Prakash Rao Sadashiv Pingali. Biography. Fighting. Awards. Ranks. Photo.

At the beginning of the 1965 war, Prakash was part of the 7th squadron, which was armed with "hunters". Fate decreed that he became the first Indian pilot shot down on an aircraft of this type. This event took place on September 6 and his "opponent" was the commander of the Pakistani flight.

Pingal managed to eject from a burning fighter. On the ground, it turned out that he had problems with his spine, since at that time the ejection seats were far from perfect and quite often contributed to injuries.

Sadashiv again distinguished himself a week after the incident. Pingal and the slave went up to the sky, taking the course to intercept a pair of “seybry” who were above Tarn Tarn. Pingal shot down one Pakistani "Seybr" (pilot Lt. Shaukat catapulted, landed on Indian territory and was captured). Hindu on returning to the base said that he shot down 2 "sajbra". However, it later turned out that the Pakistani plane was damaged, but was able to safely return to its airfield. 

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