Air War of '65 - 54 years ago today
The Tail Choppers
The concentration of air, sea and land power lay in the western wing of the country, and East Pakistan had only a single squadron of 12 F-86F aircraft at Dhaka. This was all that could be spared, in the hope that it would be sufficient for the comparatively limited air defence requirements of East Pakistan. Offensive operations from that wing had not been seriously contemplated, although the station commander, Group Captain Ghulam Haider, had been cautioned to have all planning and preparations completed.
The primary target was the big IAF base at Kalaikunda, with Rampurhat radar as the secondary. At Kalaikunda one could expect a good concentration of fighters and bombers set aside for tasks in the east. In fact it actually had over 80 aircraft: 1 Canberra squadron, 1 Hunter squadron, 1 Mystere squadron, 1 Vampire or Ouragon squadron and a number of miscellaneous aircraft. Of the other targets, Baghdogra had 2 Vampire/Ouragon squadrons, Tezpur and Chabwa I Hunter squadron each.
On the 6th, the Dhaka-based pilots were at standby from 0430 hours when Theatre ordered 6 aircraft to be ready for immediate strikes. There was a flash warning at 0830 announcing the start of the war. A CAP was accordingly flown overhead Dhaka all day. When Theatre decided upon the overall airfield strike plan later that morning, it was appreciated that a dusk strike in the east could not be synchronised with those in the west because of a one hour difference in local times. The mission order of 14 Squadron, therefore, prescribed a TOT at dawn on the 7th. IAF Canberras from Kalaikunda penetrated into East Pakistan air space as far as Dhaka during the night of 6/7 September, and dropped bombs at random without much effect in the way of damage or casualties. On the morning of 7 September the Indians launched a pre-dawn offensive consisting of widespread attacks against several targets in East Pakistan - the airfields at Chittagong, Jessore, Lalmunirhat, Shibganj, Thakurgaon and Kurmitola, as well as the Pak Army headquarters at Rangpur.
Hampered by the low cloud and the natural cover which the country afforded, the Indian aircraft failed to locate Dhaka airfield, from where the Sabres were, operating. Instead, they attacked Kurmitola, an abandoned airfield nearby, where the PAF's SOC was located. Here, a barrack was hit by rockets, and there were two casualties, one Sergeant A R Choudhry, and a child.
Kurmitola was still under attack when the strike element of the squadron started up, in anticipation of clearance from Theatre for counter offensive action. This clearance was some time in coming, and it was not until 0635 hours that the mission was on its way to Kalaikuncla. It consisted of 5 aircraft with Squadron Leader Shabbir H Syed, the squadron commander, in the lead. The other members were Flight Lieutenant Baseer Khan, Flight Lieutenant Tariq Habib Khan, Flying Officer Afzal Khan, and Flight Lieutenant Abdul Haleem.
Under difficult visibility conditions, the strike mission flew on, just managing to stick together, often without any visual contact. However, it was not long before the leader reported the target in sight; there were, four confident calls of 'contact' from his team, and as they pulled up for the attack, Shabbir's formation was rewarded by the sight of Canberras and Hunters lying mostly unguarded on the airfield. The surprise, it seems, was complete; the Indians had probably never imagined that such a small force could react with such speed and audacity against odds so heavily weighted against it, and that, too, at the very limits of its reach into Indian territory.
The raiders put in three attacks, and when they exited, the airfield lay ablaze behind them. Ten aircraft were estimated to have been destroyed, while several aircraft and a number of installations were damaged. The mission landed back at Dhaka at 0744 hours.
Not content, however, with having delivered this significant blow to draw first blood, the-squadron pursued the initiative further, and at 1030 hours a second strike mission was ready to leave for Kalaikuncla, led this time by Flight Lieutenant Haleem. Later it was thought that it might have been wiser not to send this second strike.
Take off was at about 1030 hours and the approach was made at low level as before, although in fairly poor visibility; but this time the Indians were ready. As the F-86s pulled up for their attack, No 4 called on the radio "Nine Hunters, 12 o'clock high", and heavy ack ack fire was simultaneously encountered from the airfield. From their battle formation, the F-86s split into two pairs as the leader ordered his No 3 and 4 not to follow him into the attack, but during their single pass, the first two Sabres each strafed a Canberra. Before this strike, the remaining Indian bombers had been removed from the tarmac into protected dispersals, presumably on the principle of better late than never.
All 4 F-86s then turned to engage the Indian aircraft, and Flight Lieutenant Tariq Habeeb, who was leading the second pair of Sabres, called, ','Lead, I have four Hunters behind me". He also told his No 2, Afzal Khan, to jettison his tanks and break. With four drop tanks beneath the wings, the Sabres were very sluggish, and before Afzal could release them a Hunter had closed in to about 600 ft and opened fire. The F-86 burst into flames, and rolled straight into the ground. Tariq Habeeb had in the meantime jettisoned three of his tanks, but the fourth hung up and with this handicap he was cornered by 3 Hunters for a good ten minutes. With remarkable coolness and presence of mind, he twisted and turned at low altitude to evade his pursuers, popping out his speed brakes and lowering flap to improve his low speed manoeuvreability.
Even after his flap stuck down at 20 degrees he managed to continue breaking into the Hunters, as well as firing at a couple of them, before he succeeded in shaking them off and returning safely to Dhaka, several anxious minutes after the other 2 Sabres had landed. For his courage and skill in fighting his way clear of the larger and better equipped enemy force, Tariq Habeeb was awarded a well deserved Sitara-e-Jurat. 14 Squadron earned the nickname of the 'Tail Choppers', alluding to the swath of bullets they used at Kalaikuncla to cut through the tails of IAF's neatly lined up Canberras. In West Pakistan, the PAF had cut off the head of the Indian Air Force, and in their two sorties on 7 September, the pilots of 14 Squadron did an equally good job with the tail.
This second raid is estimated to have bagged 4 to 6 aircraft, mainly Canberras, for the loss of one Sabre. Thus the day's toll on the IAF in the east was about 14-16 aircraft destroyed, and 6-8 aircraft damaged. The losses, on the other hand, were one Sabre destroyed with its pilot Flying Officer Afzal lost, and one Sabre - Flight Lieutenant Tariq Habeeb's -rendered permanently unserviceable for want of spares. Though this in itself was not much, the aircraft strength of the squadron was now reduced to 8 [this included two air accidents due to bad weather conditions since the war started].
By the end of 7th September 1965, the PAF achieved an outstanding measure of success in both its immediate objectives. The significance of this soon became apparent: after the 7th of September, except for occasional air skirmishes over the international border, the IAF never seriously challenged the PAF for control of the air. Having achieved a healthy measure of air superiority, it now became necessary for the PAF to review its strategy for the foreseeable future. Since there was no political or army guidance available as to the probable duration of the war, nor was there any prospect of replenishment of lost aircraft, it was now of paramount importance to adopt a 'conservation' policy. It was, therefore, decided to halt daylight counter air operations altogether as they were likely to produce the highest attrition rate; henceforth attacks against IAF installations would be done exclusively by B-57s at night. The Sabres would be employed primarily on air defence and army support operations
