MiG-21 ‘a bird for all seasons’, says Rajnath as IAF bids adieu

The IAF bid farewell to the MiG-21, its iconic fighter jet, after 62 years of service, honoring its significant role in India's air power history.

Group Captain Suresh Ratnaparkhi struggled to hold back tears as he sat in his wheelchair and stretched his hand out to touch a MiG-21 Bison that had just landed after its last operational sortie at the Chandigarh airbase where the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday decommissioned the last of its iconic Soviet-era fighter jets in a rousing send-off that evoked the aircraft’s heady decades in service and how it shaped the country’s air power.

Group Captain Suresh Ratnaparkhi struggled to hold back tears as he sat in his wheelchair (Rahul Singh/HT)

“She was my beloved and