1. Air Marshal Padma Bandopadhyay, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, PHS was born on 4 November 1944 and is a decorated former flight surgeon in the Indian Air Force.
15 Facts About Padma Bandopadhyay
1. 2.
Padma Bandopadhyay was the first woman to be promoted to the rank of Air Marshal in the Indian Air Force.
3.
Padma Bandopadhyay is the second woman in the Indian Armed Forces to be promoted to a three-star rank, after Surgeon Vice Admiral Punita Arora.
4.
When Padma was four or five years old, her mother contracted tuberculosis and eventually became bedridden.
5.
Padma Bandopadhyay has said that her experience with her mother's illness and hospitalization at Safdarjung Hospital, and having a neighbouring lady doctor with the same name as her were early motivations to become a doctor.
6.
Padma Bandopadhyay studied at Delhi Tamil Education Association Senior Secondary Schools in the humanities stream.
7.
Padma Bandopadhyay studied pre-medical at Kirori Mal College and then joined the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, in 1963.
8.
Padma Bandopadhyay married Wing Commander S N Bandopadhyay, a fellow air force officer.
9.
Padma Bandopadhyay was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal for her conduct during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
10.
Sati Nath and Padma Bandopadhyay were the first IAF couple to receive a President's award in the same investiture parade.
11.
Padma Bandopadhyay was the first woman to become a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society of India and the first Indian woman to conduct scientific research at the North Pole.
12.
Padma Bandopadhyay is the first woman Armed Forces officer to have completed the Defence Services Staff College course in 1978.
13.
Padma Bandopadhyay was the Director General Medical Services at the Air Headquarters.
14.
Padma Bandopadhyay subsequently became the first woman air marshal of Indian Air Force.
15.
Padma Bandopadhyay is an aviation medicine specialist and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences.