Air Chief Marshal P.C Lal's Ford Saloon car at Indian Air Force Museum, Delhi

From the archive record

This Ford Saloon Car has distinction of carrying Air Chief Marshal P.C Lal in 1969 and subsequent Air Chiefs till 1992. It has a same place as the fighter jets, tanks who served India in war and peace, and now are part of its glorious history. Air Chief Marshal Pratap Chandra Lal (December 1916 – August 1982) was the Chief of Air Staff (India) of the Indian Air Force during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. He served in the IAF from 1939 until his retirement in 1973. He was the CO of No. 7 Squadron, AOC-in-C of Western Command, Vice Chief of the Air Staff before going on to head the IAF. He was the Chief of Air Staff at the time of Operation Chengiz Khan, the preemptive strikes that were carried out by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) that marked the formal initiation of hostilities of the Indo-P