A World War Two Pilot's Story - Wing Commander HK Patel

1939-45 SECOND WORLD WAR

AN AIRMAN'S TOUR IN BURMA

CONVERSATIONS WITH WING COMMANDER HK PATEL (RETD)

Introduction and Summary

Sometime in May 2002, I received an email pointing out several mistakes in our 'No 1 Squadron in the Burma Operations 1941' Photopage. The mail was from Wg Cdr Hoshang K Patel, a World War Two veteran who served with No.1 Squadron as an airman, before earning his commission and training as a pilot. Wg Cdr Patel communicated with us thru his son, Naushad who not only painstakingly clarified several of our queries, but also patiently scanned and rescanned several photographs from Wg Cdr Patel's collection and emailed us regularly.

So when the opportunity came for us to visit Bombay, we just could not pass up a meeting with Wg Cdr Patel. We met Wg Cdr Hoshang Patel at his home in Pali Hill in Bombay on the 25th of August 2002. It was to be an introductory talk that would give us an idea about those days during World War Two. Naushad Patel, his son was there too. Also with us was Mukund Murty, family friend of the Patels. It was Mukund who first referred Wg Cdr Patel to visit the Bharat Rakshak Website.

Initially, we asked about some ops details in Burma and how he came into the IAF. We showed him a photograph of No.6 Squadron from the IAF book ‘Sentinels of the Sky,’ which had only two members identified in the photograph - Sqn Ldr Mehar Singh and Flt Lt M S Pujji. Wg Cdr Patel was able to identify all but two of the members in this particular photograph. He had only one comment on the publishers of that book "Why couldn't they have asked someone like us for the names or any other information - we could have advised them!"

This photograph appeared in 'Sentinels of the Sky' , a Coffee table book published by Air HQ. Only MS Pujji and Mehar Singh were identifed in the book. We could identify Wg Cdr Patel in the picture and knew that he would be able to tell us who the other members were - Sure enough we were not disappointed.

From L to R: Flt Lt MS Pujji DFC, Fg Offr HK Patel, Unknown, 'Doctor', Sqn Ldr Mehar Singh DSO, Fg Offr Bhattacharjea , Fg Offr ED Masillamani, Fg Offr LRD Blunt, Flt Lt JD Acquino, Fg Offr Aziz Khan.

There was another picture in the 'Sentinels' book that purported to show a group of Indian airmen with a Lysander of 1 Squadron. Wg Cdr Patel stated that he was quite sure that the photograph was not of No.1 Squadron at all. Wg Cdr Patel shared with us some names from the first tour of 1 Sqn. In Dec. ‘41/ Feb ‘42, like Deuskar and Dhora (who were killed when their Lysander overturned on landing), Raza and Rajendra Singh. There were a good number of people from Bombay who served with the Squadron.

Interview at the time of Joining the IAF -

Wg Cdr Patel recollected the days when he joined the Indian Air Force. His primary education was in a village school in Nargol, Gujarat from where he went on to college in Bombay. Good conversational English was a prerequisite before joining the Indian Air Force as an Officer. Since he was poor in this when he was called for the interview, he was told that he may not get into the IAF as an Officer. Without much deliberation, Wg Cdr Patel asked to join the IAF as an Airman. Flt Lt Aspy Engineer who was on the interview board, dissuaded him from Joining. The story is continued in Wg Cdr Patel's own words:

Sqn Ldr Mukerjee was the head of the Interview board at that time. Flt Lt Aspy Engineer was also there in the interview and he said, "Hoshang, don't join the ranks, Parsi boys from Bombay cant take the tough life there". Meanwhile a skinny Malayali corporal came to him for some signature or something. After he left I asked, "Who is that man?" "He’s corporal so and so.." was the answer.

I said to them "Will you ask him to wrestle me, run 100 yards dash, or a 1 mile race with me? I will beat him in all, and I mean it!"

"So You still insist on joining?" said Aspy.

I said "yes"

"You promise never to blame me? Because all the Parsi boys who have signed up are blaming me saying that I promised them heaven," asked Aspy

I agreed - and I found myself in the ranks in the Indian Air Force.
Airman Training

From the day I joined I started building up on my English - for this was the reason that I could not apply as an Officer in the Indian Air Force. First I managed to get a small pocket dictionary and later, any literature that I could think of. Read, read, read, pronunciations, meanings, subtleties, differences in meanings, and gradually I came up in my knowledge of English. So much so that before I could leave that School, a British Flying Officer (or Flt Lt) called me aside and said "Why dont you apply for pilot training". I said " I will never get selected" "But why?" so I told him why. "I am a reject so far as they are concerned". So for the sake of that I joined No 1 Squadron, which Sqn Ldr KK 'Jumbo' Majumdar was commanding. We went to Burma to do our tour of ops,
Operations at Toungoo, Burma 1942

When we were in Toungoo, We were being bombed from morning to evening virtually every few minutes by the Japanese. And the mess was blown up. So we were stuck to our Barracks all around. Out of the Squadron strength of about 200-250 odd people, there were about 15 or 16 Parsi’s. They were the rowdiest crowd that you can think of.

Crying Wankadia

There was a chappie named Wankadia. Every time there was a raid, you know, he laid shivering in the trench and crying away like hell. Literally crying! And then, during any break in the bombing, people had to go to the airfield to service the aircraft. The Lizzies were not flying, but we still had to look after them and service them. The RAF operated Brewster Buffaloes on the same field on the other side.

The American Volunteer Group, which became the Flying Tigers, under General Chennault was also there. Chennault became the air chief of the Chinese air force during that period. Very interesting person. He married a Chinese woman also if I know rightly. He was very fond of the Chinese and China. But I think he was in the army-air force reserve or he had just retired or something like that, when the war broke out.

So anyway, Wankadia was working on an aircraft and the bombing started. So as usual he jumped into the trench nearest to his aircraft and started crying like hell. Nearby, an aircraft of No.28 RAF Squadron virtually got a direct hit. An RAF ammunition mechanic who was working there got hurt very badly and was shouting for help. So Wankadia, still crying, ran to the aircraft amidst the falling bombs, hauled him out, dragged him to the trench and resumed his crying.

When the story about "Crying Wankadia's gallantry" spread, people started asking him as to why he cried when he was actually so brave. He said "You think I am afraid for myself? I am a married man, I’ve got a child, I am worried about them. What will happen to them if I am gone? I’m scared of that, not (for) myself! "

Friendship with Niranjan Prasad

One of the well-known personalities in Post Independence Indian Military History was Maj Gen Niranjan Prasad. Maj Gen Prasad was the divisional commander at NEFA before the Chinese offensive in October 62. It is not well known that Maj Gen Prasad also served as a pilot in WW2 with the Indian Air Force, even commanding No.8 Squadron in battle. Wg Cdr Patel was a good friend of Niranjan Prasad right from his first tour of operations flying Lysanders in Burma.

"Officer Airman relationship was very good when I was in Burma with No.1 Squadron. For example, Niranjan Prasad was shot down once. He baled out and he had either fractured or dislocated his ankle. Either he was shot down or was it engine failure - I don’t know. There is an interesting story here. After Niranjan Prasad baled out of his Lysander, he landed in a Burmese farmer's field. The farmer graciously gave him rice wine and his daughter fed him Khao Shwe. Next day Prasad returned to Toungoo, much more exhausted than when he left!

Niranjan Prasad was completely immobile at that time when he came back to Toungoo. That was the first time I met him. I remember that he was one of the first courses of the Indian Military Academy. If he felt like it he would wear the Army uniform with army ranks, or sometimes he would wear the air force uniform as a Flt Lt. And he was not the only one. Pakistan Air chief Asghar Khan, he was also from the Army. Flt Lt DAR Nanda was from the Army; he ultimately retired as an Air Vice Marshal. So there were quite a few Army chaps who had opted during the war to come to the Air force, went thru flying-training and flew with us. And Niranjan Prasad even commanded a Squadron (No.8) in operations. Niranjan Prasad went back to the army because he fell out with the British chief. And to the best of my knowledge he was the only man in the allied armed forces who was a Captain when the war started, and was back as a Captain again when the war ended. But what a dear, dear person he was. He had his limitations, and he got on the wrong side of the people in the army also. He was blamed for the debacle at NEFA, when actually the people to be blamed are Pandit Nehru, Krishna Menon, the CBI chief and Gen Kaul. Those are the people who have to be blamed. We all get too wise too late and, I am sorry to say, Prime Minister Nehru had no time to receive any professional advice.

Pilots of No.1 Squadron on the lawns of Miranshah mess, 1947. From L to R : Sam Pedder (Back to the Camera), Doctor ?? , Cipher Officer ??, F/O HK Patel, F/O Cariappa , Major Niranjan Prasad (Sola Hat), Gupta (Standing.

So, coming back to my story, when Niranjan Prasad got shot down, people went to work and he was left alone except for the cook. So I said "Sir anything that I can do?" He said, "Whatever you can". So I used to get up early, help him to the toilet, wash, change, polish his shoes, and he became so sentimental about it saying "Please don’t , please don’t. You don’t have to do everything". I said " An army jawan would have done that as your batman" I said ". So what, if I do it!" Only after he was comfortable would I take a truck and join the rest of the crowd at the airfield.

He never forgot that.

After that we met quite a few times. Once, when he had already left the Air Force and gone back to the army as Captain, as luck would have it, I was commanding a flight in Miranshah in 1944 as a Flying Officer. By coincidence, Niranjan Prasad happened to be my Ground Liaison Officer (GLO). This was when I was in No. 7 Squadron. I told my boys, "From today onwards, you will address him as Sir - not as Niranjan". He said "No, you cant. You don’t have to call me that". I said "Tomorrow if you become Major, I will have to call you Sir. Moreover, I have never called you by your first name – ever! This is the first time we are meeting after the Burma Operations and its my privilege to call you Sir."

Niranjan received it very nicely. He did become a Major later when I was still in Miranshah. Then we parted company and then met again in the National Defence Academy, I was Squadron Leader and he was a Major General, Commanding the Indian Military Academy, which was the military wing of the National Defence Academy. There were two wings at that time, both located at Dehradun. One was at Clement Town - that was the Joint Services Wing. And this one was called the Military wing. It was a marriage of convenience at the time. And then when the National Defence Academy buildings came out in Poona and moved out, it again reverted to Indian Military Academy. I was commanding the 'Fox' Squadron at NDA."

Wg Cdr Patel's path with Maj Gen Prasad was to cross again, this time in much darker and tumultuous times - during the 1962 India-China war. That episode is narrated at the end of this series.

Naked running in Bombing raids.

One of the anecdotes that was much heard about but never put down anywhere in writing was the story of two erk's who ran naked during a Japanese Bombing raid - all to win a bet.

"In addition to the rowdy Parsi crowd, one of the people to join 1 Squadron was a Gujarati of all people. He name was Agha. Agha was foolhardy, just like a Parsi. He was known as "Green Gujarati". So during the air raid, one chap named Elavia went up to Agha and said "Agha, If you can run from this trench, completely naked, to that barrack over there and come back while a bombing raid is on, I will give you two annas.".

Agha said "You do that, and I will give you Four annas". Elavia agreed

"My turn first" said Elavia. Before he stripped he said "You know I am a Parsi, I cant remove my sadra and kusti". Agha said "Alright then hold up your sadra while you are running so everyone can see everything!"

So Elavia had to agree. He raced from the trench to the barrack and back, completely naked except for his held-up sadra, and jumped into the trench

Now Agha said "My turn". The bombing is still going on. Agha strips himself completely to the skin, then starts walking about casually, and wanders to an adjacent trench where there was a senior man, a Sikh chap crying away. So he puts one leg on one side of the trench and the other on the one side and says, "Arre Sardarji, Aap rote hai?" The Sikh says "Are tumhay maut ke liye sharam nahin hai? Nikal yaha se!" So he carried on and, equally casually, he strolled back and jumped on Elavia "Now you give me my two Annas"

They were an absolutely mad crowd. I bumped into him (Agha) only once after he retired, Elavia went to Australia and I believe he died over there.

Every time there was a raid, the Parsi boys used to sing, you know, the mouth organ, playing and all in the trench, and behaving completely undisciplined. But when it came to work, they worked. So when Squadron leader Majumdar, he brought the Lysander Squadron from Bombay, thanked Bombay for giving them the aircraft, he made a reference on All India Radio. He said "Yes..Rather a rowdy bunch, but they were extremely good for morale. Nothing, but nothing, will stop them from singing, and playing their mouth organs, and clapping, shouting, laughing."

Finally when the Squadron moved back from Toungoo all Lysanders, except for three, had been handed over to the Burmese Air Force. Air Commodore Homi Ratnagar, who is now settled in Secunderabad, has confirmed this."

Sometime in Mid ‘42, the Illustrated Weekly of India brought out an issue on No.1, with the cover showing an illustration of a Lysander taking off dramatically between bombs and shelling. The cover was entitled "last aircraft out of Burma" and was said to be a photograph of Raza's Lysander.

Call for Flying Training

Even though he had missed out getting selected as an Officer, HK Patel got another chance soon after returning from the first tour.

After the operations the Squadron came back, first to Secunderabad. Here Sqn Ldr Mukherjee took over. One day he looked at me and said, "I seem to have met you before!" I kept quiet - I did not tell him about our meeting at the Airmen selection Interview.

The Squadron then moved to Trichnopoly and about that time they had put down on the daily routine orders that "all those people who want to fly can put in your applications". So many people applied that they decided to interview everybody. The requirement was for twelve people but they interviewed twenty-five.

When my turn came up to be interviewed, it was during working hours. I was in my overalls, my hands were dirty and I had just seen an aircraft off. So they saw me like this, sat me down and grilled me "you have come dressed like this?" "I have just seen off an aircraft and..." I didn't have a watch but I was looking at the time and said "... and I have to receive another aircraft in another twenty minutes time". So They asked some questions to which I replied formally. The questions were technical, about flying, what you would do under certain circumstances, etc etc.

The Second Interview

Not soon afterwards HK Patel would be called out for a second interview - as it turned out, a very crucial one. For this was to be the turning point in his career. Wg Cdr Patel continues his narration:

And then there was a second interview. This time, the second interview was after working hours, so I went properly dressed .

And the first thing I saw was that Niranjan Prasad was on the board along with Lala Rupchand, our first ambassador to Afghanistan, then a Flt Lt - Adjutant. His father has taken a promise from everyone not to allow him to fly. The Squadron Commander and Lala Rupchand were both very good old friends. But still, he was not allowed to fly. Poor chap, he didn't even know his left from right when it came to marching - he was that naïve!

I remember the time while we were in Toungoo where we were being bombarded for nearly twelve hours in a day. I had to go to their HQ for some work and while i was getting out, he (Rup Chand) comes following me and plaintively asks "Patel, whats going to happen?". Airfield was bombed, morale was absolutely low. I said "Don’t worry sir, our day will come". He says "My God, you are brave aren’t' you?" He didn’t know that even I was shivering down my back.

So anyway, in the interview, the first thing that Niranjan Prasad says is "Ah, so you have come properly dressed!" I said "Sir, Its after duty hours". And they asked me various questions.

One question was "Supposing you are still flying Lysanders, you are in an area where there is no aviation fuel and you have a service-able aircraft. Will you let the serviceable aircraft use vehicle fuel?"

I said, "yes, I would, under certain provisions".

He says "What provisions?"

I said, "For every gallon of vehicle fuel, I would use a pint of engine oil."

"Why on earth would you do that?" They themselves didn't know why.

I said, "Motor fuel is highly explosive. You want a fuel that has got a slower burning process. M.T. fuel would backfire or blow inside the engine. So in order to cut down the combustion rate, you have to add oil, because there is no other additive available"

"And you would do this?"

"If its a case of life and death, why not?"

Then they started asking me questions on various other things; somehow I gave the proper replies. Mukherjee says, "Supposing you are not selected this time, what would be your reaction?"

I said "none at all, "

"You wont be disappointed?"

I said No.

"Why?"

"Because I feel I wont be selected. I know this because there are several people who are at a marginal age level, 26-27, if they don’t get a chance today, plus they are people known to you. There are air gunners, wireless operators, You know…. I think they have a priority. And there is a need too"

"Then why did you apply?"

I said, "I didn't apply - you called me, but I didn't apply". And I started to get up.

"No we haven't finished with the interview - Sit down"

Some more questions were put, and then the Interview finished. I smartly saluted and left.

It turned out that on the list of 25, my name was the last. Instead of the twelve needed, they selected thirteen people. Mine was the thirteenth name in that list.

The first Identity card held by Wg Cdr HK Patel immediately after completion of Officer training. The photograph shows him as a Flight Cadet from 1942.

Anyway there was still a time lag before I went for flight training. By that time Calcutta had been bombed, Madras was in danger, and something or the other happened. And there was a blockade. So I had to wait for nearly six months before the call came out.

During which time I was doing my advanced course on airframes as a mechanic at Ambala. They were still on Hurricanes, Wapitis and Audaxes. Even then I had already come from a Lysander Squadron, they had still not changed the course. But this advanced course was really advanced. It did not matter which airframe or which engine. "

Wg Cdr Patel then reported for flying training afterwards. Soon he was commissioned with Service No. 2376 and reported to No.6 Squadron in the Arakan Operations.

Next: No.6 Squadron and recollections