Farewell Pushpindar ‘Pushy’ Singh Chopra

The sudden passing away of Pushpindar, better known as ‘Pushy’ to all his friends, on 3 May, 2021 was most unexpected and shocking, to say the least. He was so full of life and energetic despite his age; running up the steps instead of taking the elevator, that I personally never expected him to succumb to corona virus. Pushy always lived up to his shortened name and pet name; gently pushing everyone around to get things done in a hurry, particularly in aviation and military matters, all with the good intent of getting the right message to all concerned quickly for the benefit of the armed forces with special reference to the IAF. His bi-monthly magazine, Vayu Aerospace and Defence Review, was the vehicle he largely used to convey all the news and views for which he was always in a hurry to get folks to write, debate and discuss but contribute. That is how he got professionals like Air Marshal Brijesh Jayal, Admiral Arun Prakash and Air Vice Marshal Cecil Parker and many others to regularly contribute to the magazine to make it that much richer. In the early days before the internet, this was one indigenous homegrown magazine that we all looked forward to for catching up with the latest in aviation. The other magazines like Aviation Week & Space Technology, Jane’s Defence and Air Clues et cetera were difficult to come by in Air Force libraries or prohibitively expensive to afford for individuals and, in any case, had a different and more western perspective.

I met Pushy a little late perhaps in 1988 when I was commanding 28 Squadron on the new MiG-29s in Poona. Pushy was obviously visiting and I got a call one afternoon from then Group Captain ‘Mike’ McMahon, commanding 6 Squadron on the base, that Pushy wanted to see me. Quite obviously, having heard of him and all that he had done for the Golden Jubilee of the IAF a few years before, I invited him home. He was with me in a jiffy and after gulping down the cup of tea that Malini made in a hurry, he said he wanted me to take him to the squadron and show him around. Once in the squadron, out came his camera and he clicked the MiG-29 from every possible outside angle including one with me in front of the aircraft. Cockpit photography then was a big NO-NO. We came back home to spend a little more time together and he borrowed a number of slides from me that I had personally clicked of the MiG-29 in various formations.

Those days, all my squadron pilots got lots of formation flying practice in every ferry flight instead of just doing boring straight and level navigation while I carried my Cannon with a zoom lens clicking pictures for the squadron. With his affable personality, our friendship thereafter just grew and every time I dropped in on him in Delhi or we met somewhere, he behaved as if he was meeting a long lost friend and was quickly into a conversation about aircraft and aviation. On a personal level, his wife, Deepak, and Pushy were great hosts whenever I visited their home and both just bowled you over with their warmth and hospitality. The added advantage of visiting him was also that often you met one of his international friends and aviation enthusiasts with something new to hear and learn from them.

On a professional level, there was no denying that Pushy was a veritable walking encyclopedia on aviation matters in general and military aviation in particular. He always regaled one with nuggets of new information as also some of his stories about the various important personalities he knew, nationally and internationally or what he had picked up from his visits to various shows abroad. From his father, who was a senior army man, he obviously inherited a lot of knowledge about various arms and services of the Army including many individual regiments and their history. His first publication as a young aviation buff in the 1970s, ‘Aircraft of the Indian Air Force’, is still something worth referring to even today for information on the early days of the IAF. I still have personal copies of many of his publications including the ‘Himalayan Eagles: History of the Indian Air Force’, a trilogy that was published on the 75th anniversary of the IAF in 2007, ‘First and the last: 50 Years of the MiG-21 in the IAF’ co-authored with Air Marshal Phillip Rajkumar, the squadron histories of the First Supersonics, 28 Squadron and the one on 47 Squadron The Black Archers amongst some others. His collection of books, photographs and other memorabilia was like a treasure trove that I tried digging into every time I could while in Delhi.

With Pushy’s untimely passing away, the aviation community in India has lost one of its most vocal stalwarts and he will be sorely missed by all of us even remotely connected with aviation in India. Om shanti, our friend.