Congratulations Alma mater NTS@75 !
Missing a date with my alma mater to celebrate its Platinum Jubilee would remain one of my biggest disappointments in recent times. Friends tell me that it was a fantastic show. I for one see that as a missed opportunity to see in person a living legend, Air Mshl Vir Narain and meeting many a revered senior and friend.
My first posting to 10 Squadron, was an entry into a big family of Maruts at Jodhpur - the three squadrons were lined up on a long dispersal. Pilots from the other squadrons sometimes flew with us and despite it being a big constraint, air bottle starter trolleys were readily shared by the EOs. Youngsters bouncing the other squadron parties were heartily welcomed.
A perfect world for me, however, changed when I applied for the Flt Signallers Course. But for a change in track, I would perhaps have had a much longer stay with Maruts followed by another fighter sqn posting. I would hopefully move to a modern fleet like Jaguars, before switching over to radars/ communication like the other AE(L) officers. That would have been a dream run like many of my friends. But what turned out was fascinating and enlightening too.
April to October 1977 was an amazing time at NSS. We learnt about a whole new world of air operations. I do fondly recall the wonderful faculty of officers and airmen led by our CO, Wg Cdr RK Vohra. From the Signals’ faculty, Flt Lt DR Belle (veteran Wg Cdr) and Flt Lt W Raymond (Veteran AVM) were the two role models, most closely associated with us . Flt Lt Rana N Singh (later Gp Capt) made Navigation as a subject interesting and easy for us. His chants of ‘Variation West Magnetic Best’ and ‘Variation East Magnetic Least’ ring in my years even today. The most interesting aspect of our training was the Morse. MWO Guy Thomas was a master at it - his Morse transmission was faster and clearer than his speech. Morse somehow came to me easy to keep me way ahead of my course mates. Ironically, most of them were posted to Jorhat to struggle with Morse while I headed to 6 Sqn with Super Connies and had no further requirement to use Morse.
Brushing shoulders with Super Connie and Canberra crew for five years in 6 Sqn was an eye opener. Pilots were always the icons. However, now I closely saw another set of brilliant professionals, the navigators.
Last year I had suffered from a terrible attack of cervical spondylosis and spasms. A friend, anaesthesiologist and a veteran of hundreds of open-heart surgeries was most supportive. I was amazed at his appreciation of the field of medicine and medical care way beyond his speciality. “You are like our brilliant navigators.” I said to him, and continued, “You don’t perform surgeries yourself. But that gives you time to step back and appreciate the whole process better than the surgeons themselves.”
I recall that Balu Sir’s (veteran Wg Cdr Balu Narayanan) presence in the cockpit was a big morale booster. Standing behind the pilots, he also had an eye on the Flt Engineer’s panel as he communicated on VHF R/T. The pilots had a marked sense of comfort with Balu behind. In fact, we had all highly experienced navigators, who brought quiet assurance to us. The 6 Squadron tenure also had me in awe of our Canberra crew especially the navigators, who had an extremely demanding role in those bombers.
The navigators’ glory seemed to be gradually fading after retirement of the Canberra fleet. However, the induction of Navigators as Weapons and Systems Operators (WSO) in SU-30s and Combat Systems Operators (CSO) in C-130Js shall revitalise the whole lot into an operationally sharpened workforce.
Long live TERNS in their new Avatar!
May the NTS go on to produce top-of-the-line air warriors!
Pramod Athawale
A beautiful piece, Sir. It is time you wrote your memoirs. And, if and when you do write about your days in the AF, do remember Tezpur.
ReplyDeleteThis post sent me on an errand back in time. I have spent some of the best days of my service life with Navs in PTS. Happy and proud of my association with each of them.
Thanks Ashok.
DeleteYou reminded me of the great time at Tezpur, thanks to Babs Sir, our AOC.
Sadly, we lost him early!
Pramod
It is the style of writing among other things that charms you.Easy and empathetic,happy and welcoming with stings that caress rather than bite.A long flight back and across only to return back with a bag full of memories - a journey thru time.The writer reminds us not to forget the silent and invisible glue that makes the awesome picture.A tribute from the heart feelingly written for the Navigator and the all the other crew who together make the big bird fly.
ReplyDeleteYes sir,I've been fortunate to have also seen formidable Navs from the likes of Tuts Ghosh, Dicky and RPM Nair of the pioneering ELINT flight of Canberras,to the Awasthis and Duggals of AN-32's and IL-76 day in day out computing release points for the exit of combat freefallers from the high perches at several thousands of feet to the current one Gp Capt Shahjehan of IDSA who has done his Doctorate in Disaster Management and was part of the advisory team to Geneva at the UN on deadly weapons.But,I gather despite the new roles given to the bright Navs there aren't many promotions that should be their real integration or recognition.
Thanks Banjo,
DeleteBesides enriching the content, your comments to every post make a complete story.
All the NAVs remembered by you have indeed been awesome.
It is nostalgic to remember them.
Pramod
Thanks dear Pramod.
DeleteYour recollections of NSS Begampet took me back on my memory lane to years 1976 - 78. It was my best of my flying time just after 6 years in Dragons, Pune. You even remembered MWO Guy Thomas. Our beloved CO Vohra Sir was a fantastic leader who made our 2 years in Begampet most memorable. Lucky to be in touch with a gem like you.
God Bless you with best of health and happiness for ever.
Thank you for your affectionate response, Belle Sir.
DeleteBesides MWO Thomas, the other faculty members (WO PC Sharma, later AEB Examiner and JWOs Cutina, Udar, Nambiar.) were all outstanding.
I was fortunate to meet AVM SL Dutta (our Begumpet Station Commander) during veterans’ social gatherings in Delhi, till we moved out to Secunderabad in 2018.
What an exemplary gentleman our CI, Sqn Ldr Sharma was!
Fond memories, yes Sir.
Warmest regards,
Pramod
Dear Pramod, Congratulations on a very lucidly penned memoir - it flows effortlessly from one era to the next. Thank you very much for highlighting the professionalism and versatility of the Terns (Navigators) and their bird's eyeview perception of the things around. I particularly liked your example of Anaesthesits analogy, how they perceive situations - and likening it to Navigators' way of comprehending complex situations, which they are called upon to solve, at times when several other options don't seem to be a good choice. I think it is inherent in Nav Training, where you must first determine the prevailing wind velocity, apply the drift, apply the local variation and deviation corrections, etc. before arriving at the course to steer and the new ground speed! Things are improving with advancing technology, and the present day inertial navigation systems provide instaneous navigation information far more accurately and without tears - thereby spelling the death-knell of the cockpit navigator. But like most other specialities are branching out into sub-specialities and further into super-specialities - the need for Navigation to further sub-specialize is definitely relevant, what with Air Forces including the space realm into their folds. Where the requirement was to navigate on a spherical surface , now it will be to navigate in space with one or more dimensions added. It is sad to see our Air Force view the Flying Nav Branch as a threat to the higher vacancies of the Flying Pilot Branch (which had got triggered off when at a time there were four Nav Air Mshl's at the same time viz. Vir Narain, EPR Nair, DS Sabhiki and one more, maybe S Kulkarni), which so rattled the single seat lobby that they decided to strike at the roots of Navigation by stopping the Nav courses and deciding to close down NSS . They finally seemed to have achieved what they set out to achieve, ie finish off F(N) sub Branch. Remember that these WSO and CSO branches will be for five years, extendable by five years at a time with no dedicated permanent officers that have Navigation as a subject to learn and practice (like no QNI A2s or QNI A1s) who keep the Art alive with their passion and dedication. With emerging new technologies like drones and UAVs, and changing warfare scenarios, this "single seat supremacy" thinking will have to give way to meritocracy, with the best from the other branches too getting to give out their best to compete for higher vacancies - the sooner it is realised by the powers that be, the better for the Air Force and for the Country. 😊. Gp Capt Sunil Tandon
ReplyDelete