Ajjamada B. Devaiah: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

{{Use Pakistani English|date=October 2019}}

|branch= [[File:Badge of the Indian Air Force.png|25px]] [[Indian Air Force]]

|rank= [[File:Squadron_Leader_of_IAF.png|25px]] [[Squadron Leader]]

[[Squadron Leader]] '''Ajjamada Boppayya Devayya''' MVC is the only [[Indian Air Force]] Officer to be posthumously awarded the [[Maha Vir Chakra]] (MVC). The Maha Vir Chakra is the second highest wartime gallantry award and is less in precedence only to the [[Param Vir Chakra]]. During the [[Indo-Pakistani War of 1965|1965 India-Pakistan War]], Sqn Ldr A B Devayya (called 'Wings of Fire') was part of a strike mission (on the Pakistani airbase [[Sargodha]]) when he was attacked by an enemy aircraft. He shot down the enemy pursuer's plane but in the process his aircraft was damaged and he went missing. Presumably he died in Pakistani territory. 23 years later, in 1988, he was posthumously awarded the retrospective MVC award for this feat in the 1965 conflict.<ref name = "IAF MVC">{{cite web|title=Maha Vir Chakra awards (IAF)|url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Awards/Gallantry/302-MVC.html|publisher=Bharat Rakshak (Indian Armed Forces)|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref><ref name = "1988 MVC">{{cite web|title=Maha Vir Chakra awards (1988)|url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Awards/awards.php?qyear=1988|publisher=Bharat Rakshak (Indian Armed Forces)|accessdate=22 June 2014}}</ref>

Devayya was born on 24 December 1932, at [[Coorg|Coorg, Karnataka]]. He was the son of Dr. Bopayya. In 1954 he was commissioned into the [[Indian Air Force]] as a pilot.<ref>{{cite web|title=A B Devayya |url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/HEROISM/Devayya.html |publisher=Bharat Rakshak (Indian Armed Forces) |accessdate=11 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425124828/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/HEROISM/Devayya.html |archivedate=25 April 2009 }}</ref> During the outbreak of the 1965 war, he was an instructor at the Air Force Flying College. He was posted to [[No. 1 Squadron IAF|No.1 "Tigers" Squadron]] and flew the [[Dassault Mystère IV|Mystere IVa fighter bomber]].<ref name = "MVC">{{cite web|title=Maha Vir Chakra Awardee List|url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Awards/awards.php?qaward=MVC|publisher=Bharat Rakshak (Indian Armed Forces)|accessdate=11 April 2014}}</ref>

As a senior flying instructor, Squadron Leader Devayya was part of an aircraft strike mission which went to [[PAF Base Mushaf|Sargodha]] airfield in [[Pakistan]]. Despite actually being a standby in case one of the first 12 aircraft dropped out, he joined the air battle. Devayya was intercepted by a [[Pakistan Air Force|PAF]] [[Lockheed F-104 Starfighter|F-104 Starfighter]] flown by Pakistani pilot Flt. Lt. Amjad Hussain. Devayya successfully evaded the Starfighter's attacks. But the faster aircraft caught up with him and damaged his plane. Yet Devayya attacked the Starfighter and struck it. The Starfighter went down while the pilot Hussain ejected from his seat and parachuted. It is not known what happened to Devayya. The IAF Mysteres were short on fuel and efficiency. The Mystere aircraft was destroyed and it is assumed that Devayya died on Pakistani soil.<ref name = "MVC"/><ref name = "Encounter">{{cite web|title=Devayya's Encounter - 1965 War - 7 September 1965|url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Galleries/AviationArt/DebGohain/1965-Devayya-Encounter.jpg.html|publisher=Bharat Rakshak (Indian Armed Forces)|accessdate=11 April 2014}}</ref>

The IAF was not aware of what had happened to Devayya, first recording him missing and later declaring him dead. Later, a British writer, John Fricker, was commissioned by the Pakistani Air Force to write an account of the war derived from Pakistani sources in 1979.<ref name = "MVC"/><ref name = "Encounter"/> What led to Devayya's actual death still remains a mystery. It was revealed much later by Pakistan that Devayya's body was found almost intact by villagers not very far from Sargodha and buried.<ref name = "Encounter"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Squadron Leader Ajammada Boppaya Devayya|url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/4810|publisher=Bharat Rakshak|accessdate=11 April 2014}}</ref>

Mrs. Devayya accepted the posthumous Maha Vir Chakra awarded to her husband in 1988, nearly 23 years after the war.<ref>{{cite web|title=Epilogue : Where are they now? |url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/1965War/Photos-10.html |publisher=Bharat Rakshak |accessdate=11 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050505074406/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/1965War/Photos-10.html |archivedate=5 May 2005 }}</ref> On 7 September 2009, the private bus stand circle in [[Madikeri]] in [[Kodagu]] was named after him.<ref>{{cite news|last=Correspondent|first=Special|title=Tributes paid to war hero Devayya|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/tributes-paid-to-war-hero-devayya/article5106521.ece|accessdate=3 January 2014|newspaper=The Hindu|date=8 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Coorg|title=Kodagu blog|url=http://coorgblog.blogspot.in/2010/07/category-military-service-indian-army.html|work=coorgblog|publisher=blogspot|accessdate=3 January 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Dinesh|first=B C|title=Dedicated to nation's defence|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/article172390.ece?service=print|accessdate=16 April 2014|date=20 December 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Staff Correspondent|title=Circle named after A.B. Devaiah|url=http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/09/stories/2009090950610200.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914094853/http://www.hindu.com/2009/09/09/stories/2009090950610200.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 September 2009|accessdate=16 April 2014|newspaper=[[The Hindu]]|date=9 September 2009}}</ref>