Wing Commander (Retd) Salim Baig gives an account of his own personal experience as a combat pilot in 1971.
“My second kill of the War was a Gnat fighter interceptor aircraft flying out of Srinagar airfield in Kashmir Valley on 14 Dec ’71. I was flying as No 5 leading a pair of F86F Sabres to escort a formation of four other Sabres carrying two 500 lbs. Mk84 bombs under each wing to crater the main runway 13/31. The overall leader of our formation of six aircraft was Wing Commander S A Changezi. We took off from Peshawar airbase in early morning hours and set course in easterly direction with escort pair on the right side of the formation. Myself and No 6 (Flight Lieutenant A Rahim Yousefzai) carried no external loads except two 200 gallons fuel tanks. On the way to the picturesque Kashmir Valley we flew close to Murree hill station and a few minutes later we crossed the mountain peaks short of the valley and accelerated down hill towards our pull up point which was about three miles short and to the South East of our target. Our gun master switches had already been put in Armed position to prepare for firing with just one press of the red trigger on the control stick.
The target (runway) was easily sighted to the left during pull up to the bombing height of 5000 feet above ground. Everyone in the formation acknowledged having visual contact with the runway and soon I saw the leader’s Sabre roll into a nose down steep turn to align up his aircraft with runway 31. He was followed by No 2, 3 and 4 and as 4 dived for his bombing run, I along with my wing-man fell behind him to position overselves for providing him cover. Leader and No 2 had already dropped their bombs on the target and had pulled out of the ensuing dive at about 1000 feet above ground. Before we could complete our positioning turns, I heard leader telling No 2 to immediately ‘Break’ to the left because there was an enemy Gnat aircraft firing at him. Leader and No 2 commenced a tight left turn to avoid the danger and No 3 (Flight Lieutenant Amjad Endrabi) after pulling out of the bombing run spotted them and manoeuvred to get behind the Gnat. No 4 had in the meantime completed his bombing dive and having no visual contact with the other formation members decided to leave the battle area.
I then asked No 6 (my wingman) to jettison the external fuel tanks and headed in the direction of the fight which had developed within visual and hearing distance west of the airfield. Because of high ‘G’ turns No 2 had depleted his speed and was unable to sustain manoeuvring energy for the fight. He, therefore, decided to roll out and leave the scene of action by turning away to the right. No 3 had by this time taken position behind the Gnat and had commenced firing with his guns.
He also announced on the radio that he was going to shoot him down. I along with No 6 (my wingman) had picked them up below us and had settled into an orbit on top at about 3-4000 feet higher. We could see the three aircraft in a tight circle with Gnat being in front, a Sabre (No 3) behind him who was followed by another Sabre (leader) at a height of about 200 feet above the ground. I was expecting the matter to be over in a short while because No 3 was well placed within gun range behind the Gnat. After a few seconds I heard No 3 calling that he was “Winchester” which meant that he had run out of ammo and his guns had stopped firing after missing the target in front.
At that time I saw the Gnat momentarily roll his wings level to jettison his underwing tanks and then he went into a high ‘G’ turn with renewed vigour to manoeuvre behind the lead Sabre. Within a couple of turns I could see the distance closing between the two and before he closed in dangerously I decided to get into the act. At the same time I heard an anxious call from the leader asking me to come down and relieve them of this imminent threat.
I asked my wingman to get into fighting position and then dove down manoeuvring my aircraft to get into the orbit of the fighters below. In a matter of few seconds, I was behind the Gnat and firing from a close range of about 1000 feet. In a three seconds burst from my Sabre’s six machine-guns firing at the rate of 120 round per seconds, I hit him square and thick black smoke started coming out from under his fuselage belly. The Gnat levelled his wings and headed for the airfield as if to indicate that for him the fight was over. I stopped firing at him and saw the canopy of his cockpit fly away from the aircraft. But the very next moment the Gnat snapped over inverted on its back and crashed into the undulated ground of the valley, killing the pilot.
Keeping a good look out for other enemy aircraft we joined up in battle formation and proceeded back to our base at Peshawar. As we climbed out of the valley we could hear our radar controllers calling us frantically to find out about our safety and outcome of the fight. They were much relieved when told that we were all safe and flying back after shooting down an Indian Gnat.
The Indian pilot Flg Off Nirmal Jeet Singh Sekhon put up a brave fight and was awarded Pram Veer Chakra - the highest gallantry award of Indian Armed Forces (equivalent to our Nishan-e-Haider). Detailed interviews of Srinagar Base Cdr, Sqn Cdr, Sqn Pilots and close relatives including his wife were broadcast by All India Radio who provided more information about their side of the story. He was No 2 in a formation of two Gnats who had been scrambled to intercept us but he had been delayed by two to three minutes at take off point after his leader got airborne. the air battle had been anxiously watched from the Control Tower by the Base Cdr & Sqn Cdr and in his radio communication, the Gnat pilot had informed them about being hit. He was advised to head for base but that was the last they heard from him. His aircraft wreckage was discovered in a gorge near the road coming from Srinagar town to the base. We never saw the Gnat leader’s aircraft anywhere around the battle area”.
Air Battles December 1971-My Experience
