Flight Lieutenant Gagan Oberoi was born on Sep 25, 1976. His father Mr. DK Oberoi worked in Ordnance Factory in Itarsi. He had dreamt of joining the Armed forces as an Officer. He fulfilled his dream by getting selected for NDA. He was commissioned as a fighter pilot for the Indian Air Force in the 62nd course of NDA. And got into 5 Squadron of Air Force.
Service Number | 25308FP |
Place of Birth | Meerut, Uttar Pradesh |
Rank | Flight Lieutenant |
Unit | 5 Squadron AF |
Date of Martyrdom | 2nd April 2004 |
During 2004, he was posted with the Jaguar fighter squadron who were stationed at Ambala Air Base. On 2nd Apr 2004, Flight Lieutenant Gagan Oberoi and Flight Lieutenant Mayank Mathur were tasked with a valley flying mission in a four aircraft formation. They took off from Ambala Air Base. Just after some time, both of them had lost contact from the ground control at Ambala and with Air Force Bases at Srinagar and Avantipur. Then a search operation was started to find them. The search was tasked with the help of IAF, the Army, and the local police. After some time, they had to pause the search because of bad weather.
After a heavy search, they found the wreckage of the warplane at an altitude of 4000 meters and around 60kms away from Srinagar. They both were in the pilot’s position, that have suggested that they didn’t get time to eject from the plane.
Flight Lieutenant Gagan Oberoi is survived by his wife Flight Lieutenant Nidhi Agrawal, parents, and a brother.