Indian Air Force McDonnell Douglas A-4H Skyhawk

[comrade harps]

McDonnell Douglas A-4H Skyhawk
a/c IE1083, 8 Squadron, Indian Air Force
Personal mount of Flying Officer VK Heble
Bareilly, India, 8 December 1971

India had been in negotiations with the US Government with the intent to acquire the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk from 1964, well before the nation joined the UN and SEATO. The original discussions centred around the acquisition of a combination of A-4s and the F-8s for the Indian Navy, which was seeking replacements for its A-1 and FJ-3 fleets. Douglas was quick to pitch the A-4 to the Indian Air Force once India's UN membership was sealed, aggressively lobbying Indian politicians in a somewhat scandalous promotions campaign. In defiance of Air Force brass, who were seeking major purchases of the Avro Canada Buccaneer and McDonnell F-4 Phantom II to fulfil ground attack duties, the Indian government developed a joint requirement for the A-4 resulting in both services receiving aircraft built to a common standard. 132 A-4H single-seater and TA-4H two-seaters were delivered to India, the Air Force receiving 96 and the Navy 36, although the Navy later received an additional 24 A-4Hs from Air Force stocks during the 1970s. Ironically, the Air Force still went on to purchase 40 Buccaneer Series 51s and 88 F-4E/RF-4E Phantoms IIs and added a further 116 A-4N Skyhawks to their fleet.



The first A-4H Skyhawks were delivered to India in 1968. Based on the A-4F, these were similar to Australia's A-4Gs and contrary to popular opinion the H designation did not stand for Hindu, but simply identified the next variant on from the G. From 1970 to 1982 the A-4H fleet was used extensively on combat deployments on behalf of the UN and SEATO, seeing action with these authorities in Africa and South East Asia. Their most heralded operations, though, were missions flown during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War, the Skyhawk performing close air support and interdiction missions from land and sea against targets in both East and West Pakistan.




This A-4H, IE1083 of 8 Squadron, is depicted as seen in photographs before a mission against Pakistan's Murid Airbase on 8 December 1971. The squadron was formed in 1943 and flew the Vengeance, Spitfire, Bijalee, Vampire, Sabre and Marut before converting on to the A-4H in 1969. On 8 December 1971, four 8 Squadron planes lead by Squadron Leader RN Bharadwaj were dispatched on the unit's third raid of the war against the Pakistani Air Force based at Murid. Each Skyhawk was loaded with three Mk.16 1,000 lb fragmentation bombs fuzed for air bursts on a centreline multiple ejector rack and two external fuel tanks on the inner wing pylons. The A-4s of Squadron Leader RN Bharadwaj and his wingman Flying Officer VK Heble were armed with Mk.82 500 lb bombs with fuze extenders on the outer wings, while Flight Lieutenant Karambaya and Flying Officer Deoskar flew with Orenda 68mm rocket pods in these positions. Forming two pairs, each pair approached Murid from a different direction and their time over the target was separated by 30 seconds. Karambaya and Deoskar were the first in, their role being to suppress air defences; a mission they had previously accomplished on the second of the squadron's three attacks. Bharadwaj and Heble had also visited the base before, using Mk.14 1,000 lb high explosive bombs against a fuel storage site on the first of the unit's three missions against Murid, but this time their targets were a series of revetments housing Pakistani Air Force F-104G Starfighters.



All four A-4Hs returned to base safely and without damage and Indian post-strike analysis counted two Starfighters as probably destroyed with another damaged, with one fuel truck and a Bofors 40mm ack-ack site destroyed. It wasn't until the 2018 release of the book "In The Ring and On Its Feet - Pakistan Air Force in the 1971 Indo-Pak war" by Pakistan's premier military aviation historian Air Commodore M Kaiser Tufail (retd.) that the full extent of the raid's success was publicly revealed. Five F-104G Starfighters of Pakistan's 15 Squadron had been destroyed or otherwise damaged beyond repair by Bharadwaj and Heble's bombs, while the effects of the air defence suppression had destroyed not just the Bofors site and a fuel truck, but also resulted in a UH-H helicopter being gutted. Tufail noted that that two of the Bofors gunners were killed and in that nine Pakistani personnel were injured.




Air Commodore M Kaiser Tufail's book also shed new light on an incident related to this attack on Murid. Flying ahead of the Skyhawks were two F-4Es of 31 Squadron and two Mirage IIICHs of 15 Squadron. Using mixed fighter force tactics to counter the expected Pakistani interceptors, the F-4Es penetrated Pakistani airspace at medium altitude while the Mirages ingressed at low altitude. Encountering a pair of patrolling Starfighters, the Phantom II crews drew their opponents into a trap for the Mirages to use their AIM-9F Sidewinders to engage the enemy. In the ensuing battle Flight Lieutenant Sunil Chhetri was credited with destroying one F-104G while the probable claim by his wingman Flying Officer Jarnail Singh was not confirmed. Tufail's account of the incident reveals that the two Starfighters were actually Iranian F-104P aircraft, Iran's 15 Fighter Squadron having deployed to Pakistan to bolster the nation's air defences. Chhetri's confirmed claim was flown by Captain Masoud Shojaei and Singh's unconfirmed probable was an actual, the damaged F-104P being abandoned by its pilot, Major Ali Daei, about two minutes after disengaging. Both Iranian pilots ejected and survived the encounter.




A-4H IE1083 remained in frontline service until 1981, when it was retired from 20 Squadron as they upgraded to the Tornado IDS. In the meantime it had been upgraded to bring it up to a similar standard as the A-4N, the 20mm Colt cannon being replaced by 30mm DEFAs, the N's "camel" avionics hump, squared-off horizontal and vertical tail surfaces, extended jet pipe and braking chute being added and a Hughes Angle Rate Bombing System installed. The plane flew several combat campaigns beyond 1971, seeing action with 8 and 20 squadrons in South East Asia from 1972 to 1975 and returning to the theatre in 1979 following Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia. Lightened, with the avionics hump and armament removed, IE1083 was used for training duties and was seen undertaking target towing and dissimilar air combat sorties between 1985 and 1992, after which it was stripped for spares and broken up.

[zenrat]

 

[Old Wombat]

 

[Gondor]

 

[TheChronicOne]

Very good! 

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice idea. A Pakistani A-4 would not look bad either, esp. after the A-7 purchase from the USA had failed.

[comrade harps]

Nice idea. A Pakistani A-4 would not look bad either, esp. after the A-7 purchase from the USA had failed.

I'm thinking more along the lines of updgraded Pakistani F-5A or E, F-104* and Mirage F.1*, but a Project ROSE A-4 or A-7 would be an interesting build with the FLIR and whatnots.

*That's because I already have a PAF F-104G and a PAF Mirage F.1E built. Pakistan would be like my Italy, with the F-104S and upgrades etc. Maybe a combat two-seater in the strike role?

[Snowtrooper]

I'm thinking more along the lines of updgraded Pakistani F-5A or E, F-104* and Mirage F.1*, but a Project ROSE A-4 or A-7 would be an interesting build with the FLIR and whatnots.

*That's because I already have a PAF F-104G and a PAF Mirage F.1E built. Pakistan would be like my Italy, with the F-104S and upgrades etc. Maybe a combat two-seater in the strike role?

Pakistani F-5 upgrade with Chinese avionics and Iranian cooperation?