This little Kashmiri was from a South Delhi School - The Summerfields. He had a mind of his own and managed to stay afloat, battling the rigours of NDA training.

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This little Kashmiri was from a South Delhi School - The Summerfields. He had a mind of his own and managed to stay afloat, battling the rigours of NDA training. He was a decent Cadet and did not believe in troubling his juniors. PT, especially High Horse and Hand Spring, were not his forte. BS Purba remembers the current Air Chief BS Dhanoa (then CSM Echo 52 course) summoning Sudhir for extra PT sessions post-dinner in the Battalion area, regularly. He had a quiet nature and always loved to be in the background. Perhaps he rigidly followed the maxim, never to raise a hand for volunteering for anything. His NDA mates remember him doing all the ragda parades with sincerity and never heard him cribbing. He managed to keep himself going with the herd without showing any exuberance. He played in the third string hockey of Echo Squadron. He had a typical habit of shaking his head sideways while running. Did consistently well in the x- country runs. Kaul is remembered by his peers and juniors of NDA as a decent soul.
 
He did well in professional training - Adapting to the sky, naturally, like a soaring Seagull. He started reading high funda professional stuff. He was generally seen engaging instructors in detailed discussions on general flying and intricate manoeuvres as well. With a thinking mind, professionally probing attitude and willing to learn new things Sudhir was good company to be in. He had good taste in Rock music. SS Chatterji, L56, reminds us that Sudhir Kaul was hooked on to Freddy Mercury’s band ‘'Queen'. And another special feature of his daily routine was the flavoured milk in the Cadets’ Bar during Bidar days. Cadets’ Bar offered no booze, but plenty of choices in flavoured chilled milk and the famous fruit drink, Mangola.

Having done well at Bidar, we moved to Hakimpet, Secunderabad. Interestingly, in this stage of our training, we had two Sudhirs and both Kauls. In an environment where a lot of work is done by calling out information over the radio, distinct and short names are a necessity. We had a very bright SFI (Senior Flight Instructor) in Squadron Leader GC Bidappa. He coined two nicknames- Saul & Taul. Sudhir from Echo, being short-statured, was named Saul and Taul an ex-NCC entry mate, the taller of the two, was the other Sudhir. Incidentally, Taul is flying the Sheikh in Abu Dhabi currently. Saul was a passionate flier and a decent pal off the flying routine. He would regularly go out for movies with late Rathindranath F56. AK Singh C56 (of Nishan Toli fame) tells us that Saul used to get half a litre of fresh milk from the Yamjal village every day, put it on the makeshift heating device to boil and often forget to take it off the heater. Every other day he used to hear a mouthful from AK for letting the milk spill over.

125 Pilots Course had a grand commissioning party in the Officers’ Mess Hakimpet. Aneesh Chawla B56, Rajesh Minocha I-56 were the main architects of the plan. They had managed to get a batch of 60 odd (a busload full) young, bubbly college girls for the party. Most of us who were in that wild party that night would recall the action that played out during that party. For some, the action got extended through that night, and through the rest of our stay in Hakimpet for a lucky few. In that party, Saul was in top form. He had found someone just perfect to his choice, and he was not to be seen wasting even a moment!

Saul was very keen to be in the Fighter Stream. However, the Indian Air Force had laid out a different plan for him. He was to fly the helicopters. Saul tried his best to get the stream changed, but nothing bore fruit. It was then that he approached Admiral MP Awati at the Naval HQ for help. Mind you, he had never ever come in contact with our NDA Comdt, but he did not let any stone go unturned in pursuing his passion. I remember that he got a long handwritten reply from Admiral Awati who said that he had discussed his case with the Air Officer I/c, Personnel of the IAF with the understanding that the IAF was conducting major helicopter inductions, and that a bright future lay ahead helicopter pilots. Admiral also mentioned that if Saul still wanted a change that he would be ready to help (What a great response by our late Comdt - maternal uncle of DM Deshpande C56) Hats off to the thought process of Sudhir Kaul to make direct contact with the big guns -difficult for most of us to think big - we were piddlie cadets those days!
   
It was a sad day - 06 Oct 1980. The Iskra pilots were to go to Jamnagar for Air to Ground firing training. Packet aircraft was getting loaded with our detachment store, and at the end of our Tarmac was the HTS (Helicopter Training School). All appeared normal until we heard a loud sound and saw a Chetak helicopter rolling like a top on the ground with the perspex hitting the concrete. It was a shocking sight. Once the rotor stopped, people rushed to help. Saul had just finished his solo flight with an Army Captain (Capt Ramani of Air OP) while coming in to park the rotor blade hit a tarmac light pole, and the catastrophe happened. Capt Ramani walked out with minor injuries, but Saul got a blade to his skull. Despite the helmet, his skull had split open, and he was bleeding profusely. It is here that we saw the braveheart course mate Shiv Singh Dholiya defying all precautions pulling out Sudhir, literally clamping the skull in place, pulling out the orange towel cloth from his overalls and tying the head of our dear Saul. He picked up Sudhir, got into the nearby one-ton truck and rushed him to the Station Sick Quarters. All of us were praying for the best, but the worst had already happened. Sudhir Kaul had been given the final blow. He did not survive the accident. That day our respect for Dholiya‘s quick and courageous actions multiplied many folds. Rajan Kapur accompanied the mortal remains to Delhi. Sudhir’s parents were in E-113, GK 1 New Delhi. His father, Mr R K Kaul, was an engineer. Thus came the end of the story of a young dreamer, a passionate flier, a dear friend and yet another flyboy of the 56th course. We fondly remember you, dear SAUL - Sudhir Kaul! God Bless!
  
🙏May his soul rest in peace🙏