Flying high, slaying Sabres
The road crossing at Government Press in Sector 17, Chandigarh, which is being transformed into an Air Force museum, has a Gnat plane placed atop a pillar with the title ‘Sabre Slayer’. The diminutive Folland Gnat got the moniker when it bettered the American Sabre fighter jets in the 1965 War with Pakistan. Leading the Air Force as the Chief of the Air Staff was Arjan Singh (1919-2017), a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).
Unlike the earlier engagement with China, the IAF was authorised by the then Defence Minister YB Chavan on the very first day of the war to engage the enemy. Years later, Arjan Singh would recall: ‘We were able to attack Pakistani troops. We lost four Vampire aircraft, but the attack was a major achievement. Though planning and execution could have been better, the objective of stopping Pakistan’s advance was achieved.’
This was the beginning; the war escalated, and the Indian Army and the Air Force performed well, as can be judged from some of the headlines in the newspapers during the period as well as from Chavan’s diary: ‘Debacle to Revival: YB Chavan as Defence Minister 1962-65’ by RD Pradhan, the minister’s aide.
On September 9, 1965, Chavan told Parliament: ‘The House is undoubtedly proud of the performance of our boys in the Air Force who have destroyed several Pakistani Sabre jets.’ Three days later, he wrote: ‘CAS (Chief of the Air Staff) is given OK for Peshawar. When he is asked to go ahead on a new task, CAS walks as a dancing bird. A real fighting Sikh, and yet how soft and gentle.’ Ten days later, he was to say: ‘Army and Air Force have become now for us the symbols of our national pride and glory. A great day for me. A great day for Chaudhry (the Army Chief) and Arjan Singh… Air Marshal Arjan Singh is a jewel of a person; quietly efficient and firm, unexcitable but a very able leader.’
During the war, the IAF penetrated deep into Pakistani territory and attacked Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Sargodha and other cities. It was a short war, stopped mainly because of international pressure as India was winning. Both the Army and Air Chiefs were awarded the Padma Vibhushan, and Arjan Singh’s rank was raised to that of Air Chief Marshal.
A leader who led from the front, he would, in 2002, become IAF’s first and only Field Marshal, an exemplar for the force and the people at large. The nation showered honours on him. He too gave it his all, including selling off his farm to create a fund for the welfare of Air Force servicemen. As we mark his birth anniversary today, we salute our only Marshal of the Indian Air Force, Arjan Singh, DFC.
