Here is a personal acct of the shooting down of a Pak Sabre aircraft in the Sep 1965 war. In the year of the Golden jubilee of this war , these personal memories are welcome. The first person report here is by a veteran pilot, who later went on to become an Air Marshal . Though some of you may not understand some of the technical jargon used here by the pilot, I am sure you can experience the flow of the adrenaline while going for the kill and also the frustrations when the guns jammed . An interesting read.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
· My Status Pre-War and getting to N o 9 Squadron.
· The One That GOT AWAY
· Near Death Experience
· The Air Combat on 19 Sep 1965 over Chawinda area.
1. My Status Pre War and Getting to No 9 Squadron
As per requirement for converting to supersonic aircraft, I had gone for high performance medical to the CME at Bangalore. The cardiologist grounded me due 'T wave Inversion' showing in the ECG. I was among many who faced this dilemma. Sqn Ldr Osama had just come to CME and was the only doctor authorised to clear pilots for A1G1 High performance category.Well many bounced and went back to their Squadrons disappointed as they could not fly even subsonic aircraft as per the medical report.This was sometime in March 1965.
As is quite the norm in the Air Force, medically unfit officers are attached to higher formations for staff work. I was attached to HQ WAC, Ops Staff. When the war clouds started appearing on the horizon, I was very restless and concerned at missing out. I had lost about 10 kg of weight since my medical and was very trim and 'fighting fit'.
My ex squadron commander from No 23 Squadron, Wing Commander Bhopinder Singh was the Air I at WAC. I appealed to him to get a medical appointment at least for the basic A1 category so that I could fly in the war. Thanks to him, I was sent to AF hospital at Kanpur. This hospital had a senior cardiologist to whom I was referred by WAC for a review of my medical category. Lo and behold I was declared fit A1 to fly normal fighters.
To cut a long story short, I was back in my squadron after an overnight train to Ambala. After a quick dual check with 'Mummy' Bhardwaj, I Launched off on the G Bird. One general handling two air test sorties later, my combat sorties started. YAHOO!
2. THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
No 9 Squadron (The Wolf Pack) was at Ambala. At the very early signs of approaching war clouds, two of our senior pilots Johnny Greene and AJS Sandhu were attached to Pathankot.
We operated with great flexibility from Ambala, from where we launched missions, recovered at Halwara / Adampur to turn around the aircraft and re-launch from there. Our role was to provide top cover to strike formations, carry out offensive sweeps over Pakistan, man the ORP and conduct missions under the S U directions and also carry out combat air patrols.
The squadron had a small detachment at Halwara. On 12th September. Harry Chatwal and I were manning the ORP and were on standby 5 for scrambling. Due to the location of the ORP underground shelters, the aircraft were parked approximately 50 to 60 yards ahead of us. In order to save on time, two bicycles were positioned at the ORP for us to cycle up to the a/c and launch. This worked quite well for us and we normally scrambled in two or a little over two minutes.
On this day when Harry Chatwal and I were on duty, a scramble order blared from the speakers at about 10 am. This was ordered by the Amritsar SU. We scrambled off like rabbits, got airborne fast and were vectored towards Ferozepore area and told to climb to 10000ft. The SU reported two bandits at approximately 20000ft and the controller maneuvered us very cleverly to get to the targets 7 o'clock position and we spotted the Sabres.
There were two Sabres in loiter mode just as we were getting into an advantageous position, still a good 1500 yards away, the Sabres went into a hard left turn perhaps on spotting us or under order from their own radars.
They were in an 'abreast' tactical formation on contact. They threw a hard turn and Harry went for the inner aircraft while I went for the outer one. In this turn we separated into two different sets of 1Vs1 combat. I was unable to hold my position inside his turn due to the Sabre's better turn performance, so I eased out of the turn and zoomed up.
The air combat developed into a series of hard turns and reversals by him and a series of similar hard turns and Yo Yos above him by me to retain my advantageous position and stay in his blind spot. As I recall, after 5/6 such turns and reversals I gained on him and was right behind him in the 6 to 7 o'clock position and only 200 yards or so behind him. I was able to train my gun sight on him with the pipper on the cockpit and the diamonds of the sight, clipping his wing tips.
Thus, due to my superior power reserve I closed in further to approximately 150 yards and pressed my trigger. There was a deafening silence as nothing happened. I again fired at him but still no joy. I realized that I had a 'guns jammed' situation.
I called out to Harry and told him I was breaking off and would join up with him. Our two pairs of combat had separated vertically. Harry called that he had lost contact with his target. I was able to spot Harry below and at 11 O'clock and reported that his tail was clear and I would join him and return to base.
On landing, when the camera film was analyzed it clearly showed the Sabre with the pipper on cockpit and the diamonds clipping his wings. It would have been a sure hit on target; however this was his lucky day and that was my saga of "The One That Got Away."
3. My Near Death Experience
On 10th September, I was leading a 4 aircraft formation ex Halwara for a search and destroy offensive sweep over Lahore Sector. Tubby Goel was my No 3, and somehow I do not recall the names of No2 and No 4.
As we crossed the Ichogil canal, I called out to the formation 'Crossing Shit Creek now" as we 'pilos' had code named the canal. We all were scanning the sky for any enemy aircraft that may be on patrol or in the air around the area. As we did not spot any aircraft even when we reached the outskirts of Lahore town we turned around. About a minute or so later, I realized that the nose of my aircraft was slowly going down - very gradually but insidiously. I tried to control it but it went further down. As it is we were a bare 150 to 200 feet off the ground. I was still descending further and tried to use the trimmer that did not work. I realized that I was headed straight for a huge tree and would hit it soon. In desperation leaned forward to the maximum to operate the emergency trim mechanism hoping that would override any malfunction in the normal trimmer. As I leaned forward, the control column (the stick) moved forward a bit and immediately my aircraft went into a motherless upward climb registering G forces beyond the maximum reading on the G meter. This sudden shoot up, so to say, saved me from hitting the tree or the ground.
I must have reached a height of approx 2000 to 2500 feet. I now knew that the aircraft was under control and gradually descended and heading straight for Halwara with my formation. I was very cautious and on the lookout for any signs of a repetition of the malfunction but was able to land safely at Halwara. Later it was surmised that the aircraft must have undergone G forces up to 9G. As a result my back and neck muscles were stressed a lot and remained very stiff and painful all day.
An analysis of the whole incident concluded that the normal trimmer had a malfunction in that it went into an undemanded nose down runaway process thus explaining the nose going down gradually. The Correct action whenever such malfunction occurs is to move the control column in the same direction that the runaway is occurring –i.e. either nose up or nose down. This action stops the runaway situation. In my case not understanding it to be a runaway trim, my action of leaning forward to operate the emergency trim switch inadvertently moved the stick forwarded ever so little; but that stopped the malfunction and the aircraft went up steeply as that was the pressure I had exerted at the time. It was truly a near death experience for me. Even to date I can see the huge tree looming up to meet/greet me.
As I recall Denzil Keelor and late CP Sharma also had experiences of similar malfunction. The trim malfunction problem beset the Gnat for some time before modifications corrected it.
AIR COMBAT ON 19 SEP 1965
19th September 1965 dawned with its normal excitement and element of apprehension as to how the ground and air battles would go that day. The night had been restful - no disturbing 'air raid warnings' - none since the Pak bomber was shot down a few nights before on our base, Adampur. We had just finished lunch when a demand came to provide a four aircraft escort mission to a Mystere strike force which was to attack enemy armour and other military targets near Chawinda (which is a village and railway station) near Sialkot. This was the day of a major tank battle at Chawinda and many air missions had been sent in earlier in the day. Denzil Keeler was to lead this escort mission with Flight Lieutenant Munna Rai at No 2 position, I was to fly as No. 3 as the deputy leader with Mayadev as my wing man in No. 4 position. It was a rushed affair as there was not much time left to make it to the time on target. The careful and meticulous planning stage and briefing were quickly gone over and we started up to take off just after the Mystere formation led by JP. The take-off and transit to target area was normal, all flown below the Pakistani horizon, skimming the country side.
Close to the target area, JP gave a call for the strike formation to check all armament switches. Maya suddenly called out "2 Bogeys left 11 o'clock high" and sure enough the bogeys were spotted by all. I spotted another two and called out the same to Denzil the leader. Thus we saw four Sabres hovering over the target area.
In the meantime the Mystere strike leader turned on to his target for the attack. The Sabres overhead had spotted the Mystere formation and started diving towards them. A situation arose where the Mysteres were about to be threatened by the Sabres. Those of us flying the Gnat kept our cool and delayed our turn in a bid to avoid being spotted by the enemy Sabres. We planned to achieve the 'Classic Sandwich' (the Sabres neatly caught in the trap with bait ahead of them and us sitting, behind to shoot at them). The Sabres oblivious of our tactical move pressed on their attack onto the Mysteres who were advised by us to head for home after delivering their armament stores at the enemy. Denzil now threw a turn towards the Sabre formation and I delayed mine a little more. Consequently we had the Sabres neatly trapped at an angle of approximately 40°, and I was maneuvering to the 6 o'clock position of the other two aircraft. It was all a too much of a copy book combat to be true and sure enough, our lead pair was spotted by the Sabres and they promptly called off their attack on the Mysteres and fought for their own survival. We were now down to about 1,000 feet or so when the Sabres turned in aggressively towards our formation. This was the beginning of the end for them. What followed was a maze of R/T calls in perfect unison and coordination between Denzil, me and Maya Dev. Munna who had got separated after the 1st hard turn had been told to head for home so as to avoid being caught alone in enemy territory. Hard turns, reversals, Yo-Yo techniques, maximum throttle, minimum maneuvering speeds, use of stick, aileron, and rudder were gone through with precision, a result of our consistently high state and standard of training in the 'Wolf Pack' Squadron. One moment aircraft were ahead at 90° angle off at another they were skimming the tree tops all the time. Our combat was now being fought at a height of 150 to 500 feet. l finally jockeyed myself behind the Sabre at a range of about 150 to 200 yards. I got him flying in my sights and opened up short quarter of a second bursts. I had fired three short bursts when I realized I was closing in too fast and needed to do something about it.
So I eased out of the hard left position and a pulled up with maximum power to reposition for another attack. I could smell the cordite and my senses were tuned in for a 'kill'. I felt that it was possible that I had missed the Sabre narrowly, when I got that fantastic call from Denzil "Kaps, you have got him. Kaps, he's going down. Kaps, he has hit the ground". This prompted me to relax my manoeuver, reverse back and look below me. That is the time I saw the big FLASH. That was the instant when the Sabre finally hit the ground and disintegrated, billowing up in a huge ball of fire.
Denzil told me he was in contact with me and reported his position. I saw him with a Sabre on the opposite side of the circle of turn. Denzil maneuvered sharply and went in hell for leather to shoot down the 2nd Sabre in our area. He closed in very rapidly and called out, ''l am firing at him". I kept clearing his tail just as he had cleared mine. Soon he broke off the attack as his guns had jammed. The Sabres by now were down to 100 feet with a plume of black smoke trailing behind but still flying away westward into Sun which by now was low on the horizon.
As I had the Sabre in sight, I quickly accelerated and latched on behind him gaining distance every second. The Gnat's superior power to weight ratio and acceleration were my main advantages as I tried to reduce the distance from about 3 kms to a shooting kill range of approximately 400 to 500 yards. I soon had him in my gun sight with the 'Pipper' on the cockpit and the range markers clawing at the wing tips to indicate when the proper firing range had been reached. Denzil was with me keeping my tail clear. As soon as I reached 500 yards, I steadied my aim and pressed the trigger. There was no response. I did a quick double check of all switches and circuit breakers. All systems were 'GO'. I again tried to fire at the fast closing Sabre but again there was a painfully compelling silence. I waited in vain for the 'rat a tat' of the guns and the smoother vibrations below my feet to indicate the bullets leaving the guns, but to no avail.
By now, we were low on fuel deep inside Pakistan and travelling westward even deeper every second. So we quickly called off the attack from the smoking Sabre and headed back towards our home base. Denzil's target Sabre which had been crippled crashed enroute to his base. Thereafter, Denzil and I were in broad front formation for a while. A quick R/T check was called by Denzil. No return call was received from Maya. He was not in sight. We got into a quick dialogue on the R/T and tried to locate Maya. Denzil and I separated from each other as we crossed into our territory. We called up all the neighbouring ases and asked them to keep a listening out watch for Maya. Denzil landed back at home base. I had to ivert to a neighbouring base due to unavoidable reasons.
We both filed in our reports on all that had transpired. We had got our kills. Our cine cameras onfirmed our claims.
Foot Note: Flt Lt Maya Dev's aircraft had been shot in the melee unnoticed. He ejected safely and was P.O.W. Later, he was repatriated in the first exchange of POWs
Air Marshall Viney Kapila AVSM VrC
G 259 Palam Vihar
Gurgaon-122017
Tel: 0124 2365920 / 2365940
Air Marshall Viney Kapila AVSM VrC
G 259 palam Vihar Gurgaon 122017
Tel: 0124 2365920 / 2365940
I have tried to be as close to my notes, log book and memory recall to piece together these experiences. I hope he is satisfied with my effort.
My experiences as a member of No 9 Squadron, the WOLF PACK squadron, to which I was attached for the duration of the war, are narrated under four specific heads viz:· My Status Pre-War and getting to N o 9 Squadron.
· The One That GOT AWAY
· Near Death Experience
· The Air Combat on 19 Sep 1965 over Chawinda area.
1. My Status Pre War and Getting to No 9 Squadron
As per requirement for converting to supersonic aircraft, I had gone for high performance medical to the CME at Bangalore. The cardiologist grounded me due 'T wave Inversion' showing in the ECG. I was among many who faced this dilemma. Sqn Ldr Osama had just come to CME and was the only doctor authorised to clear pilots for A1G1 High performance category.Well many bounced and went back to their Squadrons disappointed as they could not fly even subsonic aircraft as per the medical report.This was sometime in March 1965.
As is quite the norm in the Air Force, medically unfit officers are attached to higher formations for staff work. I was attached to HQ WAC, Ops Staff. When the war clouds started appearing on the horizon, I was very restless and concerned at missing out. I had lost about 10 kg of weight since my medical and was very trim and 'fighting fit'.
My ex squadron commander from No 23 Squadron, Wing Commander Bhopinder Singh was the Air I at WAC. I appealed to him to get a medical appointment at least for the basic A1 category so that I could fly in the war. Thanks to him, I was sent to AF hospital at Kanpur. This hospital had a senior cardiologist to whom I was referred by WAC for a review of my medical category. Lo and behold I was declared fit A1 to fly normal fighters.
To cut a long story short, I was back in my squadron after an overnight train to Ambala. After a quick dual check with 'Mummy' Bhardwaj, I Launched off on the G Bird. One general handling two air test sorties later, my combat sorties started. YAHOO!
2. THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
No 9 Squadron (The Wolf Pack) was at Ambala. At the very early signs of approaching war clouds, two of our senior pilots Johnny Greene and AJS Sandhu were attached to Pathankot.
We operated with great flexibility from Ambala, from where we launched missions, recovered at Halwara / Adampur to turn around the aircraft and re-launch from there. Our role was to provide top cover to strike formations, carry out offensive sweeps over Pakistan, man the ORP and conduct missions under the S U directions and also carry out combat air patrols.
The squadron had a small detachment at Halwara. On 12th September. Harry Chatwal and I were manning the ORP and were on standby 5 for scrambling. Due to the location of the ORP underground shelters, the aircraft were parked approximately 50 to 60 yards ahead of us. In order to save on time, two bicycles were positioned at the ORP for us to cycle up to the a/c and launch. This worked quite well for us and we normally scrambled in two or a little over two minutes.
On this day when Harry Chatwal and I were on duty, a scramble order blared from the speakers at about 10 am. This was ordered by the Amritsar SU. We scrambled off like rabbits, got airborne fast and were vectored towards Ferozepore area and told to climb to 10000ft. The SU reported two bandits at approximately 20000ft and the controller maneuvered us very cleverly to get to the targets 7 o'clock position and we spotted the Sabres.
There were two Sabres in loiter mode just as we were getting into an advantageous position, still a good 1500 yards away, the Sabres went into a hard left turn perhaps on spotting us or under order from their own radars.
They were in an 'abreast' tactical formation on contact. They threw a hard turn and Harry went for the inner aircraft while I went for the outer one. In this turn we separated into two different sets of 1Vs1 combat. I was unable to hold my position inside his turn due to the Sabre's better turn performance, so I eased out of the turn and zoomed up.
The air combat developed into a series of hard turns and reversals by him and a series of similar hard turns and Yo Yos above him by me to retain my advantageous position and stay in his blind spot. As I recall, after 5/6 such turns and reversals I gained on him and was right behind him in the 6 to 7 o'clock position and only 200 yards or so behind him. I was able to train my gun sight on him with the pipper on the cockpit and the diamonds of the sight, clipping his wing tips.
Thus, due to my superior power reserve I closed in further to approximately 150 yards and pressed my trigger. There was a deafening silence as nothing happened. I again fired at him but still no joy. I realized that I had a 'guns jammed' situation.
I called out to Harry and told him I was breaking off and would join up with him. Our two pairs of combat had separated vertically. Harry called that he had lost contact with his target. I was able to spot Harry below and at 11 O'clock and reported that his tail was clear and I would join him and return to base.
On landing, when the camera film was analyzed it clearly showed the Sabre with the pipper on cockpit and the diamonds clipping his wings. It would have been a sure hit on target; however this was his lucky day and that was my saga of "The One That Got Away."
3. My Near Death Experience
On 10th September, I was leading a 4 aircraft formation ex Halwara for a search and destroy offensive sweep over Lahore Sector. Tubby Goel was my No 3, and somehow I do not recall the names of No2 and No 4.
As we crossed the Ichogil canal, I called out to the formation 'Crossing Shit Creek now" as we 'pilos' had code named the canal. We all were scanning the sky for any enemy aircraft that may be on patrol or in the air around the area. As we did not spot any aircraft even when we reached the outskirts of Lahore town we turned around. About a minute or so later, I realized that the nose of my aircraft was slowly going down - very gradually but insidiously. I tried to control it but it went further down. As it is we were a bare 150 to 200 feet off the ground. I was still descending further and tried to use the trimmer that did not work. I realized that I was headed straight for a huge tree and would hit it soon. In desperation leaned forward to the maximum to operate the emergency trim mechanism hoping that would override any malfunction in the normal trimmer. As I leaned forward, the control column (the stick) moved forward a bit and immediately my aircraft went into a motherless upward climb registering G forces beyond the maximum reading on the G meter. This sudden shoot up, so to say, saved me from hitting the tree or the ground.
I must have reached a height of approx 2000 to 2500 feet. I now knew that the aircraft was under control and gradually descended and heading straight for Halwara with my formation. I was very cautious and on the lookout for any signs of a repetition of the malfunction but was able to land safely at Halwara. Later it was surmised that the aircraft must have undergone G forces up to 9G. As a result my back and neck muscles were stressed a lot and remained very stiff and painful all day.
An analysis of the whole incident concluded that the normal trimmer had a malfunction in that it went into an undemanded nose down runaway process thus explaining the nose going down gradually. The Correct action whenever such malfunction occurs is to move the control column in the same direction that the runaway is occurring –i.e. either nose up or nose down. This action stops the runaway situation. In my case not understanding it to be a runaway trim, my action of leaning forward to operate the emergency trim switch inadvertently moved the stick forwarded ever so little; but that stopped the malfunction and the aircraft went up steeply as that was the pressure I had exerted at the time. It was truly a near death experience for me. Even to date I can see the huge tree looming up to meet/greet me.
As I recall Denzil Keelor and late CP Sharma also had experiences of similar malfunction. The trim malfunction problem beset the Gnat for some time before modifications corrected it.
AIR COMBAT ON 19 SEP 1965
19th September 1965 dawned with its normal excitement and element of apprehension as to how the ground and air battles would go that day. The night had been restful - no disturbing 'air raid warnings' - none since the Pak bomber was shot down a few nights before on our base, Adampur. We had just finished lunch when a demand came to provide a four aircraft escort mission to a Mystere strike force which was to attack enemy armour and other military targets near Chawinda (which is a village and railway station) near Sialkot. This was the day of a major tank battle at Chawinda and many air missions had been sent in earlier in the day. Denzil Keeler was to lead this escort mission with Flight Lieutenant Munna Rai at No 2 position, I was to fly as No. 3 as the deputy leader with Mayadev as my wing man in No. 4 position. It was a rushed affair as there was not much time left to make it to the time on target. The careful and meticulous planning stage and briefing were quickly gone over and we started up to take off just after the Mystere formation led by JP. The take-off and transit to target area was normal, all flown below the Pakistani horizon, skimming the country side.
Close to the target area, JP gave a call for the strike formation to check all armament switches. Maya suddenly called out "2 Bogeys left 11 o'clock high" and sure enough the bogeys were spotted by all. I spotted another two and called out the same to Denzil the leader. Thus we saw four Sabres hovering over the target area.
In the meantime the Mystere strike leader turned on to his target for the attack. The Sabres overhead had spotted the Mystere formation and started diving towards them. A situation arose where the Mysteres were about to be threatened by the Sabres. Those of us flying the Gnat kept our cool and delayed our turn in a bid to avoid being spotted by the enemy Sabres. We planned to achieve the 'Classic Sandwich' (the Sabres neatly caught in the trap with bait ahead of them and us sitting, behind to shoot at them). The Sabres oblivious of our tactical move pressed on their attack onto the Mysteres who were advised by us to head for home after delivering their armament stores at the enemy. Denzil now threw a turn towards the Sabre formation and I delayed mine a little more. Consequently we had the Sabres neatly trapped at an angle of approximately 40°, and I was maneuvering to the 6 o'clock position of the other two aircraft. It was all a too much of a copy book combat to be true and sure enough, our lead pair was spotted by the Sabres and they promptly called off their attack on the Mysteres and fought for their own survival. We were now down to about 1,000 feet or so when the Sabres turned in aggressively towards our formation. This was the beginning of the end for them. What followed was a maze of R/T calls in perfect unison and coordination between Denzil, me and Maya Dev. Munna who had got separated after the 1st hard turn had been told to head for home so as to avoid being caught alone in enemy territory. Hard turns, reversals, Yo-Yo techniques, maximum throttle, minimum maneuvering speeds, use of stick, aileron, and rudder were gone through with precision, a result of our consistently high state and standard of training in the 'Wolf Pack' Squadron. One moment aircraft were ahead at 90° angle off at another they were skimming the tree tops all the time. Our combat was now being fought at a height of 150 to 500 feet. l finally jockeyed myself behind the Sabre at a range of about 150 to 200 yards. I got him flying in my sights and opened up short quarter of a second bursts. I had fired three short bursts when I realized I was closing in too fast and needed to do something about it.
So I eased out of the hard left position and a pulled up with maximum power to reposition for another attack. I could smell the cordite and my senses were tuned in for a 'kill'. I felt that it was possible that I had missed the Sabre narrowly, when I got that fantastic call from Denzil "Kaps, you have got him. Kaps, he's going down. Kaps, he has hit the ground". This prompted me to relax my manoeuver, reverse back and look below me. That is the time I saw the big FLASH. That was the instant when the Sabre finally hit the ground and disintegrated, billowing up in a huge ball of fire.
Denzil told me he was in contact with me and reported his position. I saw him with a Sabre on the opposite side of the circle of turn. Denzil maneuvered sharply and went in hell for leather to shoot down the 2nd Sabre in our area. He closed in very rapidly and called out, ''l am firing at him". I kept clearing his tail just as he had cleared mine. Soon he broke off the attack as his guns had jammed. The Sabres by now were down to 100 feet with a plume of black smoke trailing behind but still flying away westward into Sun which by now was low on the horizon.
As I had the Sabre in sight, I quickly accelerated and latched on behind him gaining distance every second. The Gnat's superior power to weight ratio and acceleration were my main advantages as I tried to reduce the distance from about 3 kms to a shooting kill range of approximately 400 to 500 yards. I soon had him in my gun sight with the 'Pipper' on the cockpit and the range markers clawing at the wing tips to indicate when the proper firing range had been reached. Denzil was with me keeping my tail clear. As soon as I reached 500 yards, I steadied my aim and pressed the trigger. There was no response. I did a quick double check of all switches and circuit breakers. All systems were 'GO'. I again tried to fire at the fast closing Sabre but again there was a painfully compelling silence. I waited in vain for the 'rat a tat' of the guns and the smoother vibrations below my feet to indicate the bullets leaving the guns, but to no avail.
By now, we were low on fuel deep inside Pakistan and travelling westward even deeper every second. So we quickly called off the attack from the smoking Sabre and headed back towards our home base. Denzil's target Sabre which had been crippled crashed enroute to his base. Thereafter, Denzil and I were in broad front formation for a while. A quick R/T check was called by Denzil. No return call was received from Maya. He was not in sight. We got into a quick dialogue on the R/T and tried to locate Maya. Denzil and I separated from each other as we crossed into our territory. We called up all the neighbouring ases and asked them to keep a listening out watch for Maya. Denzil landed back at home base. I had to ivert to a neighbouring base due to unavoidable reasons.
We both filed in our reports on all that had transpired. We had got our kills. Our cine cameras onfirmed our claims.
Foot Note: Flt Lt Maya Dev's aircraft had been shot in the melee unnoticed. He ejected safely and was P.O.W. Later, he was repatriated in the first exchange of POWs
Air Marshall Viney Kapila AVSM VrC
G 259 Palam Vihar
Gurgaon-122017
Tel: 0124 2365920 / 2365940
Air Marshall Viney Kapila AVSM VrC
G 259 palam Vihar Gurgaon 122017
Tel: 0124 2365920 / 2365940
.
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