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| IAF Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon |
After
a 25-minute flight through the picturesque hills and vales of western
Kashmir, Changazi’s commanding voice broke the radio silence, “Leader
pulling up, contact with the target.” The time was 0730 hrs (PST).
Dotani, Andrabi and Mir followed at short intervals, none missing the
easily visible airfield complex. Popping up to 5,000 ft above ground,
they dived one by one to release their bombs on the runway. Baig and
Yusufzai loosened into an orbit overhead the airfield, looking out for
any interceptors through the relentless Anti-Aircraft Artillery barrage.
Flg Off Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon of No 18
Squadron was rolling for take-off as No 2 in a two-Gnat formation, just
as the first bombs were falling on the runway. Said to have been
delayed due to dust kicked up by the preceding Gnat, Sekhon lost no time
in singling out the first Sabre pair, which was re-forming after the
bombing run. Changazi was, however, quick to detect the attacker behind
his wingman. “Gnat behind, all punch tanks,” yelled Changazi. No 3
(Andrabi), who was just pulling out of the attack, was horrified to see
the Gnat no more than 1,000 ft and firing at Dotani. “Break left,”
called Andrabi, as he himself manoeuvred to get behind the Gnat. Dotani,
who had been turning frantically, found his low-powered Sabre tottering
at the verge of stall[2]. Unable to hang around any longer with such a
precarious energy state, he decided to make a getaway. No 4 (Mir) in the
meantime had completed his bombing run and, having no visual contact
with the rest, decided to head home as well. The Gnat Leader, Flt Lt
Ghuman, had also lost visual with his wingman just after take-off. Said
to have failed in re-establishing contact, Ghuman remained out of the
fight leaving Sekhon to handle the muddle all by himself.
The
fight had turned into a classic tail chase, with a Sabre followed by a
Gnat, which in turn was followed by another Sabre. “I am getting behind
one but the other is getting an edge on me,” is how Sekhon had described
the situation to his controllers. With two more free fighters watching
over, the lone Gnat was practically up against four Sabres. Andrabi had,
by now, closed in behind the Gnat’s rear quarters and was firing
steadily. He was sure that he would get the Gnat, he excitedly forecast
on the radio. His Sabre was incessantly spewing out a stream of 0.5”
bullets but, despite good aim and textbook range, remained off the mark.
What should have been a quick kill dragged on clumsily, testing
everyone’s patience and nerves.
The Sabre
had enough firepower to riddle a whole formation with bullets, so
everyone was dumb-founded when Andrabi’s voice crackled on the radio,
“Three is Winchester!” It meant that he had exhausted 1,800 rounds and
his guns had stopped firing. The Gnat was still turning circles and it
seemed that unless help came fast, Andrabi would soon be at the
receiving end.
Changazi was carefully
monitoring the dogfight while looking out for the elusive Gnat Leader,
whose fleeting glimpse he had caught a while ago[3]. On hearing that
Andrabi was spent, Changazi called him to join up as his wingman.
Dislodging himself from the Gnat’s tail, Andrabi dutifully moved towards
his leader. As the two were forming up, Sekhon took advantage of the
slack, straightened out and jettisoned the drop tanks. In the flurry of
activity, Sekhon had overlooked a vitally important step and, it was
just as well that he shed dead weight for the next round. Nimbler than
before, the Gnat could be seen to turn ever more tight as it started to
catch up onto Changazi and Andrabi’s pair. Perched on top, the escorts
watched in astonishment as the Gnat snatched degrees at a dizzying rate.
The situation was getting stickier by the minute and in a couple of
turns the Gnat was in a menacing position.
Silver-tongued and
gravel-voiced, Andrabi was a class unto himself when he took to the
radio. A smattering of expletives ensured that his calls were never
disregarded even in the toughest of air combat manoeuvres. Thus, when
Andrabi shouted for help against the attacker whose lineage he had
declared suspect, everyone took notice! The escorts instantly dived down
to grapple with Sekhon, who had turned out to be a hard nut to crack. While Yusufzai covered up as wingman, Baig easily manoeuvred to get behind the Gnat, much to everyone’s relief.
Baig
had the privilege of opening his Squadron’s account by shooting down a
Hunter near Peshawar, ten days earlier[4]. Since then, he had been in
the thick of action in almost every sortie that he went up for. This
experience, coupled with his unflappable personality, came in handy as
Baig calmly positioned his pipper on the canopy of the Gnat and opened
fire. Less than three seconds later the Gnat started to spew thick black
smoke. Baig knew it was all over so he stopped firing and watched for
the next move.
Meanwhile, the Base
Commander and some senior pilots who were in the Air Traffic Control
tower to monitor the dogfight, heard Sekhon’s frantic call to his
leader, “I think I have been hit. Ghuman, come and get them.” With the
mission leader still nowhere to be seen, the baffled ground supervisors
tried to help Sekhon with the emergency but to no avail. Baig, who was
following behind, saw the Gnat level its wings and head for the
airfield, as if to indicate that for him the fight was over. Suddenly,
the Gnat went inverted as it dove down uncontrollably from very low
height. In all likelihood, the aircraft’s flight control system had
failed. Sekhon attempted a last minute ejection as his canopy was seen
to fly off, but the height was too low for the ejection system to
function fully. The wreckage of the Gnat was found in a gorge, a few
miles from the Base.
As the Sabres were reforming for recovery,
Andrabi was surprised to notice that his left drop tank was still there,
while the right one was gone. The aircraft was skidding to one side,
something that he had not felt during the heat of the battle. He now
reckoned a bit late why the bullets had not found their mark. Much to
everyone’s relief though, Baig had saved the day and the formation made
it back to Peshawar, unscathed[5]. Baig’s kill, however, did not get
duly noticed, as the mission was seen to be a close call by the Air
Staff at the PAF Headquarters. His citation for gallant action thus only
made it to the ‘Mentioned in Despatches’ category. An award not
withstanding, Baig is highly regarded in the PAF for belonging to the
elite club of fighter pilots with multiple kills.
Sekhon, on the other hand, was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra,
India’s highest award for wartime gallantry and the only one received
by an airman. His was a commendable effort indeed, as he had kept the
field single-handedly to the very end.
_________________________
[1]
An interesting aside to the attack-and-repair game were warnings
delivered to the Garrison Engineer (GE) , Srinagar, through leaflet
drops by Sabres. The GE was warned not to repair the runway, else his
house would be bombed! The leaflets were inserted in the speed brakes
and were released through a momentary pip, just after the actual bomb
release – a dicey prank indeed.
[2] PAF was flying two versions of
the Sabre in the 1971 War - the North American F-86F and the Canadair
Sabre Mk-6 (ex-Luftwaffe). The F-86F model that equipped No 26 Squadron
had a markedly low-powered engine, which did little to help sustain
speed and turn rates in combat.
[3] The Gnat Leader was briefly
observed by Changazi at a higher altitude than the rest and, flying
reciprocal to the direction of the engaged fighters. He was not seen
again by any one.
[4] Flg Off Kotliezath P Muralidharan of No 20 Squadron was shot down on 4th Dec 1971, following a raid on Peshawar airfield.
[5] Contrary to IAF’s citation for Sekhon’s award, none of the Sabres was hit during the dogfight.
