[PART 39] Indian Air Force Silences Radio Goa, Bombards Dabolim *Valmiki Faleiro's* series the December 1961 developments in Goa...
At 7 am, 18 December 1961, six Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft of IAF's 17 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Jayvant Singh from the Poona airbase and the Sambra, Belgaum airfield mounted a rocket and gun-cannon attack on the radio centre at Bambolim and destroyed it in 10 minutes. One of the Hunters was piloted by Flight Lieutenant (later Group Captain) Trevor Joseph Fernandes of Siolim (more about this bombing in the profile of Group Captain Trevor J Fernandes later in this book). With that single action, Goa was totally isolated from the rest of the world. Goans would never again hear the familiar 7 am welcome line of Radio Goa's Alvorada Musicala, the opening programme: "Aqui é Portugal, fala Emissora de Goa" (Here is Portugal, you are tuned to Radio Goa). Simultaneously, 12 Canberra bombers of 35 Squadron led by Wing Commander NB Menon from the Poona airbase, escorted by four Hawker Hunters of 37 Squadron also from Poona, dropped 63 bombs, each of 1,000 pounds, to disable the Dabolim runway. As if 63,000 pounds of explosive did not suffice, a second wave of eight Canberras of 16 Squadron led by Wing Commander Surinder Singh from the Poona airbase, escorted by four Hawker Hunters of 17 Squadron from Sambra-Belgaum, dropped another 48,000 pounds of bombs at about 7.40 am. Within 30 minutes, Flight Lieutenant (later Wing Commander) Vivian Christopher Goodwin was scrambled up to fly over Dabolim and photograph the bombing results. Damage to the runway was not satisfactory. Hence yet another bombing raid – Green 4 – with Flight Lieutenant Goodwin was undertaken from Poona with four unescorted Canberras (hence the name, Green 4). Green 4 dropped another 24,000 pounds of bombs at about 11.40 am, causing some damage to the runway. The Portuguese described it as the 'most violent' bombardment of the airport. The bombing of a civilian aerodrome was later debated. Intelligence reports, however, said the Força Aérea Portuguesa (Portuguese Air Force) had transonic jet fighters like US-made F-86 Sabres, a section of France-made Fouga Magister, some interceptor F-104 Starfighters and transport aircraft modified to carry bombs at Dabolim. With onset of the invasion, such aircraft would best be left grounded by immobilizing the runway. (As it transpired, there was not a single defence aircraft at Dabolim; it was false intelligence yet again.) The bombing, however, was largely ineffective. The quantum of 1,35,000 pounds of explosive rained down on Dabolim should have disabled many airfields its size. But most bombs were World War II duds, dropped from a height of six kilometres (20,000 feet, when the enemy’s obsolete 4 cms AA guns were ineffective at half that height). Many bombs went off target. Some unexploded ones were found – decades later – some distance away in the wooded hill slopes of Chicalim. Valentino Viegas, then a Goan youngster at Betim, now in Portugal, says in '18 de Dezembro de 1961 – Uma data histórica published in the Diario de Noticias' that he heard the deafening roar of the Hawker Hunters flying low over Betim towards Panjim just before 7 am on 18 December 1961. One neighbour said Panjim was bombed. Another said the explosions came from further afar. A curious Valentino hopped into a ferryboat to Panjim to find out. People walked briskly. Outside a café opposite Police HQ was a young mestiço (Luso-Indian) soldier, a known loudmouth, rifle in hand. Asked what he was doing, the soldier said he was ordered to remain there. When Valentino pressed for the reason, the big brag replied, “Recognising my accurate marksmanship, I have been posted here to take on the enemy transonics zooming overhead”. At the Adilshah Palace (governor’s office), Valentino saw the charade of troops crouched in combat position, their ancient Mausers pointing towards the river – as if waiting for a non-existent enemy to appear from the Mandovi amphibiously or from underwater and assault the palace. That was the tragi-comic reaction of Portuguese defenders – who, without requisite men, material and training, could hardly be expected to do anything better. During the second bombing mission (7.40 am), Flight Lieutenant Trevor Joseph Fernandes who was earlier part of the disabling of the radio centre at Bambolim, flew a Hunter to provide cover for the Canberra bombers. He noticed the tail of a Lockheed Martin Super Constellation sticking out of a hangar at Dabolim. He radioed 2 Tactical Air Centre in Poona for permission to immobilize the aircraft. Permission was declined ostensibly on grounds of possible civilian casualties. The real reason may have been to capture the civilian aircraft intact as a war trophy. The Super Constellation, a civilian aircraft belonging to the Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP, the Portuguese airline) was actually only one of three aircraft then present at Dabolim. The others were a Douglas DC-4 Skymaster of the local airline, Transportes Aéreos da Índia Portuguesa (TAIP) and a TAIP Viking undergoing repairs in a hangar, not visible to Flt Lt Fernandes from the sky. The TAP Super Constellation had landed early the previous night (17 December 1961) with a load of sausages. And by those sausages hangs a queer story. The Portuguese Air Force sought to transport ten tonnes of Instalaza anti-tank grenades in two of its DC6 transports to Goa. The DCs were denied landing at the American Wheelus Air Base in Libya. They returned to Portugal and chartered a civilian plane from TAP (the Super Constellation) to which the cargo was switched – now mixed with bags of sausages – but Pakistan refused to let them transport weapons through Karachi. The ordnance was offloaded and the balance cargo was allowed to proceed to Goa. When the TAP Super Constellation finally landed at Dabolim, anxious troops rushed to open the boxes, to be greeted by a strange sight: bags of sausages instead of boxes of grenades! The flight also brought a group of female paratroopers to help in the evacuation of Portuguese civilians. An officer wryly quipped, "Lisbon must have sent them to celebrate The Soldier’s Christmas." Had the sausages arrived with the grenades, and had the Panjim garrison launched them on the 7 Light Cavalry's Stuarts and AMX tanks at the open riverfront at Betim the next evening (18 December 1961), one shudders to think of the consequences for Panjim ... the 2 Sikh LI's artillery and armour had enough firepower to flatten the town. -- Excerpted from revised text of the book, Patriotism In Action: Goans in India’s Defence Services by Valmiki Faleiro, first published in 2010 by ‘Goa,1556’ (ISBN: 978-93-80739-06-9). Revised edition awaits publication. Photos [sent to some networks]: 1. AOC-in-C Operational Command, IAF, Air Vice Mshl EW Pinto at a jet fighter cockpit (courtesy: Bharat-Rakshak) 2. The disabled radio centre at Bambolim (courtesy: Bharat-Rakshak)