| Honorific Prefix: | Wing Commander |
| Padmanabha Gautam | |
| Honorific Suffix: | MVC
|
| Birth Date: | 23 July 1933[1] |
| Birth Place: | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India[2] |
| Death Place: | Pune, Maharashtra |
| Allegiance: | India |
| Branch: | Indian Air Force |
| Serviceyears: | 1953-1972 |
| Rank: | Wing Commander |
| Servicenumber: | 4482[3] |
| Unit: |
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| Battles: |
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Wing Commander Padmanabha Gautam, MVC & Bar, VM (23 July 1933 - 25 November 1972) was an officer in the Indian Air Force. He was awarded the India's second-highest war-time gallantry award, the Maha Vir Chakra twice. Awarded during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Gautam is one of only six officers to have been decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra twice.[4]
Gautam was born on 23 July 1933 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu to Neelkanta Padmanabha.
Gautam was commissioned into the Indian Air Force on 1 April 1953.[5] In 1961, he served as a Flight Lieutenant which as deployed in Congo and was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal for his service.[6] On 25 November 1972, he died in an air-crash due to internal bleeding. The engine of his MIG-21FL flamed shortly after take-off and he was forced to crash land.[6]
The citation for the first Maha Vir Chakra awarded to him reads:
The citation for the second Maha Vir Chakra awarded to him reads: