Jamnagar Memoirs

damn detailed.. and what memory!! I am impressed along with feeling highly nostalgic. Was there during the same time (actually our paths were only slightly crossed, if I remember correctly).. or was it the bicycles :) !!.

The best years of our lives....lived through all emotions.. joy, sadness, confusion (during the years where it wasn`t totally understood what a fatal peacetime crash meant)..

One of my fondest memories is watching night flying.. sitting by the runway at dusk.. and watching each aircraft land.. and then heading up to the ATC.. and see the complex task of aircraft separation that most of us take for granted as passengers.

stuka

I am a Naval Brat, but base`s are similar. Officers clubs, Mess, Swimming pool, tambolas, market, military police, and the ubiquitous weapon systems.

nb: Thank you. No, I didn`t honestly understand earlier. Thanks, appreciate it.

Just that it`s more reflective and less agressive than your usual style. That was meant to be a compliment, but you don`t have to take it if you don`t want to!!

Yossarian:

Nope, only Vikram from the Air Force I knew was this guy called Vikram Sanger. He wasn`t in Kamnagar though, but in my school in Delhi.

NB: What do you mean?

Ref Soulat #21

[Indian fighter pilots headed to work in Jamnagar.]

Nope. That would be the Tambaram (not to be confused with the TamBrahm) Air Force Base in Chennai. The legends on the bus are all in Tamil.

nb..
... coz it was written by his elder brother who is educated...;)

Stuka,

his name is Vikram... does it ring a bell to you? his father was a pilot of a transport aircraft

Stuka, how come this is so different from your usual writing style?

Indian fighter pilots headed to work in Jamnagar.

#16

For what it is worh, Harimau is right...

SIDE SHOW IN THE SOUTH-WESTERN SECTOR

Some excerpts from the above article.....



The only air-to-air encounter here took place in the Jamnagar sector, on September 18th, between PAF Sabres and a civilian aircraft of the Gujarat State Government. This civilian aircraft was carrying Gujarat Chief Minister, Balwant Rai Mehta, his wife and several other officials.

....

An enquiry into the affair submitted the facts four months later. According to it, the IAF authorities at Bombay refused to let the aircraft go on the flight. When the Gujarat government pressed for clearance, the air force authorities, in an obvious attempt to get them off their backs, gave clearance for the pilot to proceed at his own risk.

J.M. Engineer was told of the clearance and took off for Mithapore. The PAF pilots firing on the aircraft was not the direct cause of the crash. Sure bullets were fired, and the aircraft was hit. It was deduced both from eyewitness accounts and by the enquiry that Engineer tried to force-land the aircraft. But either from uneven ground, or the presence of the Sabres, or the strain he was under, he lost control of the aircraft and he crashed. All the nine aboard died instantaneously.

The incident is remembered for the fact it was the first time a civilian aircraft became a target in the hostilities between the two countries and for the fact that Balwant Rai Mehta became the first Indian Politician to die on the front line due to enemy action.



So, with the above, it is quite relevant to ask if those PAF pilots were ever decorated?

stuka #17 intereseting account. you will be interested to know that i actually witnessed the following crash you describe: ``The third B57, piloted by Flight Lieutenants MA Butt and ASZ Khalid was lost in the early hours of 17th September. While making an approach to land at Risalpur, the B57 encountered adverse weather in the shape of strong wind sheer coupled with reduced flight visibility. Unable to maintain height, the aircraft crashed south of the runway, instantly killing both pilot and navigator.``

So, just to provide a first hand correction: I was in Nowshehra (home of the pakistan armored corp, and close by Risalpur (the air force officer`s training school) where the crash occurred) at the time (where my mother and self and brothers were staying at khala`s house - my uncle and father both being ``at the front``). If was not early morning (as noted in the account) but very late evening and it was very dark (due to the blackout). The sky i think was indeed overcast (i dont remember it as being particularly windy) and we heard this plane circling around and there seemed to be some problem it was having landing. Suddenly the sky lit up as if it was day time for a few seconds. Then there was a deep boom, and then all was silent.

We learnt the next day that an air force bomber had crashed into a house.

So, you can see that while close, the account is not precisely what the account says.

Jang:

Just noticed this...lol..

``Then there was also the pool where we spent our afternoons and weekends. ``

was there a petting zoo as well?

No, no petting zoos for us.


``were NCO airmen and their family allowed in the pool? ``

Yes, they used the same pool but the hours were different. Same goes for gym.

But the squash court was for officers and kids only.

TAhmed: I meant preremptive Air Attacks...It mentions the initial air attacks from a Pak perspective.

Found this interesting like in Defense Journal, Pakistan

The Air Force according to the war plan attacked the IAF forward bases on the opening day of the war in West Pakistan. Air action in East Pakistan was delayed to the second day since a dusk strike was anticipated. The plan included a single F104 conducting a “recce” over Halwara, followed by F86s, attacking “guns only” Halwara, Adampur, Pathankot and the various forward radars in the north, with T33s in the South, followed by all available B57’s after sunset.

After attacking the Indians on the 6th, the Air Force expected retaliation by the IAF on the 7th. No effort was made to launch dawn strikes, instead the PAF requested the Army to launch paratroopers against the IAF forward bases on the night 6/ 7th. Three companies of SSG were launched.

The decision to launch SSG Special Service Group was taken late on the 6th; they left without maps, proper briefing and worst of all with no planning or preparation! The results were disastrous, only a handful returned, most of them were captured or killed. Every PAF base in Pakistan experienced Indian commando attacks and in their defence thousands of rounds of small arms ammunition was expended at imaginary commandos and the SSG were summoned to save Sargodha.

The operational statistics for 1965 are as under:

Sorties
% Effort

Air Defence 1,303 55%
Army / Navy 647 27%
Day Strike 100 4%
Night Strike 165 7%
Photo / Recce 148 6%

To attack the close concentration of enemy airfields in the north, and to remain out of reach of the Indian fighter bombers; the bomber wing remained on the hop throughout the war. The pattern often repeated was to set off from home base, strike inside Indian territory, recover to another base to rearm and refuel, and then to strike again before returning to base or to another safe airfield. This enabled them to be prepared to attack their targets night after night. By arriving over their targets in a stream at intervals of about fifteen minutes, the B-57 certainly succeeded, disregarding even the actual damage they inflicted, in achieving a major disruption of the overall IAF effort, disabling their optimum attack capability the next morning. The effect on morale of the IAF personnel was devastating. The effect of fatigue caused to them was most pronounced on their air and ground crew while they were forced to keep shuttling in and out of air raid shelters and trenches. This made the task of PAF fighter pilots that much easier to fight them in air the next morning.

Of its 22 B57s, which fought the war PAF lost three, only one due to enemy action. After the first strike on Jamnagar at 6pm, the bombing shuttle was maintained all night by single sorties. One such lone bomber flown by squadron leaders Shabbir Alam Siddiqui and Alam Qureshi, the navigator was doing its third mission in less than 9 hours. As an overfatigued crew descended lower on the pinpoint its target, the bomber hit the ground and exploded. The second bomber was lost as a result of enemy anti-aircraft fire on 14th September. The third B57, piloted by Flight Lieutenants MA Butt and ASZ Khalid was lost in the early hours of 17th September. While making an approach to land at Risalpur, the B57 encountered adverse weather in the shape of strong wind sheer coupled with reduced flight visibility. Unable to maintain height, the aircraft crashed south of the runway, instantly killing both pilot and navigator.

The PAF’s B57 campaign came to an end with a close support mission during the night of 22nd September by four B57s which dropped 28,000 lbs of bombs on enemy artillery and tank concentrations at Atari. Large enemy reinforcements had been seen that day moving towards Atari for a possible assault on the salient eastern bank of the BRB canal. It was the task of the PAF to prevent these reinforcements from reaching their destination. The bombs from the B57s dropped in train engulfed the enemy armour and other vehicles concealed under the trees and in the bushes. Very few survived to reach Atari.

After the 1965 war, the B57 Squadrons trained hard to achieve even higher standards in the light of lessons learned in the war.

After the end of the 1965 war, the United States placed an embargo on our purchase of new equipment. New aircraft of Chinese (MIG-19) and French (Mirage) origin were inducted into the Air Force and quickly integrated.

stuka: i am not sure if jamnagar was preemptively attacked - the attack on chhamb was indeed preemptive - but india retaliated by attacking lahore/sialkot and the air raids started after that. in any case, i was just curious to see if you may have heard something from someone who actually witnessed the attacks/results. (if only to cross-check asghar khan`s account just in case he was overstating claims on effectiveness of those attacks).

TAhmed:

I read about the 1965 attacks in a book by Air Marshal Asghar Khan. Jamnagar was one of three bases attacked preemptively in 1965. According to Air Marshal Khan, one of the attacks was really successful (i believe either Halwara or another base in Rajasthan) and the other too were not that successful because the element of surprise had been lost. I am quoting from memory so cannot recall which bases.

I was not aware of the 1971 air battles and will be following Aleph Null`s link.


Yossarian:

What was your friend`s name? I was there in the mid 1980s as well. But no I did not shoot anyone with a rifle. :)

Hindvi: U an Airforce brat as well?

Gentlemen: Thank you for your comments. As is obvious, my writing leaves much to be desired but I thought it would be an interesting read for some.