"Yes, I Saw The Chinese": Air Force Pilot's Top Secret Op During 1962 War
Stories Of Glory
"To find us, you must be good. To catch us, you must be fast, but to beat us....you must be kidding" - Indian Air Force
Cloud Of War
The People's Liberation Army under Chairman Mao incorporated Sinkiang (Xinjiang) into the People's Republic of China in 1949 and had now set its eyes on Tibet, a vast area of plateaus and mountains. The Indian government under Jawahar Lal Nehru did not foresee any threat coming from China at the time.
Mao's China annexed Tibet in 1950, and Nehru, in order to woo the Chinese, stopped selling arms to the Tibetans in 1950 and pulled the Indian Army out of strategic Indian outposts of Shigatse, Gartok, and Yatung in the Tibetan plateau, which were established during the British rule after the Treaty of Lhasa in 1904.
The 'Hindi-Chinni bhai bhai' period ended when Mao backstabbed India by building the Tibet-Xinjiang highway, which passed through the now-captured Aksai Chin region. The Chinese had moved inside Indian territory, but it wasn't until 1958 that the Nehru government realized that the PLA was positioned on Indian soil. Mao saw Tibet as its palm and Ladakh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and NEFA (Arunachal Pradesh) as its five fingers and believed it was China's responsibility to liberate them.
Caught unawares, the Indian government soon realized that they had entered a state of a territorial dispute with a neighbor whom they considered a 'friend'.
Covert aerial reconnaissance flights were conducted over Tibet and Xinjiang between 1960-1962 to assess the Chinese build-up and position of troops in Aksai Chin. Here's one such story of Wing Commander (then Squadron Leader) Jag Mohan Nath, who holds the rare distinction of being one of six officers to have been decorated twice with the Maha Vir Chakra.
Flying High Over Tibet
The No. 106 Squadron (Lynx) of IAF was a newly raised squadron in 1957 in Bareilly but was moved to Agra, and its role was to provide military aerial photography and aid in other operations. Wing Commander 'Jaggi' Jag Mohan Nath flew his twin-engine English Electric Canberra PR.57 high-altitude long-range reconnaissance aircraft for this tough mission. The aircraft was fitted with one camera for surveillance and four cameras for pictures. While flying over Tibet and Xinjiang, he saw many Chinese soldiers positioned, and the pictures clicked by his camera were sent directly to the headquarters (HQ) in Delhi.
According to Iqbal Chand Malhotra, author of Red Fear: The China Threat, over 180 airspace violations took place, according to the IAF, from March-June 1962, and none according to the Chinese military. They raised multiple objections to these violations but couldn't do anything, indicating the absence of Chinese airpower in the region. Despite this, IAF was not used for offensive operations in 1962.
During one of his flights, when he was almost at stall speed, the Chinese saw him clearly and tried to shoot the aircraft down but couldn't. They did not even have anti-aircraft guns to counter air raids, let alone scrambling jets for the same.
Since 1960, Jag Mohan Nath had filmed the enemy buildup in Aksai Chin. In one of his interviews, he narrated his meeting with the then Defence Minister VK Menon - "Later I was taken to meet the Defence Minister to show all the evidence, and a junior officer doesn't go to meet the Minister ill-prepared." He added that all that Menon asked him was if he did indeed see Chinese soldiers. When he answered, 'Yes sir, I saw them,' Menon's reply was, 'That's alright, you can go now.' He further added that even after he told them that the Chinese were there, that was it. 'It was amazing. They (the government) did not know how to handle the situation.'
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| Credits: Airvectors |
Wing Commander Jag Mohan Nath was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for successfully conducting a hazardous task over high-altitude hostile terrain. He was fully aware of the threats but made sure that the nation and his task came first above anything else.
Call of Duty in 1965
The wounds from 1962 had not fully healed, and the country found itself in another conflict with Pakistan. India learned from its mistakes, and this time around, offensive air power was used. The 1965 Indo-Pak War gave the Indian Air Force its first kill since Independence when, on September 4, 1965, Squadron Leader Denzil Keelor shot down a Pakistani fighter jet in air-to-air combat.
Wing Commander Jag Mohan Nath, who had earned distinction for his heroics in 1962, was given another task to fly low over Pakistani territory and conduct aerial reconnaissance, which would help the Indian Army carry out operations across the International Border. This information would help the army know the position of fortifications and bridges in the Punjab region of Pakistan, as well as the strength of troops.
Entering an unknown territory during a war is almost like walking blindly on a minefield. There's a constant threat of being ambushed from any direction. Reconnaissance is essential during the war; it provides information regarding enemy positions, the number of troops deployed, and the kind of armour, artillery, etc., being used. This task of moving behind enemy lines is extremely essential to devise a sound plan for attack.
Wg Cdr Nath flew low to evade Pakistani radar, and when he identified something that needed to be captured, he would climb in broad daylight to over 12,000 feet for a clear picture.
The unescorted missions over well-defended airfields and installations during the daytime, with a high risk of exposure, would often lead to Pakistani jets being scrambled. But it was a risk he had to take to successfully complete the mission.
Over his 30+ reconnaissance flights, the information he gathered helped the IAF obliterate a radar in Badin, Karachi and helped the Indian Army cross the International Border, reaching almost Lahore.
There were close calls where Jag Mohan Nath's aircraft would run low on fuel, and he had to fly back to re-enter Indian territory with Pakistani jets hot on his tail. Nath talked about how he once evaded Pakistani jets and came back but almost got shot by Indian MiGs who mistook him for the enemy.
He was awarded the Maha Vir Chakra for the information gathered by him during his missions, which proved vital to Indian air efforts during the wars. The missions enabled our Air Force to attack vital enemy targets, adversely affecting the enemy's war effort.
Wing Commander Jag Mohan Nath retired in 1970 and later joined Air India as a commercial pilot.
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| Credits: India Today |
Note: The article was written by me for The Defence Archive and was published in March 2022
Sources:
Contested Lands: India, China And The Boundary Dispute, Maroof Raza
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