At a time when the Indian Air Force is in a swirl of activity with ongoing upgrades of old aircrafts or closing towards the induction of the indigenous ‘Tejas’ light combat aircraft or even the introduction of cutting edge fighters like Rafale of France, it is rather odd to remember the force’s darkest hour that took place exactly 50 years, almost to the date.
This year is the 50th anniversary of the 1962 India-China war, which India lost. Not many amongst the Indian Armed Forces would like to remember that hour, especially in the air force.
For, as is well known now, the air force did not fly ‘combat’ missions all because of the fact that then American envoy, John Kenneth Galbraith, told Jawaharlal Nehru if he deployed the air force, the Chinese would expand the war.
But what is not known is this: despite Indian leadership’s blind faith of American reading of the war situation, the 1962 war was also an hour of glory for many in the same air force. Indeed, there is Wing Commander (retd) JM Nath, who was awarded the second highest gallantry award of the country, Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) or there is Wing Commander (retd) Krishen Kant Saini, who was honoured with the Vir Chakra along with a few others. So how did these (now) veterans see the war? Wing Commander (retd) Saini flew helicopters – the MI 4s – ferrying soldiers or supplying logistics to the heights off Tezpur in Assam and in what was then called North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now Arunachal Pradesh.
'The fighting was really acute on 20 October and 16-17 November. We were ferrying soldiers and supplies. While our choppers’ capacity was more each of us could barely accommodate eight soldiers when flying over those mountains. The numbers were really paltry,' says Saini.
On one of those flights, on 18 November, at first light he took off and reached within five-six miles of Walong in Arunachal Pradesh, he landed on a dry river bed. He had to evacuate a unit of retreating Indian soldiers. But the Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army intercepted. They laid heavy fire with AK-56s on his chopper. While the automatic rifle fire was capable of blowing up the helicopter, it still hit its hydraulic system under its rotor blades. Saini remembers, 'I flew with oil getting sprayed on me all the time. When I landed, we found 56 bullet holes on my helicopter.'
This year is the 50th anniversary of the 1962 India-China war, which India lost. Not many amongst the Indian Armed Forces would like to remember that hour, especially in the air force.
For, as is well known now, the air force did not fly ‘combat’ missions all because of the fact that then American envoy, John Kenneth Galbraith, told Jawaharlal Nehru if he deployed the air force, the Chinese would expand the war.
But what is not known is this: despite Indian leadership’s blind faith of American reading of the war situation, the 1962 war was also an hour of glory for many in the same air force. Indeed, there is Wing Commander (retd) JM Nath, who was awarded the second highest gallantry award of the country, Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) or there is Wing Commander (retd) Krishen Kant Saini, who was honoured with the Vir Chakra along with a few others. So how did these (now) veterans see the war? Wing Commander (retd) Saini flew helicopters – the MI 4s – ferrying soldiers or supplying logistics to the heights off Tezpur in Assam and in what was then called North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), now Arunachal Pradesh.
'The fighting was really acute on 20 October and 16-17 November. We were ferrying soldiers and supplies. While our choppers’ capacity was more each of us could barely accommodate eight soldiers when flying over those mountains. The numbers were really paltry,' says Saini.
On one of those flights, on 18 November, at first light he took off and reached within five-six miles of Walong in Arunachal Pradesh, he landed on a dry river bed. He had to evacuate a unit of retreating Indian soldiers. But the Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army intercepted. They laid heavy fire with AK-56s on his chopper. While the automatic rifle fire was capable of blowing up the helicopter, it still hit its hydraulic system under its rotor blades. Saini remembers, 'I flew with oil getting sprayed on me all the time. When I landed, we found 56 bullet holes on my helicopter.'