Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of India's Greatest Military Victory |
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Tackling the Sabres over Talhar |
December 12th 1971 was Flight Lt. Kukke (pronounced "Cookie") Suresh's 30th birthday. At six foot someting, handsome, grey-green eyed Suresh could have passed for a movie star with a horde of screaming girls behind him. He woke up that morning conscious that it was his birthday, and that the IAF was in the middle of a war. He wondered what sort of birthday gift this curious set of circumstances would bring him. Suresh was in Jamnagar that morning. Already, his squadron of Hunters, commanded by Wg. Cdr. Conquest had made history in a way that matched the commanding officer's name. Shortly before the war they were OCU (Operational Conversion Unit) - but had become 122 Operational Squadron for the war. On the first day of the war, Wg. Cdr Conquest had led the attacks that that set the Karachi oil tanks ablaze, and devastated airfields at Masroor and Drigh road. Suresh shaved gingerly around the cut on his chin that he had sustained a week earlier during another historic mission during which he very nearly missed reaching his 30th birthday altogether. His mind drifted back to the events of that week. A detachment of Hunters had been in Jaisalmer on the 5th of December when they had received a frantic call from the Army for air support against a massive Pakistani armoured thrust in the region of the now famous Longewala. Suresh's Hunter had been re-fuelled and re-armed in record time and he was back over the attacking tanks for a second time that day. He had scored direct hits on 3 tanks using his 12 T-10 armour piercing rockets, fired in bursts of 4 rockets at a time. He still had 600 rounds of 30 mm cannon shells reserved for the Pakistani tanks. Thus forcing the crew to make the easy choice of either getting roasted inside or jumping out into the cool morning air. The IAF pilots over Longewala had found cannon very effective - as they would set alight the spare drum of fuel each Patton was carrying. |
He came in low, getting a bead on his fourth tank and barely noticed that the tank gun barrel was swinging towards his aircraft. Suresh and the tank fired simultaneously. He saw a flash and felt, rather than heard, a bang. Then his aircraft just fell away beneath him. He felt it hitting the earth and and braced for the inevitable. But he found himself flying - and that his controls were working. He had limped back to Jaisalmer with a four foot section of his aircraft's tailpipe missing, doing less than half the speed it was meant to do. A cheery "Happy Birthday, Kukke" greeting from his mates brought him back to the present. Suresh's 30th birthday would be a fairly routine day for him. They flew a mission to take out a Pakistani radar station at Badin. As they returned - they were expecting a return "courtesy" attack from the PAF. A welcoming committee of Indian MiG-21s were circling overhead for just such an eventuality. No sooner had the returning Hunters been tucked away in their pens than two Pakistani F-104 Starfighters appeared. What happened next is again history. The PAF Starfighters were pounced on by the MiGs and one was shot down while the other fled to safety without firing a shot in anger. Suresh went to bed on the night of the 12th December 1971 not knowing that his birthday gift was going to be a day late. |
On the 13th, Four Hunters were to attack a new Pakistani airfield at Talhar, a base for Sabres, but from which the previous day's F-104s might possibly have come. Due to a technical problem - only 3 Hunters went on that mission. Sqn Ldr Farook Mehta and his wingman Flt. Lt. Pawan Kumar were accompanied by Flt. Lt Suresh in a lone Hunter 1000 metres away. They approached the airfield very low - at 100 feet and were about to peel off and commence their attack when Suresh suddenly saw something in the sky, 200 feet above them and to the left. "Bogeys at 11 O clock!" he shouted into the R/T, "Two Sabres.. going for them!" Suresh got on to the tail of the lead Sabre - but the Sabre has a better turning radius and wriggled free. As Suresh gained height for a second try he saw an orange ball of flame. "Who was that?" he asked. "It's OK," came the reassuring reply from Flt.Lt. Pawan - "Farouk got one". Suresh closed in on his target again and felt that his plane was a bit sluggish. He realized that in the heat of the battle he was still carrying his auxiliary fuel tanks. Quick as a flash he stretched out his left hand and flipped the switch to jettison his tanks. His Hunter, lighter now, seemed to surge ahead. Adrenalin pumping - he closed in for the kill. Suresh was a dead shot in his aircraft. He had always got very high scores while shooting - but until now they had only been practice targets. He closed in on the desperately weaving Sabre, wriggling like a fly caught in a web. From less than 100 metres behind he squeezed the trigger. His plane shook with the vibration of four 30 mm cannon spewing 60 rounds per second. The Sabre, almost in slow motion, gently turned upside down and buried itself in the ground with a massive explosion. Suresh pulled up - he was almost at ground level now - perhaps 50 feet, and climbed to rejoin the other two. Another day. Another small piece of history writen by the IAF. But Suresh had got his birthday present. |
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Article by Dr.
Shiv Shanker Sastry  |
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