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Flight Lieutenant Alfred Tyrone Cooke, a Vir Chakra awardee of the 1965 Indo-Pak War, died on 18 September 2026 at Base Hospital, New Delhi, aged 87.
He won the Vir Chakra for an air battle over Kalaikunda airfield in West Bengal on 7 September 1965, flying a Hawker Hunter.
Outnumbered on combat air patrol, he shot down a Pakistan Air Force F-86 Sabre and damaged another.
He served in the IAF from 1961 to 1968 with No. 14 Squadron, nicknamed the 'Bulls', and later settled in Australia.
The Vir Chakra is India's third-highest wartime gallantry award, after the Param Vir Chakra and the Maha Vir Chakra.
Cooke is commissioned into the Indian Air Force.
PAF Sabres attack Kalaikunda airfield; Cooke and Flying Officer S.C. Mamgain engage them in Hawker Hunters, downing one Sabre.
Cooke is awarded the Vir Chakra for gallantry, tactical skill and disregard for personal safety in the engagement.
He leaves the IAF as a Flight Lieutenant and later settles in Australia.
He dies at Base Hospital, New Delhi, aged 87; the IAF pays tribute.
India's air arm, which announced Cooke's death and paid tribute to his 1965 service; its professional head is the Chief of the Air Staff
The fighter squadron Cooke flew with in 1965; his Vir Chakra medal is kept with the squadron
Kalaikunda Air Force Station lies in West Bengal, close to the then East Pakistan border, which is why it was within reach of PAF Sabres operating from the east in September 1965. The 1965 war's better-known air actions were in the western sector, making Kalaikunda the eastern sector's signature engagement.
General Awareness > Defence, awards and honours
India's third-highest wartime gallantry award, after the Param Vir Chakra and the Maha Vir Chakra, given for acts of gallantry in the presence of the enemy.
A defensive patrol flown over or near a base or force to intercept attacking aircraft before they reach it.