-Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal P.M. Ramachandran, passed away on Thursday at his residence in the city after a brief illness. He held a number of posts in the Indian Air Force (IAF). As the Vice-Chief of the Air Force, he was in charge of the operational deployment of India’s short range ballistic missile Prithvi . He was commissioned as a fighter pilot in 1955 and participated in the liberation of Goa in 1961 where he destroyed the Portuguese patrol boat N.R.P. Vega and was awarded a gallantry award, Shaurya Chakra. He was awarded the PVSM, AVSM, SC and VM in a career with the IAF that spanned almost four decades.
Ramachandran was the first pilot from outside the Soviet Bloc to be permitted to fly the MiG-25 Foxbat in 1979, the release said.
He is survived by his son, daughter-in-law and two grandsons. He will be cremated with full military honours on May 7, a release said.
