The Air at Yelahanka
AFS Yelahanka, where the biennial Aero India international air shows have been held since the 1990s, is nearing its Platinum Jubilee since its establishment in the 1940s. Joseph Antony recalls its chequered history.
Air Force Station Yelahanka (AFSY) is located on the NH- 7 from Bangalore to Bellary/Hyderabad. The airfield has had an association of over 75 years with military Aviation in India since its inception in the 1940s to the present time. It is the alma mater through whose portals most transport and helicopter pilots of the IAF have graduated over the past fifty years. Having first visited the airfield almost 52 years ago (when my father was an instructor pilot based there) and thereafter during various Aero India shows, I thought it fit to compile some of its aviation related history.
During World War II, the Italian Tenth Army under the command of Marshal Rodolfo Graziani had made inroads from Libya into Egypt in September 1940, only to be beaten back by a much smaller Allied force under General Sir Archibald Wavell, British Commander- in- Chief, Middle Eastern forces in February 1941. Over 130,000 Italians were taken Prisoners of War (POWs) after five Italian Divisions were mauled in two days of fighting. Later, more Italians became POWs as their forces were comprehensively defeated in North
and East Africa. A large number of these POWs were sent to India for internment in 29 camps forming 6 Groups between the years 1941 to 1946. Of these, Group I with 8 camps were in Bangalore and were located at Jakkur, Hebbal and Jalahalli. The remaining Groups were located at Bhopal, Ramgarh, Clement Town (Dehra Dun) and Yol (near Dharamshala).
The POWs at Bangalore (numbering over 20,000) were put on the job of constructing three airfields, at Jalahalli (present AF Station but the airfield is no longer in use), Jakkur (presently in limited civilian use) and Yelahanka. The POWs walked from either Jalahalli or Jakkur to Yelahanka in the mornings and returned to their camps in the evenings.
The airfield was initially designated as RAF Station Yelahanka when it commenced operations in July 1942. A search on the Internet revealed that a number of Royal Air Force (RAF) and later Indian Air Force/ Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) squadrons were either based for short terms at the airfield or used its facilities, which was a beehive of flying activity. These included : No. 1302 (Meteorological) Flight, RAF, from July 1943 till it was disbanded in June 1946 which operated the Bristol Blenheim, Vickers Wellington and Hawker Hurricane at different times. No. 684 Squadron RAF, a photoreconnaissance squadron from 19431946 had a detachment here, operating the de Havilland Mosquito and later converted to the Bristol Beaufighter. No. 60 Squadron, RAF between May to September 1943 with the Bristol Blenheim and later the Hawker Hurricane IIC Fighter. No. 30 Squadron, RAF, between April to September 1944 flying the Hawker Hurricane IIC and the P-47 Republic Thunderbolt. No. 1672 (Mosquito) Conversion Unit between February-June 1944 and again from October 1944 to August 1945. No. 211 Squadron, RAF around June-July 1945 operating the Mosquito aircraft. Author’s Note: There were some fourteen Mosquito aircraft related incidents during the period October 1944 to July 1945 which testifies to the high levels of intense/accelerated training imparted on this base. The causes were overshot landing, undercarriage(u/c) collapse on landing, swing on landing and u/c collapse (four instances), swing on take-off and u/c collapse, engine cut-out on overshoot followed by stall, bounced on landing and u/c collapse, overshot on landing and hit vehicle, collision after bird hit, etc. No. 4 Squadron, Royal Indian Air Force (Oorials), between December 1943 and February 1944 and again from April 1945 to March 1946, flying the Spitfire Mk VIII. One of its daredevil pilots was one Flt Lt Malik Nur Khan, a Pathan. He had earlier perfected the technique of making landing approaches in a Hurricane aircraft while inverted, lowering the undercarriage ( which would open upwards), carrying out a last minute roll to normal level flight, before touching down. Twenty years later as Air Marshal, he was Chief of the Pakistan AF during the 1965 IndoPak War. He later became Chairman of Pakistan International Airlines and Governor of Punjab after retirement. As Chairman, he overpowered a hijacker on the PIA airliner at Karachi but was hit by a bullet in the process. Incidentally, No. 4 Squadron RIAF was assigned to Japan at end of the War and pilots flew their aircraft from this base to Cochin where they were loaded on to an aircraft carrier for transportation to Japan. No 84 Squadron RAF, between October 1944 to April 1945, Vultee Vengeance and Mosquito. One RAF Sergeant Pilot from Palestine, Ezer Weizman, underwent flying training here for six months in 194445. Later he went on to become the Commander of the Israeli Air Force, subsequently the Defence Minister and finally became the seventh President of Israel. His wife and the wife of the legendary General Moshe Dayan were sisters. As president he returned to AFS Yelahanka in 1997 and planted a tree during his visit.
Corporal Arthur Goodinson, an RAF Flight Mechanic and Warrant Officer Eric Watts a RAF Volunteer Reserve pilot penned their experiences and the following extracts from their diaries/web-pages pertain to the eventful period of two months in Yelahanka during June-July 1945 when with No. 211 Squadron, RAF.
There used to be a Camp cinema in the base (the ruins of which one could see until the late sixties) which screened films like ‘They Live Dangerously’, ‘Sqdn Leader X’, ‘ Design For Scandal’, ‘ Seven Miles from Alcatraz’, ‘Fallen Sparrows’, ‘The Cross of Lorraine’, ‘ Heaven Can Wait’, ‘ Nick Carter Master Detective’, etc. Draught beer was available in the canteen and playing or watching soccer (usually between different squadrons or formations on the base), was a favourite pastime. Otherwise, like most other RAF airfields in WW II, the facilities were primitive and most personnel did not even have permanent toilets, having to use dugouts. The sound of jackals in chorus during the night was common occurrence.
On 29 June 1945, Warrant Officer Lowcock (Jeff) & Flight Sgt Wilkes while flying a Mosquito aircraft (HR554) employing evasive tactic manoeuvres (practice) against a Spitfire lost control and dived vertically into a village hut killing about 40 local villagers (and cattle) who were either attending a weekly fair or a wedding ( at Kogilu village, S-E of AFSY). Only three days later on 2 July 1945, there was a formation dive bombing display and another Mosquito (RF779) failed to pull out, killing Warrant Officer Webster & Flight Sergeant Hopes (Corky & Jackie). The loss of Webster and Hopes, just three days after that of Lowcock and Wilkes, was deeply felt by the men of 211 Squadron—perhaps the more so during a non-operational period. The funerals were held in Bangalore on 30 June and 3 July 1945 respectively. However, the funerals did not stop the game of soccer later on each day !
The nearest escape to unwind was Bangalore city, which was reached after negotiating the narrow road piled with bullock carts and crossing at- least four manned railway crossings. The Standard Brick & Tile Co. Pvt. Ltd. at Yelahanka (1930) and the Parsee Tower of Silence at Hebbal (1940), major landmarks enroute to the city. The Tower of Silence exists even today, however only the Chimney of the tile factory located amidst real estate development, remains.
After end of the War, the airfield had No. 2 (Indian) Group Communication Flt as its last flying element when it was transferred to the Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) in June 1947. The airfield fell into disuse after World War II and Indian Independence in 1947 when the open spaces became grazing areas for cattle from the neighbouring villages. Thereafter, it was used occasionally for holding Motor racing events some times in a year (like Sholavaram and Sulur, other World War II airfields near Madras and Coimbatore respectively), or sometimes by pilots of the nearby Government Flying Training School in Jakkur who could not resist stealing touch and go landings of their Tiger Moth aircraft on the long and wide runway of this deserted airfield.
Resurrection
The Sino- Indian border war in 1962 contributed to re-kindling life at the airfield in its military role in order to cater to the expanding needs of pilots for the IAF’s transport squadrons. The Indian Air Force established No. 2 TTW (Transport Training Wing) at the re-commissioned airfield in August 1963 under the command of a World War II veteran and Dakota king-pin, Gp Capt PL Dhawan, VrC (Dakota supply and night bombing operations under enemy fire during the J&K Operations in 1948) and Bar to VrC (Dakota supply operations in Daulat Beg Oldi area in 1962). As a young officer, Flt. Lt. Dhawan would carry out stall turns on the Dakota transport aircraft.
In 1964, C- 47 Dakotas carried out numerous supply dropping and casualty evacuation sorties in the disaster-hit areas around Dhanushkodi and Rameshwaram. A Dakota of this Wing participated in the scattering the ashes of the late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, as per his last will. Aircraft from this base participated in numerous missions of mercy over the years.
During the Indo-Pak war in September 1965, around ten C-47 Dakotas of this Wing were hastily converted for operational tasks and played a supply role in the war. Gp Capt John Francis Lazaro, VSM (later Air Vice Marshal), the then Station Commander, around thirty officers (including the author’s father then Sqn Ldr VJ Antony) and over a hundred airmen were part of the task force. Supply sorties were carried out for movement of troops and transportation of arms, ammunition and spares in support of the war effort. One of these aircraft on a supply mission carrying naval munitions from the Naval Air Station at Willingdon Island (Cochin) to Jamnagar was lost over the Baba Budan range area near Mangalore on 7 September 1965. Sqn Ldr Asit Kumar Ghosh and all members of the Dakota C-47 perished in the accident. In fact, the wreckage of the aircraft was located only after the cessation of hostilities and search operations were mounted by the remaining aircraft from this Wing after return to home base.
In January 1968 the previously existing No. 1 TTW in Begumpet was also moved to AFS Yelahanka and merged with No. 2 TTW to form a single TTW and renamed as AF Station Yelahanka.
C-47 Dakotas were still the backbone of the IAF Transport fleet during the 1971 operations and TTW contributed once again to the war effort operations in airlifting supplies, troop movement and refugee evacuation which commenced with airlift of refugees from East Pakistan to Agartala much before the actual war commenced. They also formed a major part of the airborne fleet that carried out the famous Tangail airdrop in Bangladesh. In addition maritime reconnaissance duties were carried out over the East and West Coasts of India to detect enemy ship movements to and from East Pakistan. Flt Lt Arunesh Prasad and crew flying Dakota (J975) from this Wing located one such ship MV Toronto in the Arabian Sea and guided the destroyer INS Godavari, which shepherded the ship into Cochin harbour.
During the Sri Lankan Civil War, on 4 June 1987, Operation Poomalai (‘Flower Garland’), also known as Eagle Mission 4, was undertaken by the Indian Air Force to air-drop supplies over the besieged town of Jaffna in Sri Lanka. Five An-32s from Agra staged through Yelahanka loaded with relief supplies, the An-32s escorted by Mirage 2000s.
No.112 Helicopter Unit ‘ Throughbreds’ is a Mi-8 Conversion and Training Unit based at Yelahanka for many years which carries out the operational conversion of pilots, flight engineers and flight gunners. It also operates a small sub-flight of these helicopters for VIP tasks in the region. No.151 Helicopter Unit ( Sarang Display Team), was set up in 2005 operating the HAL Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv and was based here for some years before moving to Sulur AFS.
The Station was renamed the Air Lift Forces Training Establishment in the 1990s but the name reverted back to AFS Yelahanka after a short time.
During the Andhra Pradesh floods in August 2000, 127 adults and 15 infants who were marooned atop a building were winched to safety by the crew on to a Mi-8 helicopter piloted by Sqn Ldr GS Padda (awarded VSM) from this base. The rescue was completed in eight shuttles without refuelling.
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has also had a long association of over fifty years with AFS Yelahanka since flying operations re-commenced in the nineteen sixties. The HAL detachment at AFSY used to initially support the repair and maintenance of C-47 Dakota aircraft which was later followed by similar support for the HAL built HS- 748 and Dornier 228 and An32 aircraft. HAL has been the major participant at the biennial Aero India Airshows since 1996.
The present Air Officer Commanding AFSY is Air Cmde Tejbir Singh, VM and the main role of the airbase remains multi- engine conversion training of pilots to fly transport aircraft like the An32, HS-748 and Do228 or helicopter pilots to fly the Mi-8. There are Flight Simulators for imparting training on the An-32 and Dornier 228. It also conducts type-conversion of navigators on the Antonov An-32. There are three aircraft types as gate guardians at AFSY: the Iskra jet trainer (W-1759), a Mi-8 helicopter (Z-1372) and the C-47 Dakota (BJ1045) ex-USAAF and later with the IAF which has been recently relocated from AFS Belgaum.
Thus, apart from hosting the Aero India Shows, Yelahanka has contributed in both war and peace time relief operations over several decades, with exceptions being the Kashmir Operations of 1948 and the Goa Operations in 1961, when the base was not active. In addition, it has attained two unique achievements as an Indian airbase remains having handled the most diverse types of military aircraft platforms (considering WW II and the various Aero India airshows) and also of having the most number of cumulative flying hours recorded by the fleet based at any IAF airbase over the past half century.