Military Digest: 60 years of MiG-21 in the Air Force and its first home in Chandigarh

The MiG-21s inducted into the No. 28 Squadron back then were the MiG-21 F-13 type, the older version of the aircraft. Seven officers had been selected by the Air headquarters to be sent for training on the MiG-21 in Russia, including Wing Commander Dilbagh Singh, Squadron Leaders MSD Wollen and S K Mehra, and Flight Lieutenants A K Mukherjee, H S Gill, A K Sen, Denzil Keelor and B D Jayal. Keelor could not complete the training due to medical reasons while Wollen later succeeded Dilbagh Singh as the Commanding Officer of the squadron and commanded it during the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

Incidentally, Wollen and Mukherjee were in the first MiG-21 crash which took place near Chandigarh in December 1963 when two of the aircraft collided mid-air while practicing for the 1964 Republic Day parade. At the time, no one could have predicted that the MiG-21 and its variants would be in the news for several crashes over the years that killed hundreds of pilots, eventually earning it the pejorative sobriquet ‘The Flying Coffin’.

In 1963, however, the induction of a supersonic aircraft in the IAF was a pressing need given our war with China and tensions with Pakistan. The USA had already supplied one of its newest aircraft, the F-104 Starfighter to Pakistan and there was considerable anxiety in the minds of the political and military leadership in India. The F-104 had also been considered by the IAF for induction, but the US was not very keen to supply them in large numbers in order to keep a balance between India and Pakistan. Incidentally, the F-104 Starfighter went on to be known as ‘The Widowmaker’.

The first six MiG-21s arrived in Chandigarh in April 1963 after they were flown from No.2 Equipment Depot Bombay to Chandigarh via Agra. They were earlier received in Bombay in a disassembled condition and had been put together by a team of Soviet engineers and were test flown by their pilots. The No. 28 Squadron rightly earned the name of ‘The First Supersonics’ with the induction of the MiG-21s and retain that name to date. The unit now flies the MiG-29 aircraft and is stationed in Adampur in Punjab where the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhary, a former Commanding Officer of the unit, flew a commemorative sortie on March 2.

Significantly, there had been efforts on the part of several US officials posted at the embassy in India as well as in the state department in Washington to urge their government to sell F-104s to India in substantial numbers. Their aim was to prevent India from entering into a deal with the Soviet Union as they feared that this would help the Soviets make inroads into the Indian military with subsequent supply of substantial military equipment, casting a heavy influence on the Indian military and polity. They were proven correct in the years to come.

Declassified records of the US State Department reveal correspondence with the US Embassy in Delhi where the latter pointed out that in the “absence of a favorable United States policy India will go to Soviets for military equipment”. The US Ambassador to India at the time, John Kenneth Galbraith, predicted then that if India decides to buy MiG-21 and/or other types of major military equipment from the Soviet, it will lead to a large number of Soviet technicians being introduced into the Indian defence establishment.

“There will be much closer association with Soviet Armed Forces than presently exists. The AN-12’s, MI-4’s, IL-14’s and HF-24 engines have already introduced some 200 Soviet technicians into Indian defense installations. Position of senior Indian officers who are presently pro-west in orientation and who do not want Soviet military equipment will be undermined. Five to ten years from now, strongly pro-west senior officers will be out of picture. Soviet training and technical advisors who would accompany purchase of Soviet equipment will have inevitable influence on younger post-independence Indian military officers now rising to position of prominence. Soviets will emerge as the defender of India against dramatic border enemies,” wrote Galbraith in a telegram to the State Department. Much of what he predicted turned true.