Former IAF chief Idris Hassan Latif laid to rest

May 01, 2018 20:02

Former Chief of the Indian Air Force Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan Latif, who died aged 94, was laid to rest in Hyderabad today.

The funeral was conducted with full military honours at a cemetery in the Old City of Hyderabad, Defence sources said.

Latif, who was the IAF chief from September 1978 to August 1981, passed away at a private hospital in Hyderabad yesterday after a brief illness.

After his retirement in 1981, Latif held the posts of Maharashtra Governor and Indian Ambassador to France.

He had joined the Royal Indian Air Force in 1941 at the age of 18 and was commissioned the next year.

On completion of his training at Ambala, he was posted in Karachi, where he flew vintage biplanes like the Wapiti, Audaxes and Harts, on Anti-Submarine flights over the Arabian Sea.

During 1943-44, he was one of the few Indian pilots to be seconded to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, where he underwent training on more contemporary aircraft like the Hurricane and Spitfire.

He returned to India in 1944 and took part in the Burma campaign.

At the time of partition, he chose the IAF though he was reportedly urged by some to join the Pakistan Air Force. -- PTI

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