STORY BEHIND THE FIRST KILL OF INDIAN AIRFORCE

This article is about the first air-to-air kill of Indian Airforce against enemy in combat. You are going to know the real story, how and why it happened and will also tell you about the fighterpilot who wrote history that day.

On 1st September 1965, pakistan launched a massive attack on forward posts in Chhamp Sector of Indian Kashmir it was part of operation Grand Slam which was planned in may 1965 by Pakistani army, it was a divisional-level surprise attack . Soon the pakistani forces got upperhand as Indian troops of 191 brigade deployed there were outnumbered in front of Pakistani armoured columns with two M48 Patton tank regiments their main objective was to Akhnoor alongwith the road link from Jammu to Rajouri and Poonch.

Our ill equipped units were pushed back to the banks of Munnawar Tapi, where a squadron of AMX 13 tanks of 20 Lancers and elements of 3rd Mahar Regiment fought an intense battle and stopped their advancing parties, meanwhile Airforce was asked for immediate airsupport and fighters from Pathankot airbase were scrambled towards Chhamp Sector.

At that time Vampires and Mystere IV fighterjets were stationed on Pathankot base, the Vampires were first generation aircraft of World War era who had already reached the end of their operational life but as per demand of the situation it was decided to launch those vintage Vampires first, within an hour a total of 12 sorties were done by 45 and 220 squadrons, which was followed by 16 sorties of Mysteres of 3 and 31 squadrons.

The Pakistani armoured column was hit hard by aerial attacks of Vampires and they radioed there headquarters for airsupport in response Sabres of 5 and 15 squadron was launched by Pakistani Airforce, crossing the international border they Intercepted the second formation of Indian Vampires in Chhamp and contact was established between both, despite being inferior to both technology and performance our fighterpilots didn't left the battle and turned to engage but being superior in firepower and aligity the Pakistani Sabres easily took down three Indian Vampires between all this one Vampire managed to get behind a sabre but unfortunately he couldn't convert it into a kill.

Our fighterpilots paid a huge price for their resolute gallantry. They sacrificed their lives in service of motherland but their sacrifice allowed the Mysteres to carry their ground strikes without any hindrance by Pakistani jets, the Mysteres completed their task by destroying 13 tanks, 2 gunposts and about 62 others armoured vehicles in such a short span of time, the pakistanis were forced to retreat and couldn't cross the river by this destruction. This provided the much needed break to our forces to strengthen themself.

On the other hand the loss of three Vampires helped the Pakistani to do propaganda about their superiority over Indian Airforce and they started a worldwide PR campaign for the same. The Legend Arjan Singh who was the then Chief of Air Staff decided to bust the myth of invincibility of the Sabres. He dispatched a team of his most elite fighterpilots to Pathankot Airbase. Now it was time for the real test for both the Airforces and Pakistanis were very well aware of it but were overconfident as still they had advantage of technological superiority, the Sabres were the most sophisticated fighterjets with many advanced features including a 360 degree view cockpit, modern M18 gyro gunsight with 0.5 inch browning high power guns and the most advanced heat seeking air-to-air Sidewinder missiles of that time.

The Gnat fighterjets of 23 squadron "The Panthers" who had advantage of speed over the Sabres at medium and high altitude was to be deployed on 2nd September at Pathankot airbase. The Gnats were very sensitive to fly and requires the pilot to be ahead of the aircraft with considerable skills. Squadron leader Johnny Greene who was commander of the 23rd squadron landed at time of dusk on 2nd September, undetected by Pakistani radar. They were briefed about the situation in Chhamp and the loss of Indian side so far, and in the end the commander of Pathankot base told them about the Vampires and said that, "we want you to shoot down those Sabres and how you do it is your problem".

On 3rd September 4 Mysteres were flying at 5000 feet, as a bait for the Sabres who were on combat air patrol near Chhamp and as planned two more formations of 4 Gnats in each were flying behind them one at 300 feet and 100 feet from ground level so that the Pakistani Sakesar radar could not detect them. The first formation was led by Squadron Leader Johnny Greene with Flight Lieutenant 'Manna' Murdeshwar as his wingman whereas the second formation was led by Squadron Leader Trevor with Flight Lieutenant 'kichcha' Krishnaswamy as wingman. Indian radar detector intercepted 4 Sabres accelerating towards Chhamp at 30000 feet and forwarded the same to the Gnat fighters.

As Sabres were closing in the Mysteres were told to break right and exit the combat zone. Now it was time for Gnats to introduce themselves to the enemy. The Gnats came accelerated and came up at an aggressive height of 30,000 feet in less than 90 seconds. Keelore saw a Sabre trying to get behind Murdeshwar's Gnat, he warned him and demanded a clear to take action, performing extreme manoeuvres he successfully got the tail of that Sabre and fired his maiden shot and saw the right wing of Sabre spewing smoke, he deployed airbrakes and maintained his position behind the Sabre despite of all the efforts that were made by the Sabre, he then continued closing into the Sabre and fired another burst at 200 yards which ripped off the right wing of Sabre and it collapsed making spirals all the way to mother earth.

IAF scored its first air-to-air kill and second kill by Indian pilot since World War 2. It was also first kill of Gnat fighterjet in the world and an extraordinary kill because the Sabres were armed with air-to-air Sidewinder missiles. By scoring a kill against missile armed jet with gunshots only, Keelore became one of the few most elite pilots who had accomplished this feat.

After shooting down the Sabre, he joined other Gnats in deteriorating visibility and were trying to get some more kills meanwhile pakistani radar control seeing Sabres unable to even defend themselves scrambled the most advanced fighterjets, that they got from America. They sent F104 Starfighters who were almost a generation ahead among all other fighterjets. The Starfighters entered the combat and met with Squadron Leader Pathania who was almost close to shooting down another Sabre, Pathania saw a Starfighter coming in like a rocket towards him and broke away with of burst fire and reversed, stuck on an 80 degree pitch, he informed all other Indian pilots that,  "the Pakistani Airforce had thrown all they have at us, Watch Out". 

The Greene's formation who was behind another section of Sabres was also spotted by a Starfighter, seeing the Sabres trapped in he  made a nose-dive at 25,000 feet blindly firing with 20mm Vulcan Gatlin Guns and radioed all the Sabres that, "Delta Two, the Indian Gnats are behind you. All aircrafts extricate straight ahead while we distract them". Soon the Sabres exited the combat by accelerating and diving towards Pakistan. The Starfighters themselves crossed mach 1 with their junky tactics and couldn't aim on any of the Gnats but their high speed saved them from menacing Indian pilots who were cutting airspace corners to close into them. Krishnaswamy fired a burst in futile attempt to target a fast-moving starfighter, the pakistani pilots realised that a large number of angry Gnat fighters was engaging on them and decided to maintain maximum speed and dived towards their base.

Here is the video based on this event - 

The timely arrival of Starfighters saved many Sabres, Greene and Keelore scanned the sky and gathered their to fly back to the base. Pathania who missed that day killed another Sabres the very next day earning the second Sabre kill of Indian Airforce.

Hope you liked reading the article.

Stay Tuned.  Jai Hind !