On 19 Feb 1944, No. 7 Sqn, Indian Air Force, flew into a storm and into its darkest day.
The Vultee Vengeance was the IAF’s first bomber. Hard-hitting and utterly unforgiving.
The squadron moved to Campbellpur (Attock) on 4 July 1943 and remained there for nearly eight months. It was a rare stretch of uninterrupted preparation. Routine flying, navigation, bombing and gunnery filled the days. Frontier exercises were held at Miranshah in November and at Nowshera in early December.
One of only two IAF squadrons on the type, No. 7 Sqn prepared to go to the Burma theatre. On 31 Jan 1944, nine Vengeances led by CO Sqn Ldr HN Choudhari struck targets in Waziristan with direct hits. Four days later, the same men beat the Government College hockey team.
A young unit. Learning war. Finding rhythm.
Orders then came for an Army Co-operation exercise at Maharajpur, Gwalior. The advance rail party left on 7 Feb. The advance air party followed on 16 Feb, led by Flt Lt Pinto, a future AOC-in-C of Western Air Command. The main body waited out the bad weather.
On 19 Feb, conditions had still not fully cleared. But the move could not be delayed. The first batch of two aircraft reached Maharajpur safely. The second batch of nine Vengeances, which departed the same day, ran into poor visibility and dust storms. Choudhari led them out. The storm swallowed the formation.
Three aircraft crashed. Two crews were killed outright. A third Vengeance, flown by Fg Offr Gocal, force landed at Lahore. His crew survived, but the aircraft was written off. The remaining machines fought through and reached Delhi.
Five men did not return.
Fg Offr Rachhpal Singh, 21.
Fg Offr Ajit Singh, 22.
Fg Offr Mangal Gururajrao Sitaram Rao, 26.
Sgt Muhammad Ali Khan Darling.
AC2 Wadekar.
Two days later, Fg Offr Rikhye travelled to Lahore to attend five funerals. On that same day, the squadron flew four sorties in the exercise at Gwalior.
There is something in that detail that resists easy description. Not bravado. Just the exacting professionalism of men who knew precisely what they had chosen. The Vengeance would claim more than twenty-five IAF aircrew in accidents during its short service. But 19 Feb 1944 remained its worst single day in Indian service.
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