New Delhi, August 28

Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter pilot Air Marshal Denzil Keelor (91), who attained fame for shooting down a Pakistani Air Force F-86 Sabre jet in the 1965 War, has died of natural causes.

After retirement, he made Gurugram his home. Air Marshal Keelor, who was flying a Gnat aircraft, brought down the much superior F-86 plane in a midair duel on September 19, 1965, for which he was awarded the Vir Chakra.

The Vir Chakra is the third highest war-time gallantry award. In 1978, he was awarded the Kirti Chakra — the second highest gallantry award in peacetime.

SN Prasad, in his book ‘The India-Pakistan War of 1965’ — an authorised account from the Ministry of Defence archives — says, “Despite the fact that this was the first-ever war where an unprepared and technologically inferior IAF had been involved in aerial combat, its men fought heroically.”

Air Marshal Keelor’s elder brother, Wing Commander Trevor Keelor, is credited as the first Indian pilot to have ‘shot down an enemy plane in mid-air’. He was also awarded the Vir Chakra.