Thread by @AnchitGupta9

Galway Clash of 1962 - Helicopter Fleet and the untimely death of AVM Eric Pinto, the common thread to all of them - Late Flt Lt Satnam Singh Sondhi (5181) of the @IAF_MCC . Read on....(1/n)

In October of 1962, Galwan and Hot Springs were flashpoints of conflict with the Chinese and it was essential to maintain a presence. These posts were surrounded by the Chinese and the only way to service them was by Air, a practice still nascent at that time. (2/17)

On 4 Oct 1962, 1/8 Gurkhas were being replaced with 5 Jat at Galwan right under the noses of the Chinese. The ops was being carried out by 2 Mi-4 Hepts of 107 HU. On one such leg, one of the Heptrs had engine trouble and had to land on a river bed (in Hotsprings area) (3/17)

The pilots, Badhwar and Kiddo Narayanan started walking towards Galwan post but saw Chinese soldiers come down the hills for them. Badhwar intentionally slipped to show them that he was injured and was unable to move further. (4/17)

He sat down and tried to convey he had wounded soldiers onboard the helicopter. The Chinese did not seem to agree to that and ultimately he Narayanan started up the helicopter. Fortunately, the engine picked up. The Chinese at this stage started firing at the heptr (5/17)

Fortunately, with all the dust around the helicopter, the Chinese did not know where to aim. They managed to climb up but the engine started coughing again. By this time, we had enough height and we managed to land at Galwan. They would need to be rescued the next day (6/17)

No pilot competent to undertake this task was available. Flt Lt SS Sodhi, who was being trained for operations in the Ladakh, volunteered to carry out this hazardous mission though he had only 78 hours of flying on this type of aircraft and was not familiar with the area. (7/17)

Though risk was involved, Sodhi was permitted to proceed. He landed at the post successfully at approximately 1630 hours in fading light. Immediately after the servicing party had alighted, he flew out the stranded crew to a safer place. Sodhi got a VM for this act (8/17)

About a year later, on 22 Nov 1963, SS Sodhi was the pilot of the ill fated Chetak that crashed at Poonch having both the C-in-C of Western Air Command and the Army Command. Six including him were killed ironically. (9/17)

The recovery of that stranded Mi-4 at Galwan is another fascinating tale - Narayanan, along with the unit eng officer, A.K. ‘Mukho’ Mukhopadhyay, and technicians landed at Hot Springs the next day. The helicopter was given a thorough check up and flown out to Chushul. (10/17)

It was discovered that there were cracks in the rotor head and it would probably require to be replaced. Since they did not have a replacement rotor head and the tools, it was decided to leave the helicopter there. The helicopter remained at Chushul throughout the war. (11/17)

The Soviets did not have any insights and it was not possible to change the rotor head at Chushul itself. There was no crane that could lift the helicopter onto a flat top. Pinto, the C-in-C took the marginal call that aircraft would not be abandoned. (12/17)

Narayanan was detailed to fly out. Mukho accompanied him. Extensive ground checks were carried out and after the airworthiness of the machine was confirmed, Narayanan got airborne, with Mukho in the co-pilot’s seat. (13/17)

Since there were chances that the crack in the rotor head may expand and lead to rotor failure, it was decided to fly the helicopter at low altitude and at very low speed so that the chances of injuries in the case of the heptr suddenly falling out of sky were minimal. (14/17)

As they were proceeding towards Leh, Narayanan seemed to have misjudged his distance from the valley wall, the helicopter’s rotor hit it and crashed. During the crash, the revolver that Mukho had in his pocket went off and incapacitated him badly. (15/17)

Narayanan, though himself also injured, pulled out Mukho. The relief helicopter arrived there a few minutes later and picked up both Narayanan and Mukho and flew them out to the Military Hospital at Leh. Thus, eventually, the helicopter of Galwan fame was lost. (16/17)

Kiddo Narayanan, went onto to become the first Rotary Wing test pilot of India and was lost to a crash in 1970. Mukho retired from the engineering branch as an air marshal. (17/17)