Col Satish Singh Lalotra
‘When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it —Henry Ford.
The armed forces of any nation are the single biggest entities that have within itself resilience and character of its very own, breathing the idea of nationhood in its citizens. No other single organization has the all prevailing qualities of self-sacrifice, fortitude and single-mind dedication as espoused by the uniformed fraternity. It takes a life time of cultivation of the above deemed qualities to hold the banner of ‘Standard bearer’ of a nation’s destiny when called upon to do so in times of national crisis wrought upon it by time and tide of events. Indian armed forces are no exception to this maxim of unity and camaraderie both during times of war and peace. The month of October holds a special place of pride and nostalgia for the youngest arm of the armed forces of our country i.e the ‘Indian Air force’ for mainly two broad reasons. Firstly a few days back on 8th October the country was witness to the 91st day of raising of this elite arm that included the so-called total indigenization of its insignia which transited from its colonial legacy to that of reflecting an Indian ethos.
The new air force insignia now reflects top right corner with the national flag in the upper left corner and the IAF tri colour roundel in the lower right. The crest has the national symbol, the Ashoka lion on the top with ‘Satyamev Jayate’ written in Devnagari script. Below the Ashoka lion is a Himalayan eagle with its wings spread denoting the fighting qualities of the IAF.A ring in light blue colour encircles the Himalayan eagle with the words ‘Bhartiya vayusena. The second pride of place that the month of October rings in for every air warrior is the tryst with destiny that the air arm of the country had on 27th October 1947 when it’s screaming Dakotas of number 12 squadron heralded a new chapter of a historic airlift to the marooned Kashmir valley on an SOS call from the late Maharaja of the erstwhile state. Even the then Governor General of independent India Lord Mountbatten had commended that he had not seen a fledgling air force rise to such commanding heights in such a short time frame in his entire service .
The present write up of mine is primarily a small effort towards this end with the focus on the mainstay of this airlift as also the yeoman’s service the workhorse of this air effort I.e the Douglas C-47/Dakotas did during those tumultuous days of first war on Kashmir in 1947-48 of the sub-continent. The Dakotas of Number 12 Squadron surpassed their threshold of engine and airframe robustness honed on the anvil of enemy fire, hostile weather conditions and an uncertain and often vacillating Geo-strategic conditions prevailing in the sub-continent and Kashmir valley in particular. The squadron and its brave pilots undertook dangerous operational missions often flying with little or no knowledge of ground situation but blunting the enemy forays in far off places like Mirpur, Kotli, Poonch, Bhimber, Skardu and have the single most credit of landing the first ‘Indian boots on ground’ in Kashmir valley on 27th October 1947 consequent to the Maharaja signing the instrument of accession. This write up on the occasion of aftermath of ‘Accession day’ more than 7 decades back in Jammu & Kashmir tries to shed light on the little known facts of air warriors of those days with various valorous deeds of the pilots and the airmen of the squadron starting from the landing at Srinagar air field to providing relief at Jhangar, Mirpur, Kotli, Poonch Nowshera etc as the war progressed into subsequent years of 1948 & 49. The Dakota holds tremendous significance in the history of India as it was the first major transport aircraft inducted into the IAF, with the honours going to number 12 Squadron in 1946. The squadron was heralded into an unenviable position when Squadron leader (later Group captain) Karori Lal Bhatia commanding the unit went into action on 27th October 1947 at Wellington air base (Present day Safdarjung airport) piloting the iconic Dakota aircraft with tail number VP905 carrying in its belly the advance guard of 1 Sikh Unit along with its swashbuckling CO Lt Col Dewan Ranjit Rai who were collected hurriedly from nearby Gurgaon.
The operational mandate handed over to Squadron leader KL Bhatia was to explore the possibility of landing his Dakota at Srinagar airfield if at all its control was not wrested by the advancing tribal lashkars from the state forces of Jammu and Kashmir . Over and above if the situation was not conducive at Srinagar he was to attempt landing at Jammu. Displaying an unmatchable quality of fortitude, leadership, and dauntless courage the CO attempted the first option successfully to enable the country etch history that is still talked about with nostalgia and changed the course of the sub-continent. The award of VRc to the CO for this action and subsequent ones at the relief of Poonch garrison taking off and landing from makeshift airstrips with the much needed rations, ammunition and stores is validation of his professional and personal qualities of head and heart.
Setting the stage for the squadron to further achieve dizzying heights was Flt/Lt (later wing commander) Sudhananda Roy who operated more than 400 flying hours as the lead navigator cum navigation leader often taking the risk of flying all hazardous sorties himself . His Dakota was subjected to later many rounds of ackack fire. He had the seminal reputation of carrying out the first sortie to Leh as the lead navigator with very rudimentary facilities available on ground to guide his Dakota aircraft. He benchmarked navigation feats in Jammu &Kashmir which till date are an envy of air warriors. Rightly so awarded with a much recognized VRc. Flt/Lt (later air marshal) Lal Singh Grewal of the squadron can be graciously called as ‘Air saviour’ of Poonch for having carried out maximum number of landings in his Dakota aircraft both by day and night. On 21st March 1948 when enemy was heavily bombarding Poonch garrison Flt/Lt Lalsingh Grewal made two hazardous landings in the besieged garrison with the much needed heavy guns and ammunition for the troops without even any landing aids. With Kotli and Mirpur towns besieged by the Pakistan army cum tribal lashkars and state forces outgunned and marooned it was the quintessential Lalsingh Grewal who responding to an SOS call dropped ammunition and rations from his Dakota aircraft getting in turn hit by the enemy ackack fire. A very intrepid night bomber he was instrumental in various night bombing missions over Mirpur and Kotli despite the area swarming with tribal lashkars earning a much appreciated VRc. But the icing on the cake for 12 squadron is taken away by the young flying officer Dennis Oman Barty, who on 19 th June 1948 at Poonch took a stupendous decision all by himself in the true traditions of the IAF i.e to ‘Touch the sky with glory’ all in the line of humanitarian considerations overriding professional and peer advice; solely guided by his conscience. The young flying officer having just landed at Poonch with his Dakota with supplies was requested by Maj General Atmasingh, GOC JA Div if he could fly to Jammu, collect the petrol that was running short for the Austers so as to enable them to evacuate the remaining 8 army casualties at Potha.
Flying officer DO Barty decided to fly to Potha instead of Jammu in a single sortie itself notwithstanding with his starboard engine defective and fuel running low but managed to bring all eight stranded casualties back to Poonch thereby saving the precious lives and enabling the army’s onward operations towards Mendhar. A sterling example of courage and initiative coupled with soundness of judgment. This despite his orders being to unload the supplies at Poonch and get back to Srinagar. The fact that the young pilot made the optimum use of the aircraft bypassing routine orders from his higher ups shows the true mettle of the youngster. Though there are many more sterling examples from this first transport squadron of India etching its glory on the skies of Jammu & Kashmir the above mentioned are enough for a discerning reader to understand how a fledgling air force having just come out of the shadows of partition in 1947 rose to the occasion for the first war of independent India thrust upon by its arch enemy’s calumny and outright filibuster.
Off late India decided to give the much acclaimed due to its work horse in the IAF when in 2018 a much refurbished Dakota was gifted by the Rajyasabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar to the IAF with the iconic tail number VP -905 ;the same aircraft which was flown by the legendary squadron leader KL Bhatia on the early morning of 27 October 1947 to a marooned state of Jammu and Kashmir. Though no war has been won by the air force alone, almost all that have been lost have been due to under management and lack of use of the fastest arm of any nation to be brought to bear on the enemy.
The unnecessary embargo put on the IAF during the 1962 Sino-Indian border war by the Govt of the day points towards this malady which still rings true in our context. The fact that a fledgling air force still in the throes of division of its assets wrought by the partition of the country between the dominions of India and Pakistan in I947 and yet tilting the fortunes of Kashmir war in India’s favour is a telling reminder for our planners to shed its inhibitions in optimizing its national war assets. The month of October is an ode to the Dakotas of our IAF that held the veneer of respectability and superiority over our arch enemy over the skies of Kashmir in 1947.
(The writer is a retired army officer)
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