I came across this unI came across this unsung luminary of the Air Force pretty early in life when I was in Adampur on my second tenure in 101 Squadron in late 1976. My first tenure in 101 was on Su–7s in 1972–73 and this time I came back to 101, then commanded by Pratap Rao, in 1976 on MiG–21Ms as an instructor and a Flight Lieutenant. Jeff D’Souza was then in 1 Sqn on MiG–21 FLs. We didn’t spend much time in Adampur together and didn’t really get to know each other, in the sense that he didn’t know me but I knew of him and his wife Betty since we saw them around in socials and exchanged brief greetings. Soon, though, we were destined to be together for the Fighter Combat Leader’s Course in TACDE when I was detailed for the 11 FCL Course starting January 1978.
Unfortunately, that was not to be since I was taken off that course, as described in my article on Air Marshal Denzil Keelor published earlier, available at https:// www.vayuaerospace.in/article/835/ air–marshal–r–harish–masand– says–i–learnt–more–than–flying– from–them–denzil–keelor. In any case, our tryst was not overly delayed since I came to Jamnagar in March 1978 for the 12th FCL by which time Jeff was on the staff of TACDE having won the Jam Sattaji Sword of Honour for standing first in the order of merit in 11 FCL. While I was on the Course, Jeff Sir was a bit reserved with me like all other staff in TACDE due to reasons again mentioned earlier in the article on Denzil Keelor but Betty D’Souza was very friendly in the socials and I recall, even very enthusiastic in learning the new group dances like “Slosh” etc that I had learnt from Malini and was Linda McMahon and Betty D’Souza in TACDE. In any event, Jeff was a man of few words and spoke in a laconic manner with short and crisp sentences which sufficed to convey the meaning, particularly in debriefs for the sorties we carried out during the course.
Though reserved in that manner, he was always polite with everyone and always had a gentle hint of a smile even while giving out his one–liners with a great sense of humour. It was after the course when I got back on the staff of TACDE in September 1978 when Malini and I got to know Jeff Sir, Betty and their three lovely daughters, Sandy, Christine and Carol well. Betty and Jeff were then staying in the temporary accommodation called Honeycomb quarters due to lack of married accommodation in Jamnagar those days while Malini and I were given two–room accommodation on the other side of the Officers’ Mess called Honeymoon quarters.
Some other staff were staying in reimbursed houses in Mahavir apartments in town. Staying close–by meant we met fairly regularly, generally in the Officers’ Mess since none of our accommodation had the space or the wherewithal to entertain anyone. Even though Jeff Sir was more than four years senior to me in service, he was very easy going with all of us though that did not mean that professionally, we could take any liberties or adopt any short–cuts. This wonderful balance between professional and social interactions is what impressed me the most about Jeff and Betty those days. Unfortunately, once again our stay together was quite brief, and while we both went to Iraq together in July 1979, Jeff went to Tikrit as an A2 QFI while I was in Al–Kut on the FCL ticket; so our meetings were infrequent. Our paths crossed again soon when Jeff was the Chief Operations Officer in Air Force Station, Lohegaon Poona, or Pune now, under the command of Air Commodore JP Singh and I was posted there to convert 28 Squadron on the MiG–29s in June 1987. Even before our squadron received the aircraft in October 1987, I had been selected to demonstrate low level aerobatics on the MiG–29 and was given a few sorties to practice my profile under the watchful eyes and control of Jeff Sir. Jeff and I had sat together a few times over the demo profile that I had formulated myself keeping in mind the capabilities of the aircraft. After the sorties, the debriefs of these practice sorties were always pleasant and Jeff sir was always very encouraging while pointing out what the demonstration looked like from the ground from the eyes of a lay spectator as well as a professional fighter pilot with an eye for detail on what was being demonstrated. I still recall that I had formulated the on–base demo starting with a loop immediately after take–off and had found in my practice maneuvers at a safe altitude that 850 meters above ground on top of the loop at Poona was adequate to complete the maneuver and finish the loop over the runway with the bottom at 100 meters above ground. Jeff Sir advised me to aim for an altitude of 1000 meters on the back on top so that I had more of a safety margin for recovery and any emergency.
One time, I did do the maneuver a little more tightly than I should have and found myself at 850m on top. While I completed the maneuver safely, Jeff Sir’s R/T call when I pulled out was, “That was impressive but close”. I kept that in mind in all my future demonstrations and always aimed for 1000 meters later making my own breathing a little easier during the demonstrations. In off–base demonstrations, the profile started with a run–in on the back for the last 2 km of the run–in. In one of those practices, Jeff Sir warned me about a bird in my path when I was over the dumbbell and while I quickly came upright and tried to evade the bird to the left, it did graze the leading edge of my right wing and we abandoned the practice. Fortunately, after landing we found no damage and just a graze. Much later, when I was doing the demonstration over Tilpat for the Air Power demonstration in February 1989, I recall the briefing given to me that I was to continue with the demonstration unless it was a major bird–hit which affected the performance of the aircraft or flight– safety with me being the sole judge to decide. In those moments, I always recalled Jeff Sir’s advice to keep safety as Priority–1.
Fortunately, I never had to take that call in any future demonstration. Operationally, Jeff Sir was always very supportive of the Squadron’s efforts to operationalise as soon as possible and made very facility available to us whenever we wanted to fly regardless of the constraints on him in terms of holidays, manning et cetera. Soon, by January 1988, I had got a major portion of the pilots operational and we were being pulled away for various exercises in the Command and even detachments outside the Command. Both the AOC, Air Commodore JP Singh on whom I will write separately, were truly supportive of the fledgling squadron attempting to rapidly operationalise and extended every possible help, operationally as well as administratively. The environment in Poona those days was one of good will and trust which made my task much easier than if I had to struggle in a tense environment watching my six all the time. The social scene was also very lively with a lot of bonding between the station officers and squadrons. Even when we formulated fresh tactics for the employment of the aircraft, Jeff Sir was totally supportive and made the controllers and staff in the GCA help us perfect our intercept profiles.
In April 1988, 28 Squadron was completing 25 years of formation on the MiG–21, being the first to induct the aircraft, thus rightly earning the sobriquet of “The First Supersonics”. Quite frankly, when I first proposed to my own guys in the squadron around January 1988 that we celebrate the silver jubilee of the squadron in some style, the response was quite lukewarm since most pilots were busy with being operational on the aircraft while even the technical crew had their hands quite full setting up the maintenance facilities and SOPs while also servicing the aircraft for our daily flying training. All of us were also moving around quite a bit on detachments since the new aircraft was in great demand. This is when both the AOC, JP Singh, and Jeff guided and encouraged me to start planning the silver jubilee celebrations since both were also ex–28 Squadron. Fortified by their encouragement, I laid it clearly to the squadron that silver jubilees don’t come every year and if we don’t mark this occasion in the manner befitting.
The First Supersonics, we would be losing a great opportunity to showcase the squadron and also paying tribute to our predecessors who had brought the squadron to the level of professionalism and excellence that we had inherited. Fortunately for us, just before we finalised the dates and sent out invitations, Air HQ issued preliminary warnings about evaluation trials against the Mirage 2000 planned in late–March to early–April 1988 with me designated as the leader for the MiG–29 fleet and Jeff Sir as the umpire and planner/moderator, assisted by three TACDE staff pilots as flying umpires. Considering this exercise, we just shifted the dates for the silver jubilee celebrations from the 1st of April by about two weeks. Unfortunately, JP Sir got posted out just before the exercise and Silver Jubilee celebrations and we had Air Commodore IS Bindra as the new AOC which somewhat changed the dynamics on the ground. Anyhow, Jeff now got down to planning the conduct of evaluation exercise, named “Lightning” by HQs and since I was with him for most of it, I got to see the meticulous way he went about it from real close quarters. I have described the exercise in a lighter vein in an article entitled “Rivals from the Same Team” published in an old Vayu Issue, which includes the verse penned down by Joe Bakshi entitled “Countdown at Lohegaon” describing the western style gunfight between the Mirage and MiG fleets, but for those who may not have read that article, I would repeat some of it with the intent of highlighting the planning and decision–making abilities of Jeff Sir. Fortunately, Jeff was a reputed professional, as clearly evident from my mention of the Sword of Honour in the FCL Course, and at the same time liked and respected by almost everyone due to his gentle and smiling ways; not that he couldn’t be firm and forceful when the situation so demanded. The AOC, Air Commodore Bindra, had left it completely to Jeff to run this exercise, having just taken over the base and with little familiarity with the MiG–29, and was hardly ever seen even during the debriefs for the sorties. In the welcome address to the Mirage team under CO 1 Squadron from Gwalior, “Pudding” Ahluwalia, and the initial exercise briefing Jeff had made it clear to everyone that ego and one–upmanship would not be tolerated and while each specifically planned mission would be flown realistically to the limits of the aircraft performance, the set rules of engagement and flight safety limits were not to be violated.
Also, considering the sensitive nature of the information gathered during the exercise, single handwritten reports would be generated by each side and would be collated, finalised and forwarded to higher HQ personally by him. Since the story of the exercise is given in more detail in the previous article that I have referred to, I would not dwell on the conduct itself except to make a mention of the cool and calm manner in which Jeff handled the debriefs, particularly when Pudding was upset with the results and would try to influence the conclusions in favour of the Mirage and also ask for repeat shoots. What happened at the conclusion of the exercise is where Jeff came into his true being and my respect for him grew manyfold. The exercise got over on 14th of April and I invited Pudding to dinner in the most expensive hotel/restaurant in town those days, the Blue Diamond, to soothe ruffled feathers and the bruises and also convey that there were no hard feelings. Quite obviously, Jeff was also invited for this farewell dinner, of sorts. After a few drinks, Pudding got carried away and said words to the effect, “Khapusky, the Mirage is actually better, at least in the instantaneous rate of turn but you did not let anybody else fly the MiG– 29 for this comparison. Let’s do a 1vs1 before we leave tomorrow, just you and me, engaging each other straight after take–off right overhead the airfield. You take–off on 28 and I will take off at the same time reciprocal on 10”. Jeff was enjoying this conversation with his usual wisp of a smile and winked at me to encourage me to go ahead and take him on. Obviously, taking off reciprocal simultaneously even on different lanes was crazy and considering that AOC Bindra was already not too fond of me, after a bit of talking around this issue, I proposed that we take–off separately with a break between each of us so that it sounds like two aircraft taking off for an air test or the ferry. I proposed a short profile timing each aircraft from wheels roll.
The profile was loop after take–off, a 360 degree turn ending with another loop with the whole sequence being timed from start to finish with a time–keeper from each fleet and Jeff being the Chief Umpire. The aircraft with the lesser timing to do the whole profile would have proven its performance along with the skill of the pilot. A case of Black label was agreed as the bet. As I wrote earlier, Pudding still owes me eight bottles but the main issue here is the risky decision that Jeff took to close this argument once for all by permitting us to do all this. If AOC Bindra had found out about such a fly–off, Jeff would surely have been in a lot of trouble. I already was with the AOC.
Months whizzed past in the numerous detachments for the Squadron and Jeff left us for Air HQ in what seemed too fast for me. However, in the time that we spent together in Poona, Malini and I spent some good times with Betty and Jeff while also getting to know their three lovely daughters, Sandra, Christine and Carol better. Thereafter, we lost touch for while; remember those days there was no internet, mobiles or WhatsApp and other messaging services and our contact was essentially through exchanging greetings on Christmas/ New year. However, we did meet, as it happened infrequently, when Jeff Sir was in Western Air Command and then NDC whenever I passed through Delhi. As it happened, Jeff Sir led a team of foreign students from NDC to Poona when I was the AOC in February 1998. I received and welcomed the team in the early evening but there was some confusion since CME, Poona was supposed to look after the visit but their liaison officers and transports did not turn up. After a short wait, I invited Jeff Sir and the team to be our guest in the Officers’ Mess for a while till the issue was resolved. While we were having drinks, our PMC and others were resourceful enough to organise 30 odd rooms, including some with families who volunteered to keep these guys for the night, to accommodate the lot in case CME did not turn up at all. That turned out to be a good party because the liaison officers and transports from CME only showed up at about 10 pm when we were finishing dinner. Some of the foreign students did not want to leave at that time of the night and asked if they could stay with us, the Air Force, at least for the night. Once again, Jeff Sir just smiled and winked at me to keep them if I could which I did.
The party carried on for much longer after that with the students who had stayed back. After their visit, I got a great letter from Jeff Sir appreciating the hospitality and resourcefulness of the Air Force Station. I believe he also sent a copy of the report highlighting this to Command HQ, to little effect though. In this episode, the manner in which Jeff encouraged his subordinates to do more than what was normally expected of them was something I would carry with me forever. Soon after in March 1998, Jeff Sir retired and settled down in Poona while I was still there so Malini and I got to see Betty and all of them more often. The D’Souzas were great hosts and always ran an open house welcoming all their friends with open arms and warm hospitality. They also joined us in the base, particularly on Air Force Day and other personal events. As it happened, after I got posted out to Air HQ in June 1999, Malini had to stay back because of our daughter, Ruheene’s, school term and Board exams for the 12th. When Malini went into hospital soon afterwards for treatment and I was attached back to Poona to take care of her, we spoke often though I could not socialise much and meet the D’Souzas often. However, the D’Souzas were always concerned about Malini’s ailment and came to see her and give us moral support. Unfortunately, Malini passed away in 2012, after six years of my retirement and a few years later, even Betty passed away. While the loss obviously hit Jeff Sir hard, he was stoic enough to take it in his stride and take whatever life had handed out to him with equanimity and noticeable fortitude.
Whenever I pass through Poona even these days, I always spend at least one evening with Jeff Sir and I always find him warm and friendly with his usual smile and some jokes when we reminisce about old times. I had once mentioned even to AOC Bindra that his second in command, Jeff D’Souza, was sure–shot Chief material; unfortunately his age was against him. While Jeff Sir retired as an Air Vice Marshal, I always felt that with his professional acumen and personality, he could have been an asset to the Air Force if he had had his date of birth right for his course. Even today, some folks, who served under him in 45 Squadron or Gorakhpur, both of which he commanded, still call on him to pay their respects and partake a bit with him. Commanders like that who are still respected years or even decades after retirement are rare and this fact speaks for itself as to why and how I learnt so much from Jeff and Betty D’Souza.
The author of this series: Air Marshal (R) Harish Masand seen here at Aero India 2009 at Yelahanka, Bangalore.