Early
on the morning of 14 Dec 71, just three days before Pakistan surrendered to
Indian forces, six Sabers of 26 sqn PAF set out from Peshawar for the Indian
airfield of Srinagar in the picturesque valley of Kashmir. Four ac carried two
500 lbs Mk 84 bombs each and two ac acted as escorts with only cannon
ammunition. Whilst all carried 200 gal tanks.
The formation was lead by the CO, Wg Cdr SA Changezi, and the escort pair
consisted of Flt Lts Salim Baig and A. Rahim Yousefzai.
At Srinagar two Folland Gnats of 18 sqn ‘the Flying Bullets’ sat at
the Operational Readiness Platform (ORP). The
peculiar location of the airfield in the Srinagar bowl prevented adequate radar
warning and the only warning available was from observation posts situated on
the mountain tops. Two pilots waited at the ORP, one was Sqn Ldr AS Ghuman and
the other – young Fg Offr Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon.
The Sabers flew south east of the airfield and pulled up to roll in to
the dive along runway 31, while the escort pair set up a CAP pattern overhead.
On the ground, with last minute warnings from the OPs the two Gnats
scrambled from their pens (a Gnat could start up and be airborne in 45 secs) but
were held up as the ATC could not see the runway traffic crossing point in the
poor visibility. Peculiarly at
Srinagar, take offs were not permitted until the vehicular traffic (if any) had
crossed at the runway crossing and not the reverse. As the two Gnats came out
into the open (Sekhon in IE 257), one Sabre had already released its bombs
overhead. Not being able to wait anymore, the Gnats took off through the debris
and smoke into 800m visibility. The
two Gnats were ordered to exit the area as it was too late to intercept the
enemy overhead and to allow the ack-ack to engage the Sabres.
Even as Ghuman ducked to low level and exited south, Sekhon turned behind
a Sabre(No 2 of the Sabre formation) just pulling out from his dive. Closing in
rapidly he started firing out of range. The Sabre leader saw this danger and
ordered his No 2 to break left, whilst the No 3 (Flt Lt Amjad Endrabi)
maneuvered behind Sekhon. Fortunately for Sekhon, The No 4 didn’t make contact with
the mêlée and was ordered to get away to the west. As the three ac turned
behind each other at 200 ft, with Sekhon firing at Sabre No 2 and Sabre No 3 and
1 firing at him, the No 3 ran out of ammo.
Sensing a reduction in the danger, Sekhon got a brief respite to roll
out, jettison his tanks and build up some badly needed energy.
With renewed effort he closed into the Sabre behind him and began to
fire. At this moment the Sabre
leader realized the great danger that he was in and desperately asked the escort
overhead to intervene. Flt Lt Salim Baig already maneuvering to position above
Sekhon, dove down unbeknownst to Sekhon and within secs had achieved hits on the
Gnat. Sekhon called out that he was
hit, and was called overhead by the CAP controller so as to at last allow the
ack-ack to take on the Sabers. But
Sekhon’s time was up. Salim Baig
remembers seeing the canopy of Sekhon’s ac flying off and the ac rolling over
and diving into the ground less than 100 ft below.
For choosing to get airborne even as the airfield was under attack and
refusing to exit the battle even when ordered to, and then taking on six sabers
(although he must have only known there were four) Sekhon was awarded the
country’s highest honour, the ‘Param Vir Chakra’ (bravest of the brave)
equivalent to the American Medal of Honour.
He thus became the only air force officer to be so honored.
No
wonder then that I decided to build the now elusive Aeroclub 1/72 Folland Gnat
in the markings of Sekhon’s mount on that fateful day. The development history
of the Gnat is quite well known. Springing
from the same drawing board that drew the Canberra and the Lightning at the
hands of Teddy Petter, the Gnat was rejected by the RAF and only flew with the
Finns, Yugoslavs (very few) and the Indians.
Over two hundred were built in India and a much modified version, the
Ajeet (unconquerable) served till 1992. Direct
supply British built Gnats were numbered E---, while Indian built ones were
numbered EI------. The kit is also
well known, and comes in two colours with five parts and well sculpted white
metal undercarriage and seat with a vacu formed canopy that needs some pruning
and dexterity to make it fit. Gnats
were painted silver and not in the BMF scheme, so it was a simple finish to
achieve. IAF decals from Bright Spark and serials from Tally Ho completed the
finish. The black anti glare panel and antenna covering were hand
painted acrylic while the silver was Testors chrome mixed with a drop of Humbrol
matt white. The pitot and antennae
were stretched sprue. White lines
were painted on the wheel and hubs to assess wheel creep. All in all a simple
straight forward build.
The Hunter and
the Gnat claimed all except five of all the air to air kills of the 71 war.
Here an Airfix Hunter compares its size against the diminutive Gnat.
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Although
this pic was taken in 1964, it depicts two Gnats on alert at Srinagar.
The mountain
tops in the background can clearly be seen.
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Click on
images below to see larger images
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Flt Lt Salim
Baig of the PAF who brought down Sekhon |
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Latter day Ajeets seen in the
hands of 2 sqn in ACT and air to grd schemes in 1991
Polly
Click on
images below to see larger images
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Sekhon’s
father, Warrant Officer HS Sekhon is seen talking to the Chief of the
Air Staff,
Air
Chief Marshal PC Lal, Himself a DFC winner from the Second World War,
after the 71 war. |
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