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Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1528.PDF
743FLIGHT, 29 May1959 THE INDIAN AIR FORCE An Appraisal of a Commonwealth Air Arm By ALASTAIR PUGH PART I FROM Dalhousie on India's mountainous northern border,skirting the craggy Himalayan snows, to Cape Comorin onthe placid southern coast is 1,700 miles. From the plains ofKutch in the west the land stretches brown mile upon brown mile for more than 1,300 miles to the mouth of the Ganges and the eastern frontier beyond Calcutta. The area in between—the pastures and rice paddies, rivers and hills, jungles and mountains, lakes and parched desert—covers a million and a quarter square miles. The aerial defence of this land of 370 million people, speaking many languages, practising a multitude of religions, is the trust of the Indian Air Force. Last year, from humble beginnings in 1933, the I.A.F. cele-brated its silver anniversary—25 years in which it has grown from a single squadron (equipped with four Wapitis patrolling theNorth West Frontier province) into an air force in its own right. In equipment, its jet fighters and bombers are the equal of any inservice with a Commonwealth air force; in size, the I.A.F- is certainly the largest air force in South-East Asia; and in spirit it isimbued not only with traditions formed in training and action alongside the Royal Air Force, but also with something of therestless striving for improvement that is abroad in India today; a spirit that the Chief of Air Staff has attributed to unity andnational zeal. Although in the six years between formation of the Indian AirForce and the outbreak of the Second World War the embryo force grew in strength and character (some of the present seniorofficers have served from the earliest days) it was not until war came that any real expansion took place. Then volunteer reserveflights were raised in the coastal towns of Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, Karachi, Cochin and Vishakapatam. By 1942 the strengthhad grown to seven squadrons, and a year later, when the I.A.F. had seen action in Burma with its Hurricanes, to nine. In thefollowing year, 1944, the I.A.F. was granted the royal prefix, and it remained as the Royal Indian Air Force through the year ofpartition in 1947 until 1950 when India became a republic. Always well equipped, the R.I.A.F. had acquired its first jets—Vampires—as early as 1948. They supplemented and later replaced the Hawker Tempests and Spitfires that were the standard fightersup to that time. With modern equipment going into use, the Service was reorganized into Commands; Air Force Academiesand a Flight and Technical Training College were established; and navigator training and all-through training schemes wereintroduced. This was perhaps the basis for the I.A.F. of today, for since thennew Commands and new Flights have been formed and aircraft equipment has been progressively modernized. Thus in 1953 two-seater Vampire T.55s and Toofanis—Dassault Ouragans—were introduced, in 1954 the first C-119 Packets were added, and in1957—in the biggest re-equipment programme yet, confirming India as the U.K.'s best customer—the I.A.F. acquired Canberras,Mysteres and Hunters. Soon it is to have Folland Gnats. Only once since the end of the Second World War—in Kashmirin 1947, just after partition—has the Indian Air Force been required to go into action. In fact the record of achievement overtiie past ten years is a remarkable one of goodwill missions and of the relief of suffering: every year since the I.A.F. became large enough to contribute effectively to such work, mercy nhave featured in the year's activities—supply drops andmissionsrecon- The offensive potential of the Indian Air Force is invested mainly in Canberra B(l).58s, one of which is seen above at the start of a sortie. Other marks of Canberra are used for interdiction work, training and aerial survey, much of it over the Himalayas naissance in flooded areas, the location of fishermen marooned offthe Madras coast; medical supply drops to stricken areas, relief supplies ferried to Egypt and Hungary; food flown in to HirnachelPradesh in the Himalayan foothills. Recently relief work and assistance on a fairly large scale was extended to a badly floodedCeylon. My introduction to the I.A.F. occurred at what, potentially,must be one of the most romantic locations that could be devised for an air force station—Agra, famed for the Taj Mahal and thehistoric red fort of the Mogul princes. G/C. K. S. Bhat is the station commander at Agra. When wemet first on a quiet evening in the I.A.F. mess, just after I had seen the Taj for the first time—bathed in brilliant moonlight—our conversation was not of the lif e and work of the squadrons but of the mystique of India. With W/C. Z. Shah, the liaisonofficer during my tour, we talked, I remember, of Paul Brunton and his book Self and Overself, of the three stages of Yogi, andof such strange phenomena as the ability of the guru to balance an egg on its point, and the man in Delhi who was recentlysealed in a box of nails for 48 hours. It was not a conventional introduction to an air force, but it was certainly a very interestingone. We touched on something of the remarkable contrast between the centuries-old India—a land of princes and peasants,thinkers and teachers, maharajas and men of mystery—and the India of today, vital and resurgent but as yet barely touched byindustrial development, and the responsibilities that the Indian Air Force undertakes in moulding and training its officers andmen into an efficient force capable of flying and maintaining advanced equipment in an often difficult environment. In the past, the I.A.F. relied on the R.A.F. for its training, butthe possibilities of progress towards self-sufficiency in this direction were limited; technical and flying training for I.A.F.officers in the United Kingdom is now being limited to a stepping stone to training at home. While undoubtedly grateful for thewarm and continuing co-operation of the R.A.F., the I.A.F. is determined to make the interdependence of the two services atwo-way affair. Its first offering (already started with the Gnat) will be in aiding the tropical development of the aircraft itoperates; later the construction in India of indigenous jet trainers and fighters should contribute design and operational knowledgeto the Commonwealth pool. Just as Australia has provided a home for missile testing, itcould be that India might one day become the proving ground for tropical flying. The present experience is that there is stilla good deal to learn; certainly protracted operation in monsoon weather has taught some important lessons in the design ofairframes and equipment. No doubt lessons have also been learnt in introducing Canberras and Hunters into an air forcethat until recently has relied on a few British-trained air and ground crews for the sum of its experience. But more than ayear has passed since the first of these aircraft arrived; and, as always, first-hand experience has brought increased efficiency. The first Canberras were delivered in November 1957 and the
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