Air chief’s MiG-21 sortie reminisces IAF’s first victory in 1965 Indo-Pak war

Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh flew a MiG-21 just about a month before the venerable fighter flies into the sunset after having emblazoned the skies over the Indian subcontinent for 62 years. It was also a time to reminisce about IAF’s first aerial victory during the 1965 Indo-Pak war, the diamond jubilee of which falls in September this year.

On Monday, the Air Chief visited No. 23 Squadron, the Panthers, based at Nal airbase in south-western Rajasthan. It was Gnat fighters from this squadron, then operating from Pathankot, that had shot down a Pakistani F-86 Sabre on September 3, 1965, turning the tide in IAF’s favour. Squadron Leader Trevor Keelor, who shot down the Sabre, was decorated with the Vir Chakra for gallantry.

According to the citation for his award, on September 3, 1965, on receipt of a report that a formation of Pakistani fighters was circling over Army positions in the Chhamb sector of Jammu and Kashmir, a formation of Gnat aircraft was ordered to intercept the intruders. Approaching the area, Squadron Leader Trevor Keelor, who was a section leader in the Gnat formation, sighted enemy F-86 Sabre jets and engaged them in air battle. When the combat was in progress, F-104 Starfighters of the Pakistani Air Force also joined in.

“Unmindful of the numerical superiority of the enemy, Squadron Leader Keelor chased a Sabre jet and pressed home his attack until the enemy aircraft caught fire and disintegrated in the air. This was the first victory of our Air Force in the air battles against the Pakistani Air Force,” the citation states.

On September 4, another pilot from this squadron, Flight Lieutenant Virendra Singh, shot down another Sabre, marking IAF’s second air-to-air kill of the war and also earning a Vir Chakra. It had all happened after Wing Commander Johnny Greene, who later became an Air Marshal, gave a pep talk to pilots at the nearby Pathankot airbase after IAF suffered some early losses.

Incidentally, Keelor later commanded No. 18 Squadron, the Flying Bullets, in which IAF’s sole Param Vir Chakra recipient, Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon had served. This squadron now operates the Tejas fighter, which would replace No. 23 Squadron’s MiG-21s in the near future.

No. 23 Squadron was raised in 1956 on de Havilland Vampire and in February 1960 became the first IAF squadron to be equipped with Folland Gnat fighter. In February 1978, the Panthers converted to the MiG-21. In July 2005, it received the latest upgraded Bison version of the MiG-21 and operated out of the Suratgarh airbase. The squadron, along with No. 3 Squadron, the Cobras, which was the first unit to be equipped with Bison when it was based at Ambala, was relocated to Nal in June 2024 to streamline the maintenance and operability of the MiG-21.

Both squadrons are now expected to be re-equipped with the indigenous Tejas Mark-1A light combat aircraft being manufactured by state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). IAF already has about 40 Mark-1 variants of Tejas equipping two squadrons and had placed an order for 73 more Mark-1A aircraft in 2021. In August this year, the Central Government cleared the acquisition of an additional 97 Mark-1A aircraft.

The MiG-21 aircraft were inducted into service at Chandigarh Air Force Station in 1963 with No. 28 Squadron, ‘The First Supersonics’, then commanded by Wing Commander Dilbagh Singh, who later rose to become Chief of the Air Staff. The decommissioning ceremony for this aircraft is also being held at Chandigarh in September.

Over 700 MiG-21s, which were India’s first non-Western fighters, were procured by IAF, forming the backbone of its fighter element. Many were licence-produced by HAL, which is now focusing on the production of Tejas. HAL has set up three production lines for the Tejas, two at Bengaluru and one at Nashik. The combined production capacity of these three units is 24 aircrafts per year.