Retort In The East During The Bangladesh Liberation War In 1971

On 3rd December 1971, Pakistan Air Force launched a pre-emptive strike on seven Indian airfields in the west, hoping to cripple the IAF at the very beginning of that conflict.

Curiously, the PAF did not attack our airfields in the east from their bases in East Pakistan.

Either they were saving their resources, or our Gnats, termed ¡®Sabre Slayers¡¯ after shooting down three Sabres on 22nd November, had scared them.

Or perhaps there was a bigger, strategic reason. In the 1965 Indo-Pak War, India had refrained from opening a second front in the East against what was then East Pakistan.

Maybe General Yahya, the Pakistani dictator as well as the Army Chief, was hoping for a similar Indian stance this time too. He was simply relying on the oft repeated dictum of their military doctrine, "The defence of the East, lies in the West." That meant, if you hit hard enough from the west, India would be forced to commit all their military resources in the west, leaving East Pakistan well alone.

Coloursofglory

But the Indian political and military thinking was - quite logically - exactly opposite.

So, without doubt, India had to strike in the East. But, instead of the IAF, someone else did. Who and why?

Since the military crackdown on hapless civilians in East Pakistan in March 1971, millions of refugees had poured into India. The genocide continued unabated through the year, despite international outcry. Yet, President Nixon of the US chose to continue supporting Yahya, which only emboldened him.

India had to find a way to stop the genocide so that the refugees could return home. The only way to do that, after the failure of all diplomatic efforts, was military intervention. So, leaving East Pakistan alone to concentrate in the West, was really not an option.

We had already started helping ¡®Mukti Bahini¡¯, the Bengali guerrilla Army, formed by their fighters who had crossed over into India. Among them were some Bengali personnel who had served in the PAF. They too were keen to punish the Pakistani soldiers and their cronies, but their skills were in the air.

Wikimedia

So, these ex-PAF pilots and technicians, created an aerial warfare unit and called it 'Kilo Flight'. India gifted them three aircraft to start flying training.

One was a Dakota, one an Otter and one a Chetak helicopter. All three were transport aircraft, the biggest of which, the Dakota, was used by the Bangladesh Government in exile, based in Kolkata.

Under the guidance of Group Captain Chandan Singh, Base Commander Jorhat, a team of Indian instructors trained the Bengali pilots and technicians.

Our engineers also retrofitted the Otter airplane and the Chetak helicopter with rocket pods and guns.

Then began the training of the Bengali pilots and men, to fly, navigate and fire at night, in extremely challenging conditions.

Air Chief Marshal PC Lal, the IAF Chief, officially inaugurated the 'Kilo Flight' at Dimapur in India on 28th September 1971, which they still celebrate as their Air Force Day.

Bharat Rakshak

The brave men of that flight trained hard, and achieved great standards in flying and marksmanship.

So, after the PAF attacked India in the evening on 3rd December 1971, the IAF hit back in the west, but gave the honour of the first retaliation in the east to Kilo Flight.

To maintain the element of surprise and prevent PAF fighter planes in East Pakistan from firing at the small Kilo Flight planes, Air Chief Marshal PC Lal even requested the Prime Minister Mrs Gandhi, to delay the Indian declaration of war against Pakistan, and she agreed.

The Otter got airborne from Koilash Shahar, a 3,000 feet long airstrip, and the helicopter took off from Teliamura.

They flew in the dark at dangerously low altitudes over the hills, to avoid detection and interception by the PAF. With practically nothing visible on the ground, this was essentially ¡®blind¡¯ flying, which, in peacetime, would be absolutely unthinkable.

Because these two planes were slow and hardly armed, their only protection was the cover of darkness, and the raw bravery of their pilots and flight crew who were keen to liberate their motherland from ruthless oppressors.

Wikipedia

They did encounter some anti-aircraft fire, but luckily no PAF fighters, and managed to hit their targets. The Otter destroyed the oil storage depot at Chittagong Refinery and the Chetak set fire to the oil tanks at Narayanganj.

By the time they landed back in India, BBC radio had already announced the almost total destruction of the two highly flammable targets.

Thus, these brave-hearts had flown the first historic missions of the fledgling Bangladesh Air Force with spectacular success.

And as promised, India declared war against Pakistan in the wee hours just past midnight between 3rd and 4th December, only after Kilo Flight had set ablaze the vital fuel supplies of the Pakistani Army in the East.

Painting by Deb Gohain

IAF aircraft followed the next day and achieved complete control of the air by grounding the PAF in the east, within 72 hours. Details in the next article.

This is the fourth in a series covering the major air actions of the 1971 war on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary. Watch this space.

The writer is a former fighter pilot of the IAF and now a commercial airline pilot. He is the author of two books and many blog posts, available at www.avinashchikte.com