serviceyears branch commands death_date death_place birth_place |name allegiance unit birth_date rank image article_title
1945-1984 india eastern air command ambala air force station 09 february 2001 dehradun , uttarakhand , india shakargarh gurdaspur district punjab air chief marshal dilbagh singh india india no. 1 squadron march 10 , 1926 air chief marshal dilbag singh.jpg dilbagh singh

dilbagh singh

air chief marshal dilbagh singh pvsm , avsm , vm -lrb- march 10 , 1926 -- february 9 , 2001 -rrb- was the head of the indian air force from 1981 to 1984 , as chief of the air staff .
he was the second sikh to hold that position .
dilbagh singh was commissioned as a pilot in 1944 .
his operational flying career spanned the spitfire to introducing the mig-21 into service in india .
he had earlier made the first official `` supersonic bang '' over india in new delhi when the mystere iv-a was showcased in a public demonstration .
he served as india 's ambassador to brazil from 1985 to 1987 .
