Padmavathy Bandopadhyay was the first woman Air
Marshal of Indian Air Force. She was the Director General Medical
Services (Air) at the Air Headquarters. Padmavathy Bandopadhyay joined
the IAF in 1968. She had the distinction of being the first woman
officer to become an aviation medicine specialist.
Padma Bandopadhyay was awarded the Visisht Seva Medal for her
meritorious service during the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict. She is the first
woman Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Society of India and the first
Indian woman to have conducted scientific research at the North Pole.
She is also the first woman officer to have completed the Defence
Service Staff College course in 1978 and to command the IAF's Central
Medical Establishment (CME). Padma Bandopadhyay was also the first woman
officer of the Indian Air Force to be promoted to the rank of Air Vice
Marshal.
