Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was born on 17 July 1943 in the village of Isewal, Ludhiana, Punjab Province, British India. He was the son of M.W.O. (Honorary) Flight Lieutenant Tarlok Singh Sekhon. He was commissioned into the Indian Air Force on 4 June 1967 as a Pilot Officer. Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, PVC (17 July 1943 – 14 December 1971) was an officer of the Indian Air Force. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military decoration, in recognition of his lone defense of Srinagar Air Base against a PAF air raid during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. He is the only member of the Indian Air Force to be so honored.

Contribution to Army :

Deeply inspired by his father, Sekhon had already decided that he would join the Indian Air Force (IAF) when he was still a child. After completing his schooling, he fulfilled his dream by joining IAF. On June 4, 1967, he was formally commissioned into the force as a Flying Officer. Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was a pilot of a Gnat detachment based at Srinagar for the air defence of the valley against Pakistani air attacks. From the very outbreak of the hostilities he and his colleagues fought successive waves of intruding Pakistani aircraft with valour and determination, maintaining the high reputation of the Gnat aircraft. On 14 December 1971, Srinagar airfield was attacked by a wave of enemy Sabre aircraft. Flying Officer Sekhon was on readiness duty at the time. Immediately, however, no fewer than six enemy aircraft were overhead, and they began bombing and strafing the airfield. In spite of the mortal danger of attempting to take off during the attack, Flying Officer Sekhon took off and immediately engaged a pair of the attacking Sabres. In the fight that ensued, he secured hits on one aircraft and damaged another. By this time the other Sabre aircraft came to the aid of their hard-pressed companions and Flying Officer Sekhon's Gnat was again outnumbered, this time by four to one.

Even though alone, Flying Officer Sekhon engaged the enemy in an unequal combat. In the fight that followed, at treetop height, he almost held his own, but was eventually overcome by the sheer weight of numbers. His aircraft was shot down by gunfire of one of the Sabres and he was killed. The sublime heroism, supreme gallantry, flying skill and determination above and beyond the call of duty displayed by Flying Officer Sekhon in the face of certain death have set new heights in Air Force traditions.

The year was 1971 and the Indo-Pak border had become a battlefield. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) were carrying out strikes ceaselessly to neutralise the crucial airfields of Amritsar, Pathankot and Srinagar. A detachment of IAF’s 18 Squadron had been charged with the air defence of Srinagar. Sekhon was a part of this famed squadron, also called Flying Bullets due to their incredible manoeuvring ability in the air. On the morning of December 14, 1971, he was on Standby 2 duty (they had to be airborne in two minutes when given the ‘scrambling’ orders) at the foggy Srinagar airfield with Flight Lieutenant Baldhir Singh Ghuman. Known to his friends and colleagues as ‘G-Man’, Ghumman was Sekhon’s senior, flying instructor and the man who helped the young pilot fall in love with the Gnat (the tiny fighter aircraft that had earned the nickname of ‘Sabre Slayer’ for its exemplary performance in the Indo-Pak war of 1965). Interestingly, the always affable Sekhon’s nickname was ‘Brother’ because that is what he called everyone around him !

Earlier that morning, six F-86 Sabre jets (PAF’s flagship fighters) had taken off from Peshawar with the target of bombing the Srinagar air base. The team was led by 1965 war veteran, Wing Commander Changazi, with Flight Lieutenants Dotani, Andrabi, Mir, Baig and Yusufzai as wingman. Using the cover of winter fog, the Sabres crossed the border unnoticed. Back then the Kashmir valley had no radar and the IAF was dependent on observation posts pitched atop ridges and peaks to provide warnings of incoming raids. The PAF Sabres were finally spotted by an IAF Observation Post a few kilometers away from Srinagar and a warning was immediately conveyed to the airbase. Immediately, ‘G-Man’ Ghumman and ‘Brother’ Sekhon scrambled towards their Gnats and rolled them out of the hangar while trying to contact the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and get permission to take off. However, a mismatch of radio frequencies resulted in their being unable to connect with the ATC despite all their efforts. Unwilling to dally any longer, the two took to the skies just as a pair of bombs exploded on the runway.