Mohanbir Singh Talwar

TWg. Cdr. Mohanbir Singh Talwar was the Commanding Officer of No.5 "Tuskers" Squadron flying the Canberra Bomber. Wg. Cdr. Talwar led five, day and night, bombing missions against very heavily defended enemy targets within the first 10 days of operations during the Bangladesh War of 1971.

On one of these missions, he inflicted very severe damage to the Pakistani Air Force installations at Sargodha. In a daylight mission in the Chhamb area, in support of the army, he attacked four enemy gun positions near the Munawar Tawi river and effectively silenced three of them, thereby facilitating the advance of our troops in a difficult terrain. Both these targets were heavily defended; the latter was close to an enemy fighter base from where interception was also likely. Despite this, the officer pressed home his attacks with great determination and much success.

His conduct was an inspiration to the crews of the other aircraft which he was leading. The bold leadership, tenacity of purpose, flying skill and bravery displayed by Wing Commander Talwar were largely responsible for the many successes of his squadron.

Earlier Commander of the Squadron

In earlier action under Wing. Commander Prem Pal Singh No.5 "Tuskers" Squadron also valiantly served its country well, as did its then Commander who won the Mahavir Chakra. The name "Tuskers" was picked by the Bomber command of the fledgling IAF who first used some reclaimed B-24 used in WWII in Burma. Quickly switching to the powerful Canberra.

The name Tuskers seemed the logical choice for the name of the high flying unit, for since Alexander's (Iskanda's) fight with Porus, the many battles at Pani-paath and the days of Maharaja Ranjit Singh the Asian elephant was the 'bomber platform' of the times, from which fire, arrows and spears could be rained down on Risaldari and foot soldiers.