Air War 1965

The Way We Wrote – and Painted ! The Air War of 1965 has been recalled in numerous books and various actions recorded for posterity by artists from both sides of the Radcliffe Line, Gp Capt SMA Hussaini and the duo of Sameer and Priyanka Joshi. Vayu was present at Lucknow when the Keelor Brothers and other alumni were honoured by their Alma Mater and later in New Delhi when Alfred Cooke’s incredible dogfight over Kalaikunda was recounted, and recorded by NDTV in Vayu’s presence.

Undoubtedly the honours for the first book on the 1965 air war go to John Fricker, the Englishman whose book Battle for Pakistan was published in 1979. This publication in fact, virtually became the reference–source for subsequent histories written by both Pakistani and Indian authors, quoted extensively (or denied assiduously) by those who researched and wrote on this air war. Subsequent books included Fiza’ya : Psyche of the PAF by Pushpindar Singh and Ravi Rikhye in 1991 and The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965 by PVS Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra in 2005.

The unofficial (official) India-Pakistan War of 1965 by SN Prasad and UP Thapliyal, with its chapter ‘War in the Air’ was later published in 2011 while the Pakistan Air Force had earlier published their histories in 1982 and 1988 with dedicated chapters on the air war of 1965. This was followed in 2000 by the book The Story of the Pakistan Air Force but which only glanced at the past. Perhaps the most wellknown aviation artist in the sub-continent is Gp Capt SMA Hussaini, the official military aviation artist of the PAF whose much acclaimed artwork has been compiled into several coffee table books, particularly

Air Warriors which included several paintings depicting actions of the PAF in 1965.

On other side of the Radcliffe Line, it is only recently that the husband-wife duo of Sameer and Priyanka Joshi have done a slew of paintings of the IAF in action during September 1965, some of them being used for the IAF’s 2015 Calendar and also included in their just-released book ( Air Warrior Tales of 1965 War).

In the three- volume History of the Indian Air Force ( Himalayan Eagles), published by The Society for Aerospace Studies in 2007, a major chapter was dedicated on the 1965 War in the sub-continent and in fact this is perhaps the most objective summary of that three-week war in the air.

Over the past several decades, articles on the 1965 Air War have appeared in various magazines, both in the sub-continent and abroad. The erstwhile New Delhi edited by the redoubtable Khushwant Singh, after his stewardship of the Illustrated Weekly of India, carried a 16-page article in its December 1979 Issue refuting the claims articulated by John Fricker. Therein lies a tale which involves some of the key personalities (writers) involved.

Soon after John Fricker’s book was released in England, the same magazine New Delhi had printed an entire chapter from it which did not reflect the Indian Air Force in good light. The then IAF CAS Air Chief Marshal Idris Latif was extremely upset and wanted an immediate rebuttal. Vayu’s Editor Pushpindar Singh was sent for by the CAS and tasked to write the Indian Air Force ‘rejoinder’. The Director Air Intelligence was instructed to make available all required information and data. Most unfortunately, as it turned out, records had not been diligently maintained at Air Headquarters and there was little time to collate material from the various commands, stations and squadrons. What

followed can only be described as a frantic scramble to interview individuals, examine logbooks and selected squadron dairies and then to put together a reasonable article so as to meet the printer’s deadline. In retrospect, and looking back on this positively, this effort was to become the foundation for beginning serious research to archive the IAF’s history including first hand accounts by the dwindling number of personalities who actually took part in this first air war over the sub-continent as also search for squadron and wing records, as also the war dairies.

This enabled The Society for Aerospace Studies to research on and publish several IAF Squadron histories where their participation in the 1965 air war was included, gleaned from original war dairies and these include Nos 1, 5, 6, 7, 14, 20, 28, 47 and 221 Squadrons, authored by Pushpindar Singh, now collectively a treasure for those who are really interested in the subject. The book Sabre Slayers on ‘The Gnat in India 1958-1991’ again by Pushpindar Singh, is a veritable treasure on the conception, adoption, nurturing and baptism in fire of this remarkable light fighter which became the most vivid symbol of the IAF’s prowess in September 1965.

From the PAF’s side, No.14 Squadron’s Legend of the Tail Choppers includes that devastating raid on Kalaikunda on 7 September 1965 where they claim to have destroyed a dozen IAF Canberras and Vampires on the ground. Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail, after retirement from the PAF has been a prolific writer on his air arm and his book Great Air Battles of Pakistan Air Force includes many of those in September 1965.

Over the past decades, highly researched articles on various aspects of the 1965 air war have appeared in the Vayu Aerospace Review, the most quoted being Laying the Sargodha Ghost in November 1985 and No.1 Squadron and its Mysteres at War in June 1988. Marking 40 years of September 1965 war, Vayu’s Issue V/2005 carried two exclusive first hand articles by two of the pilots who had created history then : Air Marshal (retd) Tirlochan Singh wrote on Tank busting in the Chhamb while Air Commodore (retd) Sajad Haider wrote on The Pathankot Strike : 6 September 1965.

The latter has since written his autobiography Flight of the Falcon’ Demolishing myths of Indo-Pak wars 1965 & 1971 in which he has been characteristically candid. Not surprisingly, his career in the PAF came to an abrupt end when he stood up to General Zia-ul-Haq during a formal briefing after the latest Army coup had taken place.

The wave of enthusiasm by the Government of India in 2015 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Indo-Pak war has predictably generated a number of new books, two of them dedicated to the Air War.

These are The Duels of the Himalayan Eagles by Air Marshal Bharat Kumar, officially released at the Tri Service Seminar in New Delhi on 1 September 2015 during the Golden Jubilee Commemoration of the 1965 War. This was followed by the lavishly illustrated Air Warrior Tales of 1965 War by Sameer and Priyanka Joshi which was released at Air Headquarters on 15 September.

Enough seems to have been written 50 years after that first clash between the (Indian) Himalayan Eagle and (Pakistani) Falcon, but this air war still evoking recollection and analysis and perhaps there will be more books to come, just as the Battle of Britain does, even 75 years after that epic battle.