AFVOA Newletter August 2020

Section 4 – War Diary CV 2 No. 02 / 2020 Page 59 of 237 my wife holding our daughters; one on lap, one on hand prompting them “say bye to your dad”. That impression is forever etched in my mind and will go with me to my grave. On landing at Delhi, I was tasked to visit all Gnat Squadrons in Western Air Command to ensure its 30mm Aden guns were fully ready for war. This gun proved crucial in the air war. Thereafter I was told to report to Amritsar. Within a few hours of landing there, the very first Pakistani air raid struck the airfield. The Anti-Aircraft guns boomed into action and I saw three Pakistani Mirage ac dropping bombs on the runway, with the 4 th following few seconds behind. I immediately rushed to the runway where the bombs were dropped and found that they had made four deep craters. The damage inflicted was neutralized by our CPWD brethren by pouring quick settling concrete to make the runway operational by the same night! Amritsar was struck by 27 Pakistani air raids. Out of the many bombs that feel on the airfield, 28 of them did not explode. These bombs could explode any time and were a huge danger to men and material. The task of demolition of these bombs fell on me though I was not trained to do it. The caliber of the bombs was 500 and 1000lb that had to be handled with extreme care. The Station Commander made it clear that he would not stop flying and that I had to demolish the bombs only after sunset. Gradually, I picked up the procedure and each of the 28 bombs was demolished with no effect on life or property.