Reichsmarschall
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Indian Version of story
Daylight attack
After a quick breakfast, Handa went over the briefing once again and Brar, Kay and I listened in stony silence. Since the attack would be in daylight we were given specific targets picked out from an aerial photograph taken by a reconnaissance aircraft some years earlier. We were to carry out a shallow glide bombing attack releasing the bombs at about 800 feet AGL and pulling out by 200 feet AGL. To avoid being damaged by the exploding bombs at such a low height the bombs were fitted with 20-second delay fuzes to give adequate time for the aircraft to get clear. The return leg was to be flown at tactical speed at as low a height as possible consistent with safety.
While waiting to go to our aircraft, I had butterflies in my stomach because I was only 24 years old and did not want to die! Once in the cockpit all fear vanished because one became busy running through a host of checks and procedures, which required the utmost concentration. We took off at exactly 0945 hours aiming to be over the target at 1015 hours. The day was sunny and cloudless with unlimited visibility and after take off we formed up in low-level tactical formation. Handa was in front with Kay about 1000 yards to his right. Brar and I were behind and to the outside of the leaders at a distance of 200 yards. This way Brar could look to his right and clear the area behind me to spot any approaching fighters and I could do the same for him by looking left. As we crossed the international border I saw Brar's gun ports winking as he fired a short burst to check that his guns were working. I checked my gun sight and did the same as Handa descended to about 100 feet AGL. I kept looking behind Brar all the time but did not spot any enemy aircraft. Fuel consumption was as planned.
We hit the railway line about 20 miles to the Northeast of the target and Handa turned left to follow the railway line to Sargodha. This was the briefed moment to open full power, accelerate to tactical speed and turn on the armament switches. Two minutes later Handa's call 'Pulling up' came over the radio and all four of us eased up to 2500 feet and rolled into a shallow dive to the left in a South Easterly direction. As we settled into the dive I saw the Sargodha runway for the first time and quickly scanned the skies for enemy aircraft. After ensuring that there was no immediate threat to the formation I tried to identify my target, which was a missile dump to the South of the runway. The four aircraft were now strung out in a line with Handa in front and me at the top of the dive about 1500 yards behind him. Suddenly I saw a bright orange flash on the ground at the Northern end of the runway and Handa yelled 'Aircraft at end of the runway'. After dropping his bombs on a bulk petroleum installation to the North of the runway Handa had spotted four aircraft, three F-86F Sabres and one F-104 Starfighter parked on the Operational Readiness Platform (ORP) at the Northern end of the runway. He had opened fire with his guns blowing up a Sabre with his burst. I shouted 'Sir, you got him' and saw black puffs dot the sky in our dive direction. The anti aircraft guns of Sargodha had opened up. Since I was aiming to drop my bombs on the briefed target at the South of the runway I was not able to point my guns at that juicy target. I released my bombs at the briefed target and fired my guns at what appeared to be aircraft standing on the Southern ORP but there was no explosion indicating they were decoys. During my bombing dive I had lost sight of the other aircraft and as I pulled out of my dive at barely 100 feet AGL I saw Handa's aircraft on the horizon about 800 yards ahead with Brar to his left. Brar called 'Bogey (enemy aircraft) left 8'o clock high'. I looked to my left, saw only black puffs and called out that it was flak (anti aircraft shell bursts).
With the bombs gone and the drop tanks empty I was now at 500 mph at less than 100 feet AGL when I saw Kay about 500 yards to my left. Handa called 'Confirm all with me and I replied, 'All with you, sir'. We were now flying in two pairs in broad frontage with Handa and Brar in front and Kay and I about 800 yards behind. I started to look at the fuel gauge with great concern because we had calculated fuel consumption at full throttle for only two minutes during the get away but because of Brar's call Handa maintained full power for almost eight minutes. While still deep inside Pakistan my fuel remaining was considerably less than the planned figure. I reported this to Handa and he eased back on the throttle. We were flying really low and fast at this time because I could see the jet wake from Handa's aircraft cutting a swathe over the standing crop in the fields we were flying over. We must have been no more than 50 feet AGL and we maintained this height till we crossed the border. As per the standard practice I maintained a height of about 30 feet above the leader's aircraft to be able to concentrate on my look out duties. When we were flying to the North of Lahore I saw a glint in the sky above and to the left of the formation. It could only have come from a turning aircraft and I reported 'Bogey, left 7 o'clock' high' and Handa called out 'Buster' which meant opening full power. As we crossed the border my low fuel red warning light came on in the cockpit indicating a fuel reserve of about 10 minutes at the engine power I was using and I reported this to Handa. He replied 'You are over India now and you can eject if you have to'. I had no intention of doing that and we unintentionally flew over the radar unit at Amritsar. Our own anti aircraft guns started firing at us and I saw the red tracer shells coming straight at me and then burning out. Fortunately no one was hit and I called out that I was easing up to 6000 feet AGL to spot Adampur. To my relief I saw the runway from a distance of about 15 miles. I throttled back, descended to traffic pattern height, did a tight pattern and touched down with barely three minutes of fuel left in my tanks.
Debrief
Back in the crew room every one clustered around us to hear about the results of our raid. When I announced that Handa had destroyed a Sabre on the ground a cheer went up. Kay had dropped his bombs on the other aircraft at the Northern ORP and Brar had dropped his bombs on an aircraft hangar. We had no idea what damage our bombs had caused because there was no post raid reconnaissance to assess the damage. Ours was the most successful mission of the entire day because we had returned unscathed from the enemy's lair after destroying an aircraft and some installations on the ground. Handa's formation had redeemed itself in style after the early morning mistakes! I grabbed a cup of tea, sat down and noticed that my hands were shaking. The 90-minute adrenalin rush was over.
Daylight attack
After a quick breakfast, Handa went over the briefing once again and Brar, Kay and I listened in stony silence. Since the attack would be in daylight we were given specific targets picked out from an aerial photograph taken by a reconnaissance aircraft some years earlier. We were to carry out a shallow glide bombing attack releasing the bombs at about 800 feet AGL and pulling out by 200 feet AGL. To avoid being damaged by the exploding bombs at such a low height the bombs were fitted with 20-second delay fuzes to give adequate time for the aircraft to get clear. The return leg was to be flown at tactical speed at as low a height as possible consistent with safety.
While waiting to go to our aircraft, I had butterflies in my stomach because I was only 24 years old and did not want to die! Once in the cockpit all fear vanished because one became busy running through a host of checks and procedures, which required the utmost concentration. We took off at exactly 0945 hours aiming to be over the target at 1015 hours. The day was sunny and cloudless with unlimited visibility and after take off we formed up in low-level tactical formation. Handa was in front with Kay about 1000 yards to his right. Brar and I were behind and to the outside of the leaders at a distance of 200 yards. This way Brar could look to his right and clear the area behind me to spot any approaching fighters and I could do the same for him by looking left. As we crossed the international border I saw Brar's gun ports winking as he fired a short burst to check that his guns were working. I checked my gun sight and did the same as Handa descended to about 100 feet AGL. I kept looking behind Brar all the time but did not spot any enemy aircraft. Fuel consumption was as planned.
We hit the railway line about 20 miles to the Northeast of the target and Handa turned left to follow the railway line to Sargodha. This was the briefed moment to open full power, accelerate to tactical speed and turn on the armament switches. Two minutes later Handa's call 'Pulling up' came over the radio and all four of us eased up to 2500 feet and rolled into a shallow dive to the left in a South Easterly direction. As we settled into the dive I saw the Sargodha runway for the first time and quickly scanned the skies for enemy aircraft. After ensuring that there was no immediate threat to the formation I tried to identify my target, which was a missile dump to the South of the runway. The four aircraft were now strung out in a line with Handa in front and me at the top of the dive about 1500 yards behind him. Suddenly I saw a bright orange flash on the ground at the Northern end of the runway and Handa yelled 'Aircraft at end of the runway'. After dropping his bombs on a bulk petroleum installation to the North of the runway Handa had spotted four aircraft, three F-86F Sabres and one F-104 Starfighter parked on the Operational Readiness Platform (ORP) at the Northern end of the runway. He had opened fire with his guns blowing up a Sabre with his burst. I shouted 'Sir, you got him' and saw black puffs dot the sky in our dive direction. The anti aircraft guns of Sargodha had opened up. Since I was aiming to drop my bombs on the briefed target at the South of the runway I was not able to point my guns at that juicy target. I released my bombs at the briefed target and fired my guns at what appeared to be aircraft standing on the Southern ORP but there was no explosion indicating they were decoys. During my bombing dive I had lost sight of the other aircraft and as I pulled out of my dive at barely 100 feet AGL I saw Handa's aircraft on the horizon about 800 yards ahead with Brar to his left. Brar called 'Bogey (enemy aircraft) left 8'o clock high'. I looked to my left, saw only black puffs and called out that it was flak (anti aircraft shell bursts).
With the bombs gone and the drop tanks empty I was now at 500 mph at less than 100 feet AGL when I saw Kay about 500 yards to my left. Handa called 'Confirm all with me and I replied, 'All with you, sir'. We were now flying in two pairs in broad frontage with Handa and Brar in front and Kay and I about 800 yards behind. I started to look at the fuel gauge with great concern because we had calculated fuel consumption at full throttle for only two minutes during the get away but because of Brar's call Handa maintained full power for almost eight minutes. While still deep inside Pakistan my fuel remaining was considerably less than the planned figure. I reported this to Handa and he eased back on the throttle. We were flying really low and fast at this time because I could see the jet wake from Handa's aircraft cutting a swathe over the standing crop in the fields we were flying over. We must have been no more than 50 feet AGL and we maintained this height till we crossed the border. As per the standard practice I maintained a height of about 30 feet above the leader's aircraft to be able to concentrate on my look out duties. When we were flying to the North of Lahore I saw a glint in the sky above and to the left of the formation. It could only have come from a turning aircraft and I reported 'Bogey, left 7 o'clock' high' and Handa called out 'Buster' which meant opening full power. As we crossed the border my low fuel red warning light came on in the cockpit indicating a fuel reserve of about 10 minutes at the engine power I was using and I reported this to Handa. He replied 'You are over India now and you can eject if you have to'. I had no intention of doing that and we unintentionally flew over the radar unit at Amritsar. Our own anti aircraft guns started firing at us and I saw the red tracer shells coming straight at me and then burning out. Fortunately no one was hit and I called out that I was easing up to 6000 feet AGL to spot Adampur. To my relief I saw the runway from a distance of about 15 miles. I throttled back, descended to traffic pattern height, did a tight pattern and touched down with barely three minutes of fuel left in my tanks.
Debrief
Back in the crew room every one clustered around us to hear about the results of our raid. When I announced that Handa had destroyed a Sabre on the ground a cheer went up. Kay had dropped his bombs on the other aircraft at the Northern ORP and Brar had dropped his bombs on an aircraft hangar. We had no idea what damage our bombs had caused because there was no post raid reconnaissance to assess the damage. Ours was the most successful mission of the entire day because we had returned unscathed from the enemy's lair after destroying an aircraft and some installations on the ground. Handa's formation had redeemed itself in style after the early morning mistakes! I grabbed a cup of tea, sat down and noticed that my hands were shaking. The 90-minute adrenalin rush was over.
