The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : ‘It takes a man to fly a Gnat’

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Saturday, Nov 22, 2008
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‘It takes a man to fly a Gnat’

Special Correspondent

Air Force veterans enliven a cherished legend of the ‘Sabre Slayers’

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

Reliving history: Air Marshal P.V. Naik (second from left) at a celebration of the golden jubilee of the Gnat in Bangalore on Friday.

BANGALORE: It was like turning back the hands of time; it was like re-living those moments of glory that the Indian Air Force snatched from Pakistan in the wars of 1965 and 1971 with that country. The sole reason for this walk through the broadways of nostalgia was the golden jubilee of the Gnats — India’s fiercest fighter jet that had ruled the skies for more than 20 years.

The occasion created by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to celebrate the golden jubilee included the veteran fighter pilots of 1965 and 1971 recounting their passion about the Gnats. For few hours the war veterans held the audience spell bound, including Air Marshal P.V. Naik, who is also Vice Chief of the Air Staff.

Chairman of the steering committee constituted to celebrate the golden jubilee Sanjiv Sahi, in his introductory speech, said: “Pilots can fly any aircraft but it takes a man to fly a Gnat.”

Air Marshal Naik remembered the formative years of India’s Air Force and said Indian leaders took a right decision to buy Gnats from the United Kingdom. Gnat was undergoing development at that time, despite the fact that other aircrafts such as Vampires, Hunters and Canberras were already in operation.

He said Indian test pilots were the first ones that the British agreed to train at the training facility in Chillbolton in the U.K. and Indian test pilots excelled in both Chillbolton and in Kanpur where the tropical test was carried out.

“We should have developed Gnats as an interceptor and earmarked that aircraft for further development into air-to-air interceptor,” he said. Air Marshal M.S.T. Wollen, Air Marshal P.K. Dey, Air Marshal Denzil D. Keelor recounted their experience of flying a Gnat in both the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan and Pakistani radars could not detect Gnats. Their talks were full of valorous stories of the pilots and their aircraft.

A film “The Gnat Brotherhod” made by Dipti Bhalla and Kunal Varma was released on the occasion. The film showed snippets of the war and the air superiority of the Gnats.

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