By : Economic Times

The last time he flew an IAF plane was 38 years ago, but the memories of flying a Canberra fighter jet into Aksai Chin area to locate Chinese aggression and the dog fight with Pakistani Air Force is still fresh in one of the most decorated fighter pilots' mind.
As the IAF bid adieu to the bomber jet, which was in service for 50 years, Wing Commander J M Nath was watching the plane nostalgically as it taxied on to the runway for the last time.
May be for him, it was an end of an era. "There is a lot of romance attached to flying a plane like this," he says.
"The era of aerial photography and reconnaissance is over. The plane has played its full role and I used to feel terrible whenever I heard that it had been damaged by enemy fire," Nath, nicknamed "Professor" by his colleagues, said.
The 'Canberra' was instrumental in bringing him to fame as he was awarded Mahavir Chakra twice, a rare honour for an IAF pilot.
His eyes dance with excitement as he recounts the time when he went into a barrel roll to outwit the pursuing enemy aircraft attempts to shoot him down.
"I was both rotating and revolving at the same time...the four Pakistani Sabres on my tail were armed with heat-seeking missiles, if I was in one position for more than four seconds, it would have been the end of it," he describes his return from Lahore to Amritsar in 1965 after a reconnaissance mission.