“An ideal warrior, a superb pilot, and a real good Samaritan, that was Denzil Keelor.” – Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani, former Vice Chief of the Indian Air Power
“Denzil the human being was the true hero, not simply Denzil the ace fighter pilot.” – Air Chief Marshal SP ‘Shashi’ Tyagi, former Chief of the Indian Air Power
On August 28, 2024, India misplaced a nationwide hero, Air Marshal Denzil Keelor. He was 90. Keelor was buried at Delhi’s Brar Sq., together with different Indian bravehearts, which embrace his brother Wing Commander Trevor Keelor, who handed away in 2002.
After all, the Keelor brothers absolutely need to be a part of the Indian Air Power folklore. On September 3, 1965, Trevor grew to become the primary Indian pilot to shoot down a Pakistani Sabre fighter jet within the early days of the India-Pakistan Conflict. On September 19, his elder brother Denzil introduced down one other Pakistani Sabre. Each shot to on the spot fame, as a grateful nation elevated them to iconic standing, for all times.
Denzil & Trevor, The ‘Sabre Killers’
Denzil Keelor was born on December 7, 1933 in Lucknow. Trevor was precisely a yr youthful, born on December 8, 1934. Their mom was Isabel, and their dad, Charles, who was headmaster at St. Francis’ Faculty. The brothers did a lot of their education there. Destined to do lots collectively, each went on to review at Lucknow’s prestigious La Martiniere Faculty. Each had a ardour for flying, and joined the Indian Air Power (IAF) collectively. Each grew to become fighter pilots, each have been Squadron Leaders flying Gnats in 1965. And as each shot down a Sabre every, they have been famously referred to as India’s ‘Sabre Killers’. And naturally, each have been awarded Vir Chakras.
However there was extra to Denzil Keelor than that one blaze of glory, when an F-86 Sabre lined up in his gunsight within the skies over Sialkot, Pakistan, and he fatefully pulled the set off to deliver it down. Why did Air Marshal Bhavnani name him a superb Samaritan? Why did Shashi Tyagi inform me to look past his exploits within the air?
I explored and found that Keelor was one of many most interesting examples of what it means, after they say that “being a soldier” – or in his case, being a ‘Fighter Pilot’ – “is a lifestyle’. Denzil by no means may, nor wanted to, shrug off the well-earned tag of a warfare hero, however he knew it could take much more to outline himself. And that is what he got down to do.
The Stressed, Ever Useful ‘Father Denzil’
“Denzil ko mirchi lagi rehti thi (he was at all times on hearth). He had nice stressed power, he was at all times in search of function, trying to assist. And if serving to meant bending just a few guidelines, he would do this too,” Tyagi tells me.
Quick ahead from 1965 to 1974. Now a Wing Commander, Keelor was the CO of No.4 Squadron, flying MiG-21s in Tezpur, Assam. He was very keen on hockey, typically taking part in and refereeing matches on the base. His squadron had three airmen who have been wonderful hockey gamers. Keelor had simply heard that they had a chance to play in an expert league in Calcutta. Air journey was a luxurious these days, but Keelor discovered the funds to fly the trio, they usually realised their hockey desires.
“We bachelors was once always broke, however Denzil Sir would clear our mess payments… loopy and completely unthinkable in current occasions!” former Air Chief Marshal NAK ‘Charlie’ Browne, who was again then a younger officer serving below Keelor in No. 4 Squadron, remembers fondly. “On the similar time, he was a radical skilled who taught us a factor or two about air fight.. so privileged and blessed to have served below him… a noble soul certainly,” he provides. By the best way, the No. 4 Squadron referred to as him ‘Father Denzil’ as a result of he was extraordinarily caring, typically to a fault. “His pilots and floor crews would give their proper arms for him!” Tyagi quips.
The Man Who Prepped Gwalior For Mirage 2000
Quick ahead once more, to 1984. An Air Commodore by then, Keelor was commanding the Gwalior air base. One afternoon, he bought a name from an Military Captain stranded at Gwalior railway station. He wanted to get residence for his Dad’s cremation, however the trains had been cancelled attributable to a derailment. Somebody had requested him to name Keelor. Certain sufficient, the latter picked him up from the station, after which, chopping by pink tape, he organised an Avro transport plane to ensure the younger captain may mild his father’s funeral pyre.
Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani has one other candy anecdote. Bhavnani was the CO of the brand new No. 7 Mirage 2000 Squadron that moved into Gwalior in 1985. The bottom needed to be massively expanded and upgraded for India’s first-ever Mirages. “It was “Denzil Keelor’s power and compassion that reworked Gwalior air base, and in file time,” Bhavnani informed me. “Keelor approached native villagers personally to request them to promote their land to the IAF. He personally ensured that their compensations have been beneficiant, paid in full, and on time. He would scale buildings to test water tanks, he would leap in to unravel electrical energy provide points. He was by no means the distant ‘Bada Sahab’. He would roll up his sleeves and make issues occur.”
Denzil And Marie… Sweethearts Since Lucknow
So, how did Keelor’s “higher half” cope with her husband’s boundless power? “Ah, Marie and Denzil have been childhood sweethearts from Lucknow, so she knew him very nicely, and was his quiet supporter. And he, in return, at all times pampered her,” says Bhavnani, who, alongside along with his spouse Anita, have been most likely the closest to the Keelors within the Air Power.
Curiously, Keelor was a teetotaller, a uncommon factor for a pilot. Although legend has it that Trevor did make up for his brother’s abstinence. However Ajit Bhavnani remembers how regardless that Keelor by no means drank, he was social. “He was by no means in a nook, consuming away. In any get-together, he could be shifting round and spreading his ‘Denzil heat’.”
Upright, Outspoken, And Standing Up For His Beliefs
Above all, Keelor was an upright, outspoken officer, who stood for his beliefs. In December 2016, when Tyagi was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on fees of corruption within the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland helicopters deal case, Keelor was one of many few former senior IAF officers to react. Satisfied that Tyagi’s identify was being dragged right into a murky political battle, he stated to the media on the time, “They’re making a scapegoat out of a distinguished pilot. This can be a disrespectful approach of dealing with this case.”
Tyagi informed me that he was grateful for Keelor’s outspoken help – “Denzil turned up at each court docket listening to to face by me. He was upset about how this was hurting the Air Power.”
Dignified By means of Every thing
The Keelors have been stoic even when tragedy struck the household. Trevor handed away in 2002, and, just a few years later, Marie and Denzil misplaced their youthful son Neville to an sickness. “It is painful to lose a son, however Marie and Denzil confirmed plenty of dignity,” Bhavnani recounts.
I additionally spoke to Rekha Kapila, the spouse of late Air Vice Marshal Viney Kapila, who was Denzil Keelor’s wingman on that iconic day in 1965. Whereas the dual Sabre ‘kills’ of the Keelor brothers grabbed public consideration, Kapila too, then a Flight Lieutenant, shot down a Pakistani Sabre that day. He was additionally awarded a Vir Chakra. Rekha and Viney bought married simply weeks after the 1965 warfare, and she or he remembers the Keelors fondly: “It was pretty to satisfy somebody so heat and useful, proper after getting married. Marie and Denzil have been so down-to-earth, regardless of all the general public consideration.”
Denzil’s Pet Venture – Particular Olympics Bharat
Keelor retired in 1991 after serving for 37 years, as one of many IAF’s most adorned officers and positively its most well-known face. However the ‘Sabre Killer’ couldn’t sit again and disappear into golf or gardening. He remained a person of motion. In 2001, he based Particular Olympics Bharat to deliver sports activities into the lives of intellectually challenged youngsters and adults. By the point he stepped down as Chairman in 2015, on the age of 82, he had introduced 1.4 million ‘particular’ athletes into the programme from throughout India.
“He did not know tips on how to decelerate. At 89, he had a fall and broke his hip bone. However even in a wheelchair, he was cracking jokes and smiling by the ache,” Bhavnani says fondly.
A Full Life
Trying again, Keelor had a glittering profession. After his lively flying days, in 1977, he served as Commandant of the Techniques and Air Fight Growth Institution (TACDE) in Jamnagar, the place the ‘High Weapons’ of the IAF get superior fight coaching. In 1980, he was Air Attache on the Indian Embassy in Paris. Even after retiring, he by no means slowed down. He put in time on the Directorate Basic of Civil Aviation, was Chairman of the YMCA for 10 years, Chairman of the Frank Anthony group of colleges, and, after all, there was his pet undertaking, Particular Olympics Bharat. That was Denzil Keelor, the issue solver, at all times as much as one thing.
Keelor’s friends and juniors by no means tire of sharing the tales of his flying expertise, his management, and his generosity and power. However we should always know that none of this ever mattered to him. Denzil simply needed to assist. He is most likely fixing the plumbing up in Heaven proper now.
(Rohit Khanna is a journalist, commentator and video storyteller. He has been Managing Editor at The Quint, Govt Producer of Investigations & Particular Initiatives at CNN-IBN, and is a 2-time Ramnath Goenka award winner.)
Disclaimer: These are the private opinions of the writer