Writer: Major Aamir Cheema, Retired

(Story of a great escape of the complete Army Aviation Squadron personnel from erstwhile East Pakistan in the early hours of 16 December 1971 to avoid an imminent surrender)

In 1969, Pakistan Army inducted its first twin engine helicopters (MI-8) and a new squadron No.4 was raised. In 1970, the squadron was deployed in East Pakistan, initially for rescue operations in the aftermath of 'November Cyclone-Bhola' and later a chain of events made its presence a compulsion. During the counter insurgency operations that spanned from March-November 1971, No. 4 Army Aviation Squadron played a key role in undertaking the first ever heliborne operation at Belonia. During the war, the twin engine helicopters were employed extensively for ammunition replenishment at posts and for carrying out anti heliborne operations. One MI-8 helicopter was destroyed during one such operation.

Lieutenant Colonel Syed Liaqat Bukhari (later SJ and Brigadier Retired) was the commanding officer of No 4 Squadron. This squadron had twin engines MI-8 helicopters and single engine five seater French Alouttee helicopters. One company of 299 EME Battalion was responsible for the maintenance of these helicopters.

15 December 1971

During the routine conference at Headquarters Eastern Command at Dacca, Brigadier Baqar Siddiqui, the Chief of Staff (COS) Eastern Command informed the participants, including Commanding officer (CO) of 4 Squadron, regarding the impending surrender next morning, and also gave instructions to destroy all equipment including helicopters. However, CO of 4 Squadron managed to get permission from Lieutenant General Niazi, Commander Eastern Command to fly out the helicopters to Burma. Rear Admiral Shariff, the naval Commander in erstwhile East Pakistan supported the idea and it was approved. The presence of twenty odd female military nurses at Dacca was the key factor in allowing the helicopters to fly out.

Eastern Command retained one Alouette helicopter alongwith two pilots and one flight engineer to meet any requirement. All in all, three MI-8 and four Alouette helicopters were to fly out, leaving one Alouette helicopter behind. MI-8 in normal conditions can take twenty fully loaded soldiers, however in this peculiar situation, it was now fitted with two additional fuel tanks inside the fuselage, thus reducing the space. Moreover, the overall weight of MI-8 with full fuel of three thousand litres left very little space and weight for the passengers; it was estimated that fifteen - twenty ladies was the maximum safe weight.

Hours after the conference, Lieutenant Colonel Bukhari was busy with his officers in chalking out the escape plan, it had to be meticulous and precise in terms of flying route, height, communication and above all the fuel and weight calculation. It was obvious that MI-8 would require two hours and thirty minutes of flying at the minimum to reach Akyab in Burma; the nearest place. The most difficult and painful decision was whom to leave behind as Alouette pilots. Draws were held and names of Major Tauheed and Major Zareef came as pilots, alongwith Major Ejaz as he was the only flight engineer on the Alouette.

Dacca had two serviceable airfields before the war. Tezgaon was the main airfield being used by PIA and PAF, it was now unserviceable due to enemy strafing of the airfield. Kurmitola was another airfield a few miles northwest of Tezgaon, but it was also unserviceable. 4 Squadron in any case did not require any runway, its helicopters were parked in a scattered manner; for the escape night, the helicopters were parked in the golf course, the area between the two airfields.

After two hours of briefing and planning, the pilots reached the golf course knowing that it was going to be their last flight. It was a mixed feeling on one hand; the very idea that the war has been lost, was too depressing. On the other hand, the feeling of carrying on the flight was a driving force. At that stage it was not realised by anyone that it would be a surrender. To almost all, it was a mere ceasefire.

In November 1971, almost all military families were ordered to leave. The majority had left, yet many were still living in Dacca and this was the last chance for them to escape. At 0200 hours when the pilots reached the helicopters, there was a feeling of anxiety. In pitch dark night there were noises of crying, weeping and praying. The news of helicopters flying out and imminent surrender acted as wild fire in the cantonment. Lieutenant Colonel Atif Alvi (retired) was a boy of six. He recalls, 'my father was an officer in the Eastern Command, he came home and took my mother and my elder brother with him to the place where helicopters were parked. We had a few bags which were thrown on the golf course: The wife of Major General Tahir (retired) was a girl of five, 'my mother had tied the dupattas of myself and my sister so that we should not be lost in that chaos:

 Pilots had a tough time even to enter the helicopters, as the area was jampacked. A decision had to be taken and quickly. All boys above age ten were ordered to leave the helicopters, no luggage whatsoever, and even then the helicopters were brimming. Major Ali Kuli Khan (later Lieutenant General) was the co-pilot and as such was occupying the right seat in MI-8; 'at the last moment with rotors running, all of a sudden I find a small baby being lifted by hands and being offered to me, a family unable to find the space in the helicopter pleaded to take the few months old baby. I had no option but to slide the window enough to take the baby and passed it to the flight engineer who passed to one of the women among the passengers' (The baby is now a grandfather!).

The three MI-8s lifted off with over 100 women, children and seriously injured soldiers at 0335 hours local time. In the darkness, with people still milling around, it was a miracle that these helicopters managed to gain speed using ground cushion, enough to clear the trees and gain transitional lift. Major Manzoor Bajwa a senior pilot in terms of flying hours narrated; it was pitch dark, our navigational and safety lights were off due to security reasons, radios were also off and I concentrated on maintaining direction with the compass; fear of a mid-air collision was the greatest threat and fear at that particular time. Our flight path was a bit erratic, as we first flew towards the south and then towards south east. The major reason was to avoid the anti-aircraft guns.

Lieutenant Colonel Bukhari was leading the formation, which in the absence of radio and navigational lights, was now a matter of life and death for the pilots. During the planning phase, it was stressed that we must keep our stations and not drift inwards ... we had to fly low initially, and only after half an hour we had to gain height, but not above one thousand feet ... Indian radar at Agartala and Coxs Bazaar were the main threat. At 0515 hours, the MI-8s crossed into Burmese airspace and at 0545 the first speck of light appeared on the horizon. 'I pondered in disbelief, the helicopter had drifted over the sea ... there was no sign of ground below me, and neither was there enough fuel ... thankfully after a few minutes I saw the ground and realised that I am still on the track: recalls Brigadier Jawahar. At 0605 hours, the three MI-8s landed at Akyab. All in all there were 123 passengers. One Army Alouette and PAF Alouette also landed behind these big birds. It is worth highlighting that three Beavers of Plant Protection Department also made good escape from Dacca, on the same night.

One Alouette had failed to start and its pilots Major Masood Anwar and Major Sagheer, after three attempts to start, realised that the battery had gone dead, and drove back. Thus there were two Alouettes now at Dacca on the morning of 16 December 1971. 'Around 1130 hours, we decided to pay a visit to Eastern Command ... the surrender was planned at 1300 hours.. .in this melee we met PAF officers and decided that we must now escape ... we drove to our helicopters and enroute had a narrow escape when we bumped into an Indian army jeep ... we reached our Alouette: recalls Lieutenant Colonel Masood Anwar.

Major Tauhid, Major Zareef and Major Ejaz Minhas were at Kurmitola airfield. 'We conveyed to them our plan and they agreed to escape; we procured one battery from the stores and rushed back to the golf course. After installing the battery, we were able to start the helicopter and took off. We flew low, very low and soon joined the other Alouette. We had extra fuel inside the helicopter and we refuelled after landing the Alouette at an isolated place; it took us no more than five minutes to do so. Ten minutes short of Akyab, we established radio contact with Akyab: recalls Lieutenant Colonel Masood.

On 26 December the families were moved to Rangoon and airlifted by PIA to Karachi. The helicopters were later painted white and flown by our own pilots to Mandalay on 28 December 1971. In the first week of January 1972, our pilots were flown back to Karachi whereas in second week of January 1972, the pilots were flown back into Burma where they took over the helicopters and air tested them. Initially the plan was to fly them into China, but at the last minute it was changed, and the helicopters were flown to Bangkok, from where they were transported back to Pakistan on 26 January 1972 on a C-130.

Notes

1. Notable pilots of MI-8, No. 4 Squadron were Major Ali Kuli Khan Khattak (later lieutenant general and CGS), Major Akram (later brigadier retired), Major Manzoor Bajwa, Major Ali Jawahar (later brigadier retired), Major Zahur Ahmed (later brigadier retired), Major Riaz Ul Haque (later SJ and brigadier retired).
2. French Alouette helicopter were flown by Major ZareefBangash (later TBt and colonel retired), Major Sagheer, Major Patrick Tierney (later lieutenant colonel retired), Major Nauman (later colonel retired), Major Tauheed and Major Masood Anwar (later lieutenant colonel retired).
3. Major Ejaz, Major, Pervaiz Yousaf (later lieutenant colonel retired), Captain Yousaf Anwar (later lieutenant colonel retired) and Captain Wali Raja (later lieutenant colonel retired) of 299 EME Battalion were responsible for the maintenance of helicopters.