AFVOA Newsletter 03 of 2020

Section 5 - Memoirs CV 2 No. 03 / 2020 Page 152 of 167 21 A Salute to Su 7 Wg Cdr P K Ayre Genre: Reflections t was 1963, with a nation still smarting after a defeat in Chinese hands the previous year. I was commissioned to the Indian Air Force, in the fighter stream. After intensive training I was cleared to fly the Vampires, Toofanis and the Mysteres. In 1965, when I was a stand-by observer pilot during the conflict with Pakistan, I learnt about aerial combat and complex aerobatic maneuvers. My training on the supersonic air-to-ground fighter began in 1969 when I was sent to Bareilly Air Force Base to undergo conversion from subsonic to supersonic fighter aircraft. When I saw the Russian-built Sukhoi-7, (‘Su’, as we lovingly called it) it was love at first sight! I was amazed! Honestly, I didn’t expect what I saw for it was a huge aircraft. When I sat in the cockpit, I had to request for a couple of cushions to be placed on my seat, so that I could see outside without difficulty. The cockpit was an awesome sight to behold. The size of the throttle was really big, and there were many controls on the throttle itself, including the air brake control, and buttons to control the gun site. It was so massive that if I tried to eject without moving the throttle fully forward, I could damage my legs! So the ‘ejection drill’ included moving