Immediately after commissioning in 98th GD(P) course on 31 December 1967, all of us in the fighter stream were posted to the two Vampire squadrons in Pune (then spelt as Poona), 220 and 221 squadrons, more for marking time, or “Kadam Taal” as the term in drill and marching signified. This was essentially to while away some six months since the Air Force had a surfeit of pilots, after the large inductions following the 1962 debacle against the Chinese with an aim to expand the Air Force, but didn’t have the aircraft or squadrons where we could be accommodated. Even the Operational Training Unit (OTU) in Jamnagar to convert us on Hunters was running a backlog and didn’t have any place for us. I have already written a piece on my OTU days with a focus on the Commander, Cecil Parker, which many of you may have already read. So, here we were in a city like Poona as young and energetic budding fighter pilots with just 20 hours to do on Vampires in six months and a little flying with the local 6 Squadron, operating the L–1049G Super Constellation, to accumulate what was then popularly known as bounty hours. The distractions in Poona were plenty so we didn’t really mind since such distractions kept us occupied and entertained in more ways than one, particularly after the hard grind in Hakimpet. Poona those days was a nice clean city with a cosmopolitan outlook and a forward– looking gentry led by the Parsis and with a large contingent of the Army in the Cantonment area, NDA at Khadakvasla and CME at Kirkee. The last had an annual river dance event which was much sought after by all but restricted to a few select outside folks, especially those with the better looking daughters, only by invitation. Somehow, by various crooked means, I managed to get in that year and had a memorable evening that I haven’t forgotten yet.
My coursemate Mohan Dikshit’s brother was settled in Poona and we also spent many enjoyable evenings with Ashok and Suman Dikshit, either in the Mess, or in the Club as their guests. There were also plenty of great restaurants in the city, including Greenfields, where we dashed across many a times in the mornings in my Ambassador for “Keema Parathas” as breakfast before anyone in the Squadron even realised that some of us were missing. Those days, from the Air Force in Lohegaon to Main Street in Poona took less than 15 minutes. In addition, Bombay was next door with all its glitzy attractions and I also spent a few good weekends there with my roommate, Hufrid Mullaferoze. To be honest, with all these distractions and sporadic flying without much of an objective, it was difficult to concentrate on professional aspects till we were introduced to a new phase of air to ground armament. It was then that I first met Flt Lt Alan Maurice Mascarenhas who was early 1968. ‘Mascy’, as he was known by those close to him but ‘Sir” to us, was a reputed Pilot Attack Instructor (PAI) who had been on the staff of PAI school in Jamnagar as a Flying Officer, as per what we heard on the grapevine. We were also told that he was a Sword of Honour winner from his course and had also performed brilliantly in the PAI school. That was the reason why our CO of 220 Sqn, then Sqn Ldr MV Kashikar, had invited Mascy over to introduce us raw pilots to the brief armament phase and give us dual checks on rockets and guns at the local Lohegaon Range which was active then. Sadly, by the time I went back to Poona 20 years later to command 28 Squadron, the Lohegaon range had been crowded in by construction all around with some portions of it also encroached on, making the range unusable. It was thereafter used essentially to house the SAM squadron.
Quite frankly, Mascy was tall and skinny and, if I may say so, not very personable at first sight. Also, what really worried me was that his hands noticeably shook when he tried to light his cigarette while briefing us on the theoretical aspects of the armament training on a small black board on a stand with 3–4 of us standing in front. I remember reaching out and lighting his cigarettes since Mascy was almost a chain smoker. Be that as it may, he was there briefing us. The thought of flying with him also crossed my mind and the visualisation of that was not too pleasant and, perhaps, a little daunting. Amazingly, however, the moment Mascy took the chalk and drew a diagram on the board and wrote something or drew a diagram, the drawing was accurate and like a beautiful painting which had been taken straight out of a book. So was his handwriting which was like it had been printed in one of the font choices you get on the computer these days. Also, the way he explained the gyro gunsight and its peculiarities, in brief that time, was truly amazing. That comforted me somewhat and we went on for the dual check.
TACDE Graduation with Mascy and Deshu
As per my log book, I did the dual check with Mascy for Front Guns in the vampire trainer BY–424 on 22 April 1968. Mascy let me do the take– off and proceed to the range, guided me along for the safety height run at 100 ft AGL to get the perspective of the target and the pull–out height and then onto a circuit before the dummy dive. On base–leg, just before we had to roll into the dive and attack, he took over controls and asked me to follow him on the controls while keeping my eye on the Gyro Gun Sight in the gun mode. To my surprise, I now found not a trace of a tremor in his hand on the controls and the ‘pipper’, or the aiming index, on the gunsight followed a smooth curved path to the target and stayed glued on the target throughout the attack with very minor and smooth movements of the controls which were barely noticeable. He then let me do a few practice dummy dives and said he would demonstrate a rocket attack even though the Rocket Projectile (R/P) attack dual check was to be done later. Once again, when he rolled into the R/P attack, the bottom of the bottom diamond, which was the aiming index, smoothly came on to the target and didn’t move from there throughout the attack even though the gyro was far more sensitive after unlocking the sight for R/Ps in the dive. The bank to cater for wind came on so smoothly that it was hardly noticeable with the arc joining the bottom of the diamonds in the sight intersecting the target almost like the sight had been glued on to the target. I just couldn’t help but glance inside and look at his hand on the stick to see if there was any tremor but found it rock–steady. On the ground, during the debrief, I again offered to light Mascy’s cigarette but this time he politely declined and managed to light his own with much less tremor in his hands as if the sortie had given him a big boost.
That was the only time I saw or flew with Mascy in Poona. In late 1969, Mascy was posted to 37 Squadron in Hasimara wherein I had already spent about a year by then. Wg Cdr PJ ‘Jackie’ Jakatdar was now the CO after ‘Rusty’ Sinha left us and Jackie Sir had made me the adjutant almost immediately after taking over and was teaching me the nuances of administration when Mascy came in as a Sqn Ldr with Sqn Ldr AB Samanta as the senior Flight Commander. For some strange reason that he never spoke about, Mascy took a liking towards me after he flew a couple of sorties with me. He showed this by bringing across a few files almost every other evening to his room, which was just 20–30 yards from my room and within hearing range, and then call me over with a yell as soon as it got dark, “Khappe, come over I want to discuss so–and–so issue”. Mascy was a very intelligent person with a great reading habit which made him very knowledgeable on almost every subject under the sun.
Over a drink, we would quickly resolve the official issues which were on file and then spend the rest of the evening talking about various other issues. He did most of the talking while I just listened since there was not much I could contribute to a discussion on subjects like astronomy or space or even philosophical issues which were way beyond my level. I later figured out that Mascy, while being very intelligent, was also very sensitive and perhaps a little lonely so the excuse of getting official work done between the Flight Commander and the Adjutant was essentially to have some company and someone to talk to. Frankly, after a few such sessions, I really didn’t mind in the end because of all the knowledge I gained, in what was almost like a “shishya” listening to his Guru. Once again, I found that while his hands shook while pouring a drink or lighting a cigarette, the moment he started writing on files or making a draft for the CO, his handwriting was truly like it was printed. What impressed me most, however, was that Mascy kept a clear head and would start a conversation on topics ranging from carpentry to astronomy after the formality of office files was over and his knowledge on all such subjects was absolutely amazing. I learnt a lot of stuff from Mascy on such wide– ranging conversations on various non– professional subjects, as also tried to improving my GK by reading a lot more than just while away my time on mundane things.
In Hasimara, apart from partying amongst ourselves or with newly acquired friends in the tea plantations, there was not much to do and plenty of time to read. In the squadron, Mascy soon started taking detailed lectures on professional subjects, particularly related to armament work which included about a dozen sessions on the Gyro Gun Sight (GGS). While many of my colleagues found these sessions boring and, sometimes, too technical to follow, I was truly fascinated by the way Mascy explained the whole GGS theory in detail, including gimbals and precession, and tried to absorb most of it. Much later, while doing the FCL course, I was asked to speak on the GGS theory and thanked Mascy for what he had taught me. In addition, even though I was still U/T Ops, Mascy started letting me make the flying programme regularly and help out in the running of the flight office.
Assessing the GGS recorder films in both air combat manoeuvres and air to ground attacks also became a part of my job and I soon became pretty good at debriefing folks on their films, all due to Mascy’s guidance and prodding. He also pushed and quickly had me cleared for lead even before I had obtained Ops Day status in October 1970. Because his speech was sometimes more of a sputter and came in short bursts, a lot of folks used to make fun of him but I became protective of him because I somehow sympathised with him and understood the loneliness he felt. In September 1971, Mascy finally got married to a lovely person by the name of Corinne and the whole squadron celebrated and received the newly weds in a cycle–rickshaw when they arrived in Hasimara just after the 1971 War in January 1972. Corinne and Mascy initially settled down in the MES Inspection Bungalow next to the Officers’ Mess till they got a house in the newly built married accommodation close to Jaldapara sanctuary across the runways, where they were regularly ‘bounced’ mainly due to Corinne’s warmth and hospitality.
However, I did once make Mascy very angry with me when I rejoined circuit at low level and high speed with an inverted pass at the ATC as the leader of a 2 aircraft formation. Mascy immediately called me to the office and fired me for such indiscipline, something I truly deserved, and grounded me for three days. While Mascy was absolutely right in taking such action, I took these three days as time off from my hectic schedule as the adjutant and caught up with my professional reading. I must admit that Mascy didn’t carry forward his displeasure with me after this incident and I remained his trusted lieutenant through the rest of my tenure in 37 Squadron including during the 1971 War.
As a matter of fact, I was supposed to fly as his wingman in the very first mission of the War on 4 December 1971. Unfortunately, his aircraft developed a hydraulic leak after start–up and I had to take his place as Number 3 in the formation led by the CO, ‘Suppi’ Kaul. When I got back from that mission after downing a Sabre, Mascy was perhaps the most elated person and kept patting me on the back even at the end of the day. Next day, I did fly as his wingman in the same 4– aircraft formation to try and lure the Pakistani Sabres to engage us in air combat. Unfortunately, the Pakistani Sabres wisely declined this challenge and we flew unopposed all the way to Dacca and back.
Later, on 10 December, when I was coaxing Rajesh ‘Laloolee’ Lal back from Lal Munir Hat and asked him to put the aircraft down at Cooch Behar, Squadron Leader AA ‘Bozo’ Bose had come up on the radio and asked Laloolee to eject but Mascy intervened with, “Khappe’ is handling it, let him do it”, showing full confidence in my abilities to guide Laloolee’s stricken aircraft to safety. I had published that story in the Vayu Aerospace & Defence Review magazine in 2014. Mascy also taught me some basics of Air Force customs and traditions in this tenure. When ‘Suppi’ Kaul took over command of 37 Squadron on 1 April 1971, he was the fourth CO most of us youngsters were seeing. So, after the usual greetings on arrival of the CO and Mrs Nita Kaul to the Mess for the Air Force Day party, remember 1 April those days was the Air Force Day, all of us had drifted to the bar leaving Suppi and Mrs Kaul with all the senior lot of the station. Mascy came to the bar after a short while and sailed into all of us with a few choice words for leaving the new CO and his wife in that manner, particularly pushing me to go and give Mrs Kaul some company. Reluctantly, I had gone over and after a few pleasantries, asked Mrs Kaul whether she would like a drink since she didn’t have a glass in her hand. The idea was that once she asked for a soft drink, I would disappear again after making sure a waiter took the drink to her. As it happened, Mrs Kaul sweetly said that she was waiting for someone to ask her and to get her a Gin–n–Lime. Mascy soon joined us in what turned out to be a lot of Gin–n–Limes and a fun evening. But then, that is another story and I am drifting off from my subject today.
Even after I got posted out to Sukhoi–7s and 101 Squadron in December 1972, and Mascy moved to ‘P’ Staff in Air HQ, he kept me and my career in mind though we didn’t ever talk because of the poor communications those days. In early December 1973 when the signal came for me to go for the Flying Instructors’ course in FIS Tambaram, Mascy called me and said to be sure to see him when I passed through Delhi. I did so and had a wonderful evening with Corinne and Mascy during which he also cautioned me that I was not doing too well in my annual reports and if I wanted to pursue a good career in the Air Force, I had better do well in FIS. When I really did do well in FIS, in June 1974, Mascy was on the phone with his compliments and abuses flowing in a very effusive manner. Soon, I caught up with Mascy and Corinne in Jamnagar when I went to do the FCL course in TACDE in March 1978. He was then a Wing Commander posted as the O i/c Flying cum Flight Safety Officer, I think. Once again, when I did well on the course, Mascy’s happiness seemed to have no limits and we celebrated together in the graduation dinner, as the picture with ‘Deshu’ Sir and Mascy would show. Corinne and Mascy were still there in Jamnagar when I came back on staff of TACDE in September 1978. Corinne and Malini also got along like a house on fire and we spent many enjoyable evenings together. Unfortunately, we left for Iraq from there in June 1979 and Mascy drifted out of the Air Force as a Wing Commander in 1980.
I next met them while driving through Bangalore to Wellington for the Staff College in January 1982 and again when the Staff College Special train was parked at Bangalore Cantt Railway Station for a few days while on the industrial tour. Mascy was staying a stone’s throw away from Bangalore Cantt. Railway station in his ancestral house on Kemp Road and I saw them almost every other evening when free. This is the time when I got to know the two lovely daughters, Priya and Maya, that they had. We kept in touch like this whenever I passed through Bangalore, and even with Corinne after Mascy passed away. Last I saw Corinne was in October 2021 while in Bangalore for the Golden Jubilee of 1971 war. In between, both of their daughters, Priya and Maya, settled down in the US and Priya even came to see Malini and all of us in San Francisco in 2012 with her husband from San Jose a few months before Malini passed. Maya is in the East Coast in New York but we haven’t seen her there yet. Mascy was a true mentor for me and guided me from the time I first met him in Poona in 1968. I owe him a great deal because if he hadn’t pushed me hard, I may not have achieved what little I did in the Air Force. A very intelligent and capable pilot and also a brilliant officer who unfortunately got way laid by a quirk of fate.
The author of this series, Air Marshal (R) Harish Masand, seen above 3rd from the left.