Posted on 07/10/2019 8:27:14 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
In 1971, Indian Air Force Gnats fought Pakistan’s Sabres in ferocious bloody dogfights. Despite only weighing the same as a a Dodge Durango, the tiny jet fighter proved a formidable machine. We spoke to IAF Wing Commander Sunith Francis Soares about flying and fighting in the Gnat.
The Gnat was conceived by the British designer, ‘Teddy’ Petter. One of the greatest aircraft designers was lived, his other creations included the Lysander, Lightning and Canberra. Countering the trend for ever larger, more costly, fighter aircraft the Gnat was a ‘pocket rocket’. It first flew in 1955. Though relegated to training duties in Britain, Finland and India. India received its first Gnat in 1958.
“With slats out and full power he executed a motherless turn, but the Gnat not only kept up with him degree for degree but gained some distance in. After, we found that we had clocked more than 9G during this turn. Roy hit the right wing near the fuselage. I saw the wing catch fire, canopy fly off, before we overshot the flaming aircraft. Strike one Sabre.”
How long did you fly the Gnat and with which unit?
“I flew the Gnat from Mar 1969 to Nov 1972 with 22 Sqn based at Kalaikunda. I flew 500 Hrs Plus, including intensive flying in the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971”
What were you first impressions of the aircraft?
“Diminutive beast.”
What was the best thing about the aircraft?
“Powerful and manoeuvrable.”
unnamed-4.jpg
What was the worst thing about the aircraft?
“Poor serviceability in the initial years due high rate of minor failures – brakes / hydraulics. Fleet was also grounded occasionally during modifications.”
Which other types have you flown?
“HF-24 Marut and MiG-21 variants.”
What was your most interesting mission?
“It was a few days before the 1971 war with Pakistan actually began. We were based at Kalaikunda, near Kharagpur, and for many months had been maintaining a detachment at Calcutta for air defence duties. The ORP was a make-shift one, with sand bags to protect the aircraft and tents for the crew.
The Indian army was geared for battle and in the Boyra sector had moved adventurously into Pakistan territory setting up defensive positions in preparation for the coming battle. This sort of aggressive posturing must have been particularly provocative to the military authorities at Dacca and they decided to use some airpower to displace our troops.”
“The first strike by the PAF sabres was on 22 November 1971, at around 10.00h – just as the sun dispersed the morning fog. Four Gnats were scrambled but arrived too late to pose a threat. A second strike followed soon thereafter but once again the Gnats could not make contact and returned to base a trifle dejected. Wg Cdr BS Sikand, our CO, who had led the first two sorties, then decided to take the afternoon off for some beer and socialising and handed over the lead to Roy, and I was slotted in as number 2. Ganapathy and Don retained their positions at 3 and 4.
As I settled into the makeshift ORP, I silently prayed for another strike. Don and I were playing scrabble when the klaxon went off once again. One more formation had been picked up on the radar heading toward Boyra. Our controller this time was Fg Offr Bagchhi and the time was 14.40h, and soon we were hurtling through the skies at low level with the throttles against the stop. At low-levels and high speeds, the Gnat is not easy to fly as the noise level is atrociously high and the aircraft bucks like a rodeo horse. It became difficult to hear Bagchhi and after a slight reduction in speed and a modest gain in height we reached the border to be told that the enemy was at 2 o’clock 4 miles. Ganapathy and Don being on the right flank and therefore closer to the target should have been able to spot the aircraft but the afternoon haze made this difficult.
I then saw a glint of metal and by sharply focusing my vision saw one aircraft at about three kms, perched as if to commence a dive. I called out contact and commenced a crisp commentary on the flight path. Roy having spotted the aircraft, decided to pull over the flank pair to manoeuvre behind the aircraft. This positioned us at about 1.5 kms behind the Sabre. Someone by this time must have warned him about us, as he went into a classic steep turn with the intention of shaking us off. With slats out and full power he executed a motherless turn, but the Gnat not only kept up with him degree for degree but gained some distance in. After the incident, we found that we had clocked more than 9G during this turn. The Sabre now came out of the turn to gain some speed and this allowed us to close in, as the Gnat has a very good acceleration, and we were soon at firing range. Roy fired a small burst which missed but followed quickly with another which hit the right wing near the fuselage. I saw the wing catch fire, canopy fly off, and the start of the ejection process before we overshot the flaming aircraft. Strike one Sabre.
While we were in combat, I heard Ganapathy call out that he had spotted a Sabre and he manoeuvred behind the aircraft very quickly to fire his first burst which missed. In the mean-time, a third sabre came out of the blue- literally- between Ganapathy and Don, at a distance of 200 yards or so. With lightning quick reflexes Don swerved his aircraft and in a flash, fired his guns which struck the Sabre on the wing causing it to explode. The debris hit Don’s aircraft on the nose and drop tank. Yes, drop tank! In our enthusiasm, we had forgotten the cardinal principle of combat: jettison the tanks. Strike two Sabre. The pilot ejected. This pilot was taken PoW and later released. He went on to become the Chief of the Air Staff of the PAF.”
Meanwhile Ganapathy had fired a second burst which this time was better directed and hit the sabre on the right wing which also caught fire. Strike three Sabres. During our combat which I estimate did not last more than 3 minutes, I saw small puffs of incandescent lights which I later found to my dismay, was AA shells bursting all around. The Indian army air defence regiment was having a field firing practice at our expense. It’s a good thing their gunnery was not as good as ours.
It was now Bagchhi’s turn to take over and he assembled us for our return to base. After our rendezvous we came in a finger four formation for a run in, but because of Don’s damaged aircraft did not intend to do any dramatics, but Ganapathy would not have any of it. After peeling off he came in for a victory roll to tell the world that we had shot down three Sabres without any loss.”
How combat effective was the Gnat?
“Quite. It had a good kill-to-loss ratio.”
Instantaneous turn rate
“Good to excellent”
Sustained turn rate
“Ditto”
Climb rate
“Good to excellent”
Acceleration
“Again, good to excellent”
What was your most memorable mission and why?
“I would like to mention another memorable occasion. Our Stn Cdr in 1971 before and during the conflict was a tea drinker who took drastic action to curtail our alcohol consumption (to no avail). He exhorted us to emulate the Israel pilots who in the 67 conflict flew 4 to 5 sorties, who drank only orange juice (which by the was was not available at the time except in rusty tins of doubtful quality). On 5 Dec six of us flew five sorties in a span of 9 hrs literally jumping from one aircraft to another with briefings and nibbling snacks in between. we gleefully sent our ‘autho’ book that evening to the Stn Cdr and requested him to join us for a drink.”
Which three words would you use to describe the aircraft?
“Float like a….”
What were the threat aircraft it was facing and which was the most challenging and why? “Sabre. That was the most potent threat in the sub-continent. Its turn performance was quite good.”
Where were you based and what was life like on the base?
Kalaikunda. Due poor govt remuneration in that period, life was dictated by the letters ‘NM’….no money or next month. however life was not uncomfortable.
What was the social life like?
“Serendipitous, in that most of the married pilots had intercaste/creed marriages which made for excellent social action. parties were great fun with dancing and games. occasional interspersed picnics and overnight outings were happy events.”
How effective were the weapon systems and avionics? What additional equipment would you have liked?
“Nothing to shout about. We made do with ‘Mk 1 eyeball’ and ‘moving thumb display.'”
How good was your training?
“Highly indigenous with no exposure to international tactics
I’d like to dedicate this to the IAF Gnat Brotherhood and especially to the war veterans of 22 Sqn, IAF (Swifts) who did a splendid job!”
Special thanks to Anshuman Mainkar for making this interview possible. Excellent article on the this subject on his blog here.
Interesting Kite.
Bookmark
Interesting expression... I'll have to research it.
Regards,
Never read about the Gnat before, thank you for this.
Very fascinating read! Although I was Army, we trained/fought with soldiers from so many other countries (many of whom were once our enemies). That liaison is probably the best diplomacy/comradery America can have.
I think I saw one on display at an air museum. Three things stuck in my mind. It was Indian, it was so small I could look down into the cockpit, and the placard said it had a 55 gallon fuel tank...
Must have been an Ajeet, a Gnat derivative, with wet wings holding 55 gal each.
Bookmark
"Despite only weighing the same as a a Dodge Durango" -- wow, that is amazing.
I was, however, expecting something more Bede-like...
“If Guns kill people, why do we send people with guns when they go to war? Why not just send the guns?”
Ozzy Osbourne
That thing looks so cool, but I’m sure you’d have to be a brilliant pilot to keep it under control.
The Pentagon was so impressed with the English Electric Canberra that they appropriated it as the Martin B-57 - something they have rarely done (but did also with the Hawker Harrier).
The Lightning was uniquely impressive - built like an over-under shotgun: no yawing problem with an engine out. (I assume pitch - angle of attack - adjustment would be less problematic.)
BD-5J, the jet version of the prop plane. Cool. Even the piston-prop was pretty fast.
And then there’s the McDonnell XF-85 Goblin parasite fighter.
For comparison, normal loaded weights:
Folland Gnat: 6,250 lbs.
Northrop F-5A Freedom: 13,433 lbs.
Douglas A-4D Skyhawk: 16,216 lbs.
Ali takes a rest during his fight with Joe Frazier
.
.
Media-created fraud Ali just got clobbered by Joe Frazier's left hook.
,
Ali tries out new boxing stance in his fight with Joe Frazier.
.
Jimmy Young harassing terrified, swollen-faced Ali .
.
Ali knocked down by 185 pound Henry Cooper’s left hook in his fight immediately before Ali's two fakes with Sonny Liston.
The bell rang ending the round as Ali got up and lurched toward his corner.
Then Ali got a rest of several minutes between rounds before the fight resumed, instead of the legal one minute between rounds. .
.
Ali knocked down by Sonny Banks, with a left hook, of course
Ali could not defend himself against a left hook.
,
The athletic Ali practices his leg raises during his fight with Joe Frazier.
.
Here the great Ali demonstrates his defense against Joe Frazier’s left hook.
Ali never learned how to defend himself against a left hook.
.
Ali holds the distinction of being the only heavyweight champion in the history of boxing to lose his title to a novice who had only seven professional fights--Leon Spinks.
Fun Fact: The Gnat portrayed the fictional carrier-based “Oscar EW-5894 Fallus Tactical Fighter Bomber” flown by U.S. Navy pilots in the 1991 comedy Hot Shots!
The company I worked for at the time supplied the Gnats for the movie.The Boss bought most of the remaining airframes from the Indian air force when they were retired from service.He also bought a B-24 Liberator from them as well.From what I was told they built an aircraft carrier out of wood in the desert.Hard to believe that was almost thirty years ago now.
Thread hijack, much?
Fascinating, but non-sequitur.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.