THE FLYING ‘SEKHON’

पीकर जिनकी लाल शिखाएँ

उगल रही सौ लपट दिशाएं,

जिनके सिंहनाद से सहमी

धरती रही अभी तक डोल

कलम, आज उनकी जय बोल….

I always had this complaint regarding our academic tradition that we don’t narrate the right stories to our younger generation. To some extent our mothers and grandmothers have tried to cure this disability that our education system has imparted on us by narrating us mythological tales from Ramayana, Mahabharata and The Upanishads. In my case it was my mother who used to read Ramcharitra Manas every morning and made me sit beside her throughout the reading. She was the one who introduced me to these mythological epics and some famous historical battles like the Prithviraj Chauhan epic with Muhammad Ghori.

But when it comes to our modern heroes even our parents fail to mend the problem, reason being they suffer from the same ailment. Growing up in the age of T.V and media we have built this tendency of believing whatever the idiot box and in the present scenario the idiot notebook feeds us. Our education system tops that by glorifying the dark parts of our history both ancient and modern and completely ignoring the tales of glory and valour. You’ll get enough stories running on television depicting the epic saga of love between Tiger Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore, we know about the struggles that many star kids had to go through in order to make a place for themselves in the industry, we know the tale of VRUSHKA, the struggle of how Chunky Pandey was never able to make it to Koffee with Karan, how many tuitions Taimur attends, what Ishaan wore to gym this morning. I remember having this discussion with my friend of how Mr. Viral Bhayani has given these celebrities God level status in the country, when no one should actually care about what they do in their private lives. And that’s the problem, we are fed with all kind of nonsense but when it comes to stories of substance, stories that actually matter we know nothing.

Let’s take a test. I’ll give you names and you just check for yourself how many in this list you know? Major Somnath Sharma, Jadunath Singh, Rama Raghoba Rane, Dhan Singh Thapa, Abdul Hamid, Ardeshir Tarapore, Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, Arun Khetarpal, Bana Singh, Ramaswamy Parameshwaran, Manoj Kumar Pandey, Yoginder Singh Yadav, Sanjay Kumar, Albert Ekka. Also had there been no SherShaah did you know about the epic of Vikram Batra. Well all the names mentioned above are Paramvir Chakra awardees, leaving two of the surviving members Sanjay Kumar and Yoginder Singh Yadav all of them perished while serving the nation in the battlefield thereby giving the supreme sacrifice. All of them have stories, stories that need to told. Stories that should have been in our books, stories which people like me and you cannot imagine sitting in front of our laptops, stories that should have been folklores. But instead these stories got buried, with time the dust settled on their graves to such an extent that now we don’t even recall the names of these Braveheart’s.

I think to some extent I have also been responsible for not playing my part. I think I have succumbed to the disease of preaching all the GYAAN but not practicing what I preach. This blog had given me this golden opportunity of sharing these untold stories. But I have not been able to fulfil this responsibility. To some extent I tried sharing these epics but a lot remains and truth be told I have been careless in this regards. So I am sorry and from this point onwards I will regularly post stories that need to be told and retold.

Today’s story is about a man whose selflessness and bravery helped India defend its pride in the 1971 war. A man who without thinking about himself and his family jumped in a battle where he was destined to lose. A man who had the chance of saving himself but he decided to fight. Ladies and Gentlemen this is the story of Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon.

THE STORY

This was the year if 1971. Eastern Pakistan was fighting a liberation war for a separate Bengali state. Pakistani Army on the other hand was busy carrying out one of the worst human right massacres in human history. This was the time when the Mukti Bahini cried from help from India. Shri Indira Gandhi Ji Prime Minister of India at that point in time asked General Sam Manekshaw to check the East Pakistan situation and India jumped in for help. This created unwarranted tensions between India and Pakistan. Indian interference in Eastern Pakistan resulted in cross border tensions at the western frontier of the border with Central Pakistan. India being surrounded had to manage both sides without any external help.

Resulting from all this hassle something happened on 14th December 1971 that changed the Indian History forever. On 14th December 1971 Pakistan planned a bombing attempt on the Indian Air Base in Srinagar. At that point in time the Srinagar Air Base was occupied by the No. 18 Squadron known as the ‘ The Flying Bullets’. The Flying Bullets then was equipped with the Folland Gnat fighter aircraft, a defensive sub-sonic fighter. The Flying Bullets has a history of valour and bravery and that day became a testament of the fact that Flying Bullets will remain one the greatest squadrons of the Indian Air Force.

So on 14th December 1971 a fleet of Pakistani F-86 Sabre Jets crossed into the Indian Air Space and made their way towards Srinagar Air Base. Objective was clear, bomb the base, handicap the Indian Defence and then fly back to Pakistan. As per the treaty of 1948 the Indian Air Force did not keep a very heavy backup on the base. To reach Srinagar the F-86 jets had to cross the Avantipur Air Base, as soon as they flew over the signal system at Avantipur sent out a radio signal for Srinagar. Anti-Air Craft missiles were prepared but the sabres were quick. The sabres crossed into the air space of Srinagar.

Two pilots were on standby at the base. As soon as they got the signal they decided to act. They were Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Sekhon and Flt. Lt. Ghumman.

Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was born in a Jat Sikh family on 17 July 1945 in the village of Isewal, Ludhiana, Punjab Province, British India. His father was a M.W.O in the Royal Air Force and he drew the passion from his father and joined the Indian Air Force as a Fighter Pilot.

So as soon as Sekhon got the signal he with Fl. Lt. Ghumman ran towards their Gnats to take off. Meanwhile the enemy jets reached the base and started bombing. Also the Anti-Aircraft guns also engaged with the sabre jets filling the air with dust and smoke making visibility zero. Both the pilots lost their vision. So Ghumman took off first, but the lack of visibility forced Sekhon to wait for an extra twenty seconds before taking off. As Sekhon spurted on the runway for take off two bombs were dropped and but Sekhon escaping his death reached the air. The Gnat Leader, Flt. Lt. Ghumman lost visual with his wingman just after take-off, remained out of the fight leaving Sekhon to handle the muddle all by himself.

Sekhon without wasting too much time spotted his target and started following the trail. He was following two sabres who had just dropped bombs. Sekhon with no contact whatsoever with his partner started manoeuvring the aircraft into battle mode and firing at the jets. Sekhon fired and directly hit one of the sabres, which then plummeted to the ground. He with his 30mm canon started firing at the other sabre as well. Meanwhile the fourth sabre was started following Sekhon. What ensued was one of the greatest air dogfights ever. Sekhon was behind one Sabre while another was behind him. Due to zero visibility nobody was able to spot Sekhon from the base and he was all by himself alone in the air.

But still Sekhon kept flying, sandwiched between two enemy jets he was somehow managing to fight and stay in air. He successfully dragged both the sabres away from the base. After sometime the sabre chasing Sekhon ran out of ammunition and had to recede. Sekhon felt he had the chance now, he dropped his extra fuel tank gaining speed and then charged for the remaining sabre. However Pakistan had one last trick up their sleeves. They had not sent four but six sabres for the mission two of which were hiding high in the safety of the clouds. As soon as they were informed about Sekhon pursuing their comrade they charged down with all their might. Sekhon was asked to come back but he decided to fly straight.

They started firing, and in the ensuing battles one of the hits found its mark. Sekhon’s Gnatt was hit and set ablaze in mid-air. He started losing altitude and plummeting towards the ground. Sekhon as a last measure tried ejecting but he was way too close. The gravity took control of him. The aircraft crashed in a gorge. Meanwhile the Pakistani jets had to abandon their mission and return. Search parties of both Army and Air Force were sent out looking for Sekhon but nothing was found. Eventually Sekhon was declared dead. He was just 26 when he gave the supreme sacrifice. He had left behind a family, old parents and a newly wed wife, all for this nation. For us.

Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon was posthumously awarded the Paramveer Chakra, India’s highest gallantry honour. Till date he remains the only IAF servant who has received this ultimate accolade. His Paramveer Chakra citation read the following-

His statues have been erected across Punjab and several buildings and schools have been named after him. I don’t know if the children studying in a school bearing his name know his story. The enemy pilot Fl. Lt. Salim Baig Mirza of the Pakistani Air Force called him one the best pilots he has ever fought with. He told in an article that Sekhon was a braveheart and martyr.

What’s unfortunate is the fact that we even after having all the resources at our disposal don’t know his story. Even today our Armed Forces are busy securing our borders in sloppy terrains, sub-zero temperatures and harsh winds just so you and I can sleep peacefully in our homes. The least we can do is respect them and tell the tales of their bravery. Tell them to your brother and sisters, your classmates, your future generations, its our duty and we need to abide by it.

I promise that I will bring more such untold stories of bravery, valour and courage on this blog. Until next time Tata and Bye Bye.

JAI HIND.

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