Chief of Defence Staff Salutes Remains of 1st Air Force Commander

General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff, Commander of the Army and Head of the Green Agriculture Operation Centre this morning (19) paid his last respect to the remains of the 1st Commander, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), Air Chief Marshal P.H Mendis (retd) at a private parlour in Mount Lavinia.

He was the 4th Commander of the then Royal Ceylon Air Force, now called the Sri Lanka Air Force after 1972 constitution. Air Chief Marshal P.H Mendis (Retd) FBIM, idc, psc, qfi passed away on Tuesday (18).

Here follows a brief profile of late Air Chief Marshal P.H Mendis.

Air Chief Marshal Pathman Hariprasadha Mendis (Retd) popularly known as “Paddy Mendis” was born on the 24th of January 1933. He joined the newly formed Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) as its fifth recruit on the 8th of August 1951. After enlistment, then Officer Cadet Mendis was sent to Britain for training at the prestigious Royal Air Force College in Cranwell. In 1959, then Flight Lieutenant Mendis was sent to the RAF Central Flying School to be trained as Flying Instructors at RAF Little Rissington in Gloucestershire. He was the first Ceylonese to be trained as a Qualified Flying Instructor.

Air Chief Marshal Mendis made steady progression through the ranks of Pilot Officer to Air Commodore and was appointed as the 4th Commander of the Royal Ceylon Air Force on the 1st of January 1971. He was the first Ceylonese Officer to command Royal Ceylon Air Force, who also started his career in the same organization as well. With Ceylon becoming a Republic in 1972, the Royal Ceylon Air Force changed its name to the Sri Lanka Air Force along with its entire insignia and Air Vice Marshal PH Mendis became the first commander of Sri Lanka Air Force. He retired from the Sri Lanka Air Force in 1976.

The last rites of Late Air Chief Marshal PH Mendis (Retd) was held with full military honours at the ‘Nisala Sewana’ Cemetery in Dehiwala - Mount Lavinia.

(source - www.slaf.lk)