Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and daughter Flying Officer Ananya Sharma scripted history on 30 May. The duo flew in the same formation of Hawk-132 aircraft at Air Force Station Bidar
Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and his daughter Flying Officer Ananya Sharma received praise from all corners. Image Courtesy: @DefencePRO_Guj/Twitter
It seems that the Indian Air Force runs in the blood of the Sharma family!
Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma and his daughter Flying Officer Ananya Sharma, commissioned as a fighter pilot in December 2021, created history in the annals of the Indian Air Force (IAF) by flying as part of the same fighter formation.
The IAF in a press release said, “The father-daughter duo created history on 30 May 2022, when they flew in the same formation of Hawk-132 aircraft at Air Force Station Bidar, where Flying Officer Ananya Sharma is undergoing her training before she graduates onto faster and more superior fighter aircraft of the IAF.
“There has not been any previous instance in the IAF where a father and his daughter were part of the same fighter formation for a mission. It was the mission where Air Cmde Sanjay and Fg Offr Ananya were more than just father and daughter. They were comrades, who had full faith in each other as fellow wingmen would.”
About father-daughter duo
Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma was commissioned in the fighter stream of the IAF in 1989.
In his over 30-year tenure in the Air Force, Air Commodore Sharma has commanded a MiG-21 squadron as well as a frontline fighter station.
For Ananya, her father has served as inspiration and growing up she could not see herself being a part of any other profession than being in the Indian Air Force.
When the IAF opened up its wings to women in 2016, Ananya saw her opportunity and applied for the job.
A graduate in Electronics and Communication, Ananya was selected for training for the flying branch of IAF and was commissioned as a fighter pilot in December 2021.
Her Hawk sortie with her father is part of her training at the Air Force Station, Bidar in Karnataka. The Air Force Station is one of the Premier Flying Training establishments of the Indian Air Force. It was established during World War II, and has been a training centre for budding pilots of the IAF since 1963.
The 24-year-old will be posted to a full-fledged fighter squadron in January next year.
Air Commodore Sanjay Sharma said that 30 May was the biggest day in his life when he flew in the same Hawk aircraft formation at Bidar.
For Ananya, it was a childhood dream coming true. “As a child, I would often ask my father why there were no women fighter pilots. He would tell me in his characteristic style – Don’t worry, you will be one,” she was quoted as saying by The Times of India.
A hit!
The father-daughter duo brought cheers to netizens who celebrated the historic moment by sharing images of the duo on their social media handles.
Air Marshal PK Roy (retired) hailed the achievement and tweeted, “Hope to see many more in future.”
“Excellent…what a proud moment for both father and daughter,” said a Twitter user.
Another one tweeted, “glorious past, promising future.”
Others also hailed the duo and called them ‘inspirational.”
IAF’s female power
The IAF in 2016 on an experimental basis admitted women into the fighter stream.
Flying Officers Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth, and Mohana Singh were the first female pilots to be accepted into an IAF fighter squadron. Chaturvedi and Kanth flew a solo flight on MiG -21 Bison in 2018 while Mohana rode a Hawk Mk132 in 2019.
Following the success of the experiment, the Ministry of Defence led by Rajnath Singh announced that it would now be turned into a permanent feature of the IAF.
In 2020, the IAF stated that it had 1,625 female officers (excluding medical and dental branches). Of this, there are 16 women fighter pilots serving the IAF.
With inputs from agencies
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