The AIR and NAVAL War 1971-
Part 1 :The Air War
One of the reasons for the complete victory attained in 1971 was the synergy attained between ground, air and naval forces. The 1965 War was largely ground based operations with the nava not playing any significant role and the Air Force still trying to find their wings. The Navy and Air Force truly came into their own in the 71 War.
The war commenced with a preemptive attack by the Pakistani Air Force on Indian airfields at 1630 hours on 03 December 71. (See http://www.soldier2ndlife.com/card/creating-a-nation for an account of the 1971 Indo Pak War). But the air war had actually commenced much earlier when 3 Pakistani Sabre jet fighters were shot down by 4 Indian Gnats over Boyra in East Pakistan (Seehttp://www.soldier2ndlife.com/card/battle-of-garibpur for an account of the battle) . No Indian aircraft was destroyed in the Pakistani strike, but retaliation was swift. The next day itself, the airfields of Masroor, Rafique, Sargodha, Mianwal, Murid in the West and Chittagong, Dacca, Jessore and Tezgaon in the East were attacked by Indian fighter bombers.
At that time, the IAF had 34 combat squadrons (including three antiquated Canberra and One An -12 transports) of which ten were in the East, four kept as reserve for defence of important cities, and 20 allotted to the West. The Pakistanis had 19 Squadrons of which 18 were in the West, and a F-86 Canadair Sabre squadron with 20 aircraft in the East. The Pakistani strength was boosted with the arrival of Chinese F 6 fighters and F 104 Starfighters, Mirage IIIs and F 86 from Jordan just before the war. Technologically, their aircraft had an edge, especially when armed with the lethal US supplied Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. Though India had a clear air. superiority in the East, it had just a 1 : 1.2 superiority in the west.
A flight of Gnats PAF Sabres
The IAF focused largely on strike operations in the initials days of the war, striking airfields, railway yards, tank formations, dockyards and infrastructure in a continual series of strikes both in the East and the West. In the East, PAF operations virtually came to a halt on 06 December itself when the IAF attacked the airfields of Tezgaon (near Dacca) and Kurmitla, and badly cratered the runway. Three Sabres were shot down as they rushed upwards to intercept the attacking Indians. Their pilots bailed out, but were captured by vengeful Bangladeshis and brutally beaten to death. Two Hunters were also lost, but from that day onward, the IAF had complete of East Pakistani skies and conducted raids with impunity.
Attack on Pak Railyard
In the West, the IAF attained its finest hour when Hunters from Jaisalmer decimated a complete Pakistani Armoured Regiment and blunted their thrust at Longewala. ( See http://www.soldier2ndlife.com/card/breakfast-at-longewala ) . The IAF also attacked Karachi and set ablaze the oil tanks in the harbor, in conjunction with the naval raid on Karachi on 04 Dec71 (Seehttp://www.soldier2ndlife.com/card/raid-on-karachi) causing ‘the biggest blaze in South Asia’. Most IAF sorties were directed at ground targets, in contrast to the PAF which focused largely on air interdiction operations. When the PAF did appear to contest Indian fighters, they invariably put up a gallant fight in the dog-fights over Indian and Pakistani skies. But As the tempo of operations increased, so did the successes of the IAF. It maintained its impressive sortie rate, while the PAF sortie generation reduced ( perhaps due to lack of spares and trained technicians). Over 4000 sorties were flown in the West and 1978 in the East as the IAF gained control of the skies.
The newly acquired MIG 21 fighters proved their worth, both in the ground attack and the air superiority role. When confronted with PAF F-104 Starfighters (which had been developed by the US as a counter to the MIGs) they emerged victories in three of the four dog fights, with three Starfighters and one MIG 21 shot down in aerial combat between these two evenly matched aircraft. In fact Pakistan lost 9 of the 20 Starfighters it held, earning it the dubious sobriquet ‘widow-maker’. Pakistani Sabres and Indian Gnats were perhaps evenly matched, but Indian Hunters and Sukhoi 7 fighter-bombers suffered disproportionately high casualties, perhaps because of the high risks the young pilots took to press home their attacks on ground targets.
MIG 21s and F 104 Starfighters
The last two days of the air war were perhaps the best. On the morning of 14 December, a message was received in Eastern Air Command of a high level meeting in the Governor’s House at Dacca. Within 15 minutes, a flight of four MIG 21s, using only tourist maps for guidance were airborne and bombed the Governor’s bungalow with 57mm rockets, ripping out the roof and shattering Pakistani morale completely. The Governor resigned immediately and two days later, the Pakistani Eastern Command surrendered. The 13 surviving Sabres of the Eastern Squadron were damaged by their own crew, but later repaired and used by the Bangla Desh Air force. The base commander had refused to set them ablaze saying that the sight of burning aircraft would be bad for morale. The surviving pilots of the Squadron were flown to Malaysia and then made their way back to West Pakistan.
14 December also saw a momentous action in the Western theater. Flight Lieutenant Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon serving with No 18 Squadron ‘The Flying Bullets’ was on Operational Readiness Platform at Srinagar Airfeild, when it was attacked by a flight of four Sabres. Even as the bombs were falling on the airfield, the Flight Leader Flt Lt Ghuman and Sekhon took off. Flt Lt Ghuman lost contact soon after take-off and Sekhon was left to engage the enemy on his own. Making a tight turn, Sekhon plunged into the enemy formation, which were reforming after their first bombing run and shot down a Sabre with his 30mm cannon at ranges of just 350-400 yards. He engaged the other firing at long ranges and damaged it badly, leaving it to limp away to its home base, trailing black smoke. Sekhon’s aircraft was now bounced by two other Sabres who were flying overhead on Combat Air Patrol for protection of the strike force. He was hit. Advised to return, he banked his aircraft, only for it to flip over abruptly (perhaps the control systems had been damaged ) He tried to eject, and his canopy was seeing flying off, but at the low altitude, the parachute did not open. The wreckage of his Gnat fighter was found in the thickly forested hills around Srinagar, but his body was unfortunately never recovered. For his gallantry in saving the airfield and engaging odds of 6:1 he was awarded the Air Force’s first (and only ) Param Vir Chakra. Ironically the Army’s first PVC was also earned in defence of Srinagar Airfield by Major Somnath Sharma during the Kashmir war of 1948.
Flt Lt N S Sekhon, PVC and his Gnat
You can see the video of Flt Lt Sekhon’s Actions at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiL_H92K1Tk
When the war came to an end, the IAF had gained dominance of the skies. But it was at a cost. It lost 56 aircraft, most of them Hunters and Sukhoi -7s. Half the losses were of due to Anti-aircraft fire and worryingly over 20 percent were from accidents and technical failures. A breakdown of the losses on both sides reveals :-
| Combat Aircraft Losses | ||
| Description | Pakistan | India |
| Air to Air | 19 | 19 |
| Ground Fire | 15 | 35 |
| On Ground | 29 | 2 |
| Total | 63 | 56 |
But the numbers don’t tell it all. At the end of the war, the IAF controlled the skies, and the PAF had virtually ceased to operate. After the war, the Air Chief was publically castigated by Prime Minister Bhutto for the failure of the Air Force in protecting Pakistani airspace.