Vijay Vasant Tambay

{{Short description|Officer of the Indian Air Force (born 1943)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}

{{Use Indian English|date=July 2020}}

{{Infobox military person

|honorific_prefix = Flight Lieutenant

|name = Vijay Vasant Tambay

|honorific_suffix =

|image = File:Damayanti Wedding Image.jpg

|image_upright =

|alt =

|caption = Tambay {{circa|1970}}

|native_name =

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|birth_name =

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|nickname = Uncle{{cite web | url=http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/history/1971war/1280-vinod-bhatia.html | title=Shorkot Road Attack }}

|birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1943|04|11}}

|birth_place = Nagpur, Maharashtra{{cite news | url=https://maharashtratimes.com/maharashtra/nagpur-vidarbha-news/nagpur/when-will-be-release-flight-lieutenant-vijay-vasant-tambay/articleshow/68236413.cms | title=नागपूरचा 'वाघ' केव्हा सुटणार? | trans-title=When will Nagpur's 'Tiger' leave? | work=Maharashtra Times | date=3 March 2019 | accessdate=9 July 2020 }}

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|allegiance = {{flag|India}}

|branch = {{Air force|India}}

|branch_label =

|serviceyears = 1963–1973

|serviceyears_label =

|rank = 30px Flight lieutenant 60px

|rank_label =

|servicenumber = 7662 F(P)

|unit = No.32 Squadron IAF

|commands =

|battles =

{{tree list}}

• Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
• Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
• Operation Cactus-Lilly

{{tree list/end}}

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|alma_mater = Bishop Cotton School, Nagpur.

|spouse = Mrs Damayanti V. Tambay

|children =

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| module = {{Infobox person|child=yes

| disappeared_date = {{disappeared date and age|df=y|1971|12|05|1943|04|11}}

| disappeared_place = Shorkot, Jhang District, Punjab province, Pakistan

| disappeared_status = {{missing for|1971|12|05}} }}

}}

Flight Lieutenant Vijay Vasant Tambay (born 11 April 1943) was an officer of the Indian Air Force whose aircraft was shot down on 5 December 1971 over Shorkot in what was then West Pakistan while on a strike against the Pakistan Air Force Rafiqui Airbase during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.{{cite news |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/vijay-tambay-was-declared-missing-in-1971-indo-pak-war/articleshow/2272040.cms |title=Vijay Tambay was declared missing in 1971 Indo-Pak war |first=Shali |last=Ittaman |date=10 August 2007 |newspaper=The Times of India}}

Officially recorded by the Indian Air Force as killed in action,{{cite web

| author =

| publisher = Indian Air Force

| url=http://indianairforce.nic.in/show_martyrs.php?page=6&pg_id=50

| title= Martyrs of the IAF

| accessdate=2008-06-12

}} Tambay is believed to be one of the five pilots reported by the Pakistan Observer to have been captured alive on 5 December 1971.{{cite web

| author =

| publisher = The Tribune, Chandigarh

| url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070605/world.htm#1

| title= Kin of PoWs present evidence to Pak media

| accessdate=2008-06-12

}} However, although a number of reports from eyewitnesses have subsequently suggested that Tambay was indeed captured alive, he was not repatriated at the end of the war, while the Pakistan Government denies having any Indian prisoners of war from the 1971 war,{{cite web

| author =

| publisher = The Tribune, Chandigarh

| url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20010524/haryana.htm#20

| title= Bring them home, say relatives of missing defence personnel

| accessdate=2008-06-12

}} making him one of the missing 54 Indian defence personnel from the war who are believed to remain in Pakistani custody.{{cite news

| author =

| publisher = BBC

| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6723263.stm

| title= Families search Pakistan for lost PoWs

| accessdate=2008-06-12

| date=2007-06-05

}} His uncle, Jayant Jatar, claimed that in January 1999 he was permitted by Tikka Khan, then Governor of Punjab, Pakistan, to see his nephew on condition that he inform only his immediate family. He broke his silence in 2002, after the death of Tikka Khan.