Indian Air Force (1952 - 1993)

Air Chief Marshal N.C. Suri studied at St. Xaviers’ School, Calcutta, before joining the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun in 1946. He is a graduate of the Joint Services Wing (1st JSW/ Personal Number A-17), the forerunner of the National Defence Academy (NDA). He was commissioned into the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a fighter pilot on 15^th March 1952, and retired as Chief of the Indian Air Force on 31^st July 1993. He served in the Air Force for almost 42 years and took active part in the 1962 Indo-China conflict and subsequently the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pak wars.

He holds a Master’s degree in Military History from Allahabad University and is a Doctor of Philosophy from the Intercultural Open University (Netherlands). He is a fellow of the Aeronautical Society of India and a graduate from the Administrative Staff College, Bella Vista (Hyderabad) and the National Defence College of India. 

For the services rendered to the IAF, he was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), Ati Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM), Vayu Sena Medal (VSM) and Mentioned in Despatches. For services rendered as Chief Instructor to the Iraqi Air Force, he was awarded the Iraqi Air Force medal (1969-71). In addition, he has been the recipient of nine civilian awards to include, the Shiromani Award, Vijay Shree Award, Bharat Jyoti Award, the Glory of India Award, the International Gold Medal, the International Gold Star Medal for promoting Universality of Faith, the ‘Ambassador of Peace’ Award by the Inter-religious and International Federation for World Peace (London), Khukhrain Award and the Outstanding Global Punjabi Award 2010. 

After retiring from the IAF, he became the Chairman of the Organising Committee for the first International Air Show ‘AVIA India’ held in Bangalore in1993. He served on the Board of Directors for a number of prestigious companies, financial institutions/banks, hotels/resorts, totalling 20. He also served on the Board of Governors of three educational institutions. In addition to the above, he was the Chairman (International) of the Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Institute for two years.

His interests now lie in the promotion of spirituality and religious studies, which do not have a bias to parochialism. Apart from reading and writing articles, he has also been frequently addressing gatherings at religious and philanthropic fora in India, United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, France, Geneva (UN forum), South Africa, Singapore and Malaysia, to include churches and synagogues. His primary thesis lies in Right Living in Society – Values in Action, Commonality of Enunciation of different faiths, religious harmony and tolerance among people of all religions. 

He lives in Gurgaon (Haryana) with his wife, Asha. They have been blessed with four children, Shalini, Malini, Arvind and Ashvin. They have two sons-in-law, Ajay and Samir, and a daughter-in-law, Neelakshi. They also have five grandchildren, Anahita, Armaan, Ahana, Chayana and Mahavir.