Jamnagar Memoirs

Very descriptive. Brought back memories

I am glad you were not there during 1971 when pak air force bombers leveled it....:D Ask Nazar Hayat Khan?

good flow, ethos seems to be similar to pretty-much any public-sector-unit township, except offcourse the cool factor of the airplanes.

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

was there a petting zoo as well? were NCO airmen and their family allowed in the pool?

Very interesting article, parag. i vaguely recall jamnagar as being one of a list of indian air force bases that the PAF attacked in the 1965 war (Halwara was more frequently mentioned, as i recall from listening to the radio newscasts during the war). any recollection on what happened on these bases?

Stuka:

Thanks for this. Jaam-Nagar is etched in the Pakistani psyche. Alongwith HalvaRRa.

Instead of the usual ``professorish`` garbage , any first-hand experience account (not the touristy type) nostalgic or aspects of Indian life which you may consider just ordinary but for Pakistanis could be of awe and wonder.

This is a most welcome departure from thatb routine.

Let me give some examples from here: That Gujarat is a completely ``dry`` state. This is a very good information for a Pakistani especially a muslim.

Also, instead of the ``globalisation`` [code for ``west-Raj] type of `progress` `development` information, we are more interested in solid Indian information of farmers, labourers, jugglers, vaids, hakims, mullahs, pundits, ceremonies, animals & their antics, ``ancient`` remedies, charlatans, monkey or Bunderwallaas etc etc. Actually I can`t even point out what I`m not even aware of, but I hope I conveyed the idea.

What we do NOT need is ``progress`` reports. We need information which is usually termed as ``useless`` of the ``time-wasting`` type. The intellectualitis-ridden, academically-anaesthetised, PC-sanitized, and westerly-hygeinic is what has already given most of our folk cranial-arthiritis.

Please write more at a commoner level, in common terms, and in everyday common lingo. Leave ``Literature`` to Lit-Lechers of Chowk.

Jamnagar was hardly leveled off during the `71 operations!

Incidentally, Jamnagar is today the site of the newest biggest refinery in India, and guess which neighbouring country is a big customer?

sameerjb: i dont believe jamnagar was levelled off. i think they did have PAF bombing raids take place, but i dont think any indian airfield (or pakistani airfield for that matter) was destroyed. btw, i was eyewitness to an indian bombing raid at chaklala airport - damn, if only they had invented vcr`s at the time.!!

Train to Jamnagar from Delhi….



“Laloo Prasad Yadav said the number of train accidents had declined since he installed a ``bright new photo`` of the god Vishwakarma in his New Delhi office.”

No wonder Minister Laloo Prasad needs god’s picture in his office.

stuka - good one. although more detail about the life on base could have given a more absorbing picture. do you happen to have any maps of the base and the officer quarters that you can pass along?

just kidding!

It is quite possible that airforce officers might have sold the plane to scrap dealers or to a small african country - happens all the time.

Good one stuka...

I had one friend who had also lived in the Jamnagar air base for few years in mid 80s... this friend of mine one day got into a fight with another young kid, who was so enraged that he got his father`s rifle and shot my friend in his leg... my friend still had a scar on his leg.

I am wondering if that other kid was you :)

Ref tahmed32 #2

[... i vaguely recall jamnagar as being one of a list of indian air force bases that the PAF attacked in the 1965 war (Halwara was more frequently mentioned, as i recall from listening to the radio newscasts during the war). any recollection on what happened on these bases?]

The glorious PAF shot down a Cessna flying from/to Ahmedabad. The Cessna happened to be carrying the Chief Minister of Gujarat who died in the crash.

I would like to know if the pilot of the PAF jet got one of those medals for bravery that you guys hand out.

stuka:

Typo: It is MiG-21 ‘Bis’, not ‘Biz’.

If you thought the Il-76s were gigantic, your equivalents at Lohegaon today would be astounded by the size of the An-124s that ferry the newly acquired Su-30 MKIs to India.

sameerJB #4, veeresh #7:

Jamnagar was attacked by two F-104 Starfighters on 12th December 1971. One of the attacking F-104s was shot down on egress by a Jamnagar-based MiG-21. The Pakistani pilot, a decorated veteran of the 1965 war, ejected over the Rann of Kutch and was never seen again. More details can be found here.

There is reason to believe that this is not the only attempt the PAF made to attack Jamnagar during the 1971 war. The previous attacks could not have been too successful in curtailing operations at Jamnagar since the base was being defended by its own detachment of aircraft on December 12th.

harmimau: The question was to Stuka who could have been told about 1965 by someone with first hand knowledge of what happened. I am not interested in your jaundiced comments.

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.

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).