Gnat fighter aircraft parked at both ends of the runway and then doing aerial surveys, the Indian Prime Minister’s plane making a stealth take-off, Pakistani prisoners of war sitting on the tarmac, handcuffed — these are the memories of a retired airport official who was on duty at the Calcutta airport during the war that started on December 3, 1971.
Now 87, D.N. Ghosh was the aerodrome officer at the Calcutta airport and was on duty at the control tower on December 3, 1971.
“In the evening, we received a call from a senior officer of the Eastern Command,” Ghosh said earlier this week.
“War has started on the western front. You take all measures regarding blackout and other things,” Ghosh remembered the army officer telling the airport authorities.
The airport was immediately closed for civilian aircraft operations, and runway and taxiway lights were put out.
Ghosh, originally of Salt Lake’s Karunamoyee, now stays with his daughter in Lancashire, England. He retired in 1996 as the deputy director, aerodrome (ATM).
Ghosh recounted his memories of the war.
Stealth take-off
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was in Calcutta to address a rally on the Maidan on December 3. The director-general of civil aviation had told the Calcutta airport that the Prime Minister should not be allowed to fly because of safety reasons, but she was determined to return to Delhi that night.
“It was pitch dark, but we had to facilitate the Prime Minister’s take-off. The radio transmission communication with the pilot could not take place because the enemy could detect it,” Ghosh said.
“We could only see the aircraft take off on the radar screen. It was escorted by two Indian Air Force aircraft.”
After the closure of the airport on December 3, a Scandinavian commercial plane to Europe wanted to fly over Calcutta and Karachi.
“We told the pilot that the Pakistan air space was closed and so, he wanted to divert to Sri Lanka and we helped him do that,” he said.
Unidentified aircraft
A couple of days after the war broke out on December 3, the Indian Air Force asked the control tower in the city if any aircraft had communicated with them to enter Calcutta’s flight information region.
“The IAF was coordinating with us and some of their personnel were also sitting in the tower. The IAF had its own radar, which probably caught two aircraft,” said Ghosh.
“We told the IAF personnel that no aircraft had communicated with us. They said these were then unidentified aircraft. These were enemy aircraft. These were surveillance planes entering India’s sky from then East Pakistan,” he said.
The airport officials on duty saw the heightened security measures after the two aircraft were spotted.
“Since the war broke out, two Gnat fighter aircraft were stationed on the two edges of the runway to protect the Calcutta airport from enemy attack,” said Ghosh.
“After the two intruder aircraft were spotted, the two Gnat fighter jets would constantly be in the sky, and not on the ground,” Ghosh said.
Civilian aircraft
The Calcutta airport was closed and only IAF planes would operate.
“All civilian aircraft were evacuated from the Calcutta airport. Indian Airlines had several aircraft parked at the airport. Those were flown to Nagpur,” said Ghosh.
This was done because the Calcutta airport was close to the East Pakistan border and there was a danger of an enemy attack on the airport.
Prisoners of war
After Pakistan surrendered to India and the war was over, one day, Ghosh and his colleagues saw a large number of soldiers from East Pakistan — prisoners of war — sitting on the tarmac of the Calcutta airport, handcuffed.
“They were in transit to some unknown destination. Calcutta airport’s huge tarmac was lying vacant because the civilian planes had been shifted. The prisoners of war were sitting there and we could see them from the tower. All of them were handcuffed,” said Ghosh.