A War Hero-Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry, Sitara-i-Juraat

Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry was born on 27 August 1941. He was a Pakistani academic, human rights activist, and veteran fighter pilot. 
Cecil Chaudhry's family was the only Christian family of the village Dalwal, located in the Salt Range. His father, Elmer Chaudhry, hailing from East Punjab and then based in Lahore, was chief photographer with The Times, Lahore, as well as a  Physics and mathematics teacher at St. Anthony's High School.

As a flight lieutenant , Cecil Chaudhry fought in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 and later, as a Squadron Leader, in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

Flt.Lt Cecil Chaudhry

With the launching of the Indian attack at Lahore-Kasur front on the morning of 6th September 1965, neutralisation of the PAF should have been a logical first step. 
Strong on the heels of its air support to ground troops in Lahore, the PAF decided to follow up with pre-emptive strikes against Indian airfields and radars.
The lynch pin of War Plan No 6 of June 1965, it called for neutralising vital elements of the IAF at the onset of hostilities. 

An ambitious plan that featured late afternoon strafing raids against four airfields and three radars was chalked out. It involved 46 aircraft from Peshawar, Mauripur and Sargodha. 

In the event, a host of factors militated against the plan; these included demands for air support to the Army, major air defence commitments and reduced aircraft availability due to battle damage and other unserviceabilities.

Sargodha, which was to provide the bulk of the aircraft, had to have its fleet augmented with twelve Sabres and six T-33s from Mauripur. 

When they did arrive, it was too late for rectification of serious defects with some of the Sabres. Worse yet, the Sabres had been despatched unarmed and, it had been left to the Maintenance Wing at Sargodha to speed-load over 21,000 rounds in the 72 guns!

Despite all the efforts, Sargodha was able to produce only twelve Sabres to target Adampur and Halwara airfields and Amritsar radar. 

The Station Commander Sargodha, Gp Capt Zafar Masud called up the C-in-C to inform him that only four aircraft each would be available for the three targets and suggested that the whole operation be delayed by 24 hours. 

This would allow preparation of the entire complement, besides giving a breather to the more experienced aircrew that had had a hectic day and were to lead again.

With the Peshawar Sabres all set to attack Pathankot, and Mauripur B-57s standing by to follow up with night strikes, the inclination to go ahead was further reinforced. Gp Capt Masud was therefore ordered to proceed without any more discussion.

Exasperated but not wholly discouraged, Masud called up the Assistant Chief of Air Staff (Operations), Air Cdre A Rahim Khan and urged that eight aircraft should be dispatched against a single airfield instead of being split between Adampur and Halwara.

Alerted by the Pathankot strike that had taken-off earlier, other airfields would have been swarming with interceptors; the meager four-ship packages would thus have little chance of getting through.

Rahim discussed the idea with the C-in-C who remained adamant about attacking both the airfields. Once again, an ostensibly reasonable suggestion was turned down.
When the eight aircraft finally started up at Sargodha, one was found to be un-serviceable and there were no reserves. The final un-serviceability of yet another Sabre just before take-off, was good enough reason to have concentrated against a single airfield, but the die had been cast.

(L to R) - Flight Lieutenant Cecil Chaudhry, Wing Commander Muhammad Anwar Shamim and Flight Lieutenant Imtiaz Bhatti with an F-86 Sabre photographed during 1965 war.

Led by "Sqn Ldr Sarfaraz A Rafiqui", with 'Flt Lt Cecil Choudhry' as No.2 and 'Flt Lt Yunus Hussain' as No.3, the three-ship formation of No 5 Squadron "Falcons" hurtled across into enemy territory in the fast fading light. 
Sqn Ldr M M Alam's formation, also of three aircraft, which had taken-off ten minutes earlier, was returning after an abortive raid on Adampur. 
Four Hunters, themselves proceeding on a mission against Pak Army formations, had bounced them. Rafiqui was warned by Alam's section to watch out for Hunters in the area.

At Halwara, IAF's No.7 Squadron equipped with Hunters had flown four strikes during the day. These were armed reconnaissance missions, which had little success in finding worthwhile targets.
The fourth and last strike for the day was on its way to the precincts of Lahore, when it had encountered Alam's formation near Tarn Taran. 
In that engagement IAF Sqn Ldr A K Rawlley's Hunter impacted the ground while Alam fired at him from astern. The remaining three Hunters aborted the mission and were taxiing back after landing, when Rafiqui's formation pulled up for the attack at 1753 hrs (PST).

That evening, two pairs of Hunter Combat Air Patrols were airborne from Halwara; one from No.7 Squadron with Flt Off. P.S Pingale and Flt Off. A.R Ghandhi and the other from No.27 Squadron with Flt Lt. D.N Rathore and Flt Off. V.K Neb. 
Pingale and Ghandhi were in a left-hand orbit over the airfield when Rafiqui broke off his attack and closed in on the nearest aircraft. Rafiqui's guns, as usual, found their mark. Pingale, not sure what hit him, lost control of his Hunter and ejected. 
Next, Rafiqui deftly maneuvered behind Ghandhi and fired at him, registering some hits. Just then, Cecil heard his Squadron Commander call over the radio: 
-"Cecil, my guns have stopped firing, you have the lead". 

Cecil promptly moved in to lead, with Rafiqui sliding back as wing-man. Ghandhi did not let go of the momentary slack and maneuvered behind Rafiqui who was readjusting in his new position. 
Ghandhi fired at Rafiqui's Sabre, but couldn't get him because of a careless aim. While Ghandhi followed the Sabre, Cecil bored in and shot him in turn, the bullets finding their mark on the left wing. 
Seeing his aircraft come apart, Ghandhi ejected near the airfield.

Running out of fuel as well as daylight, Rafiqui deemed it prudent to exit. Gathering his formation, he headed north-west, but with two more Hunters lurking around, a get away wasn;t easy. 
Happy on home ground, Rathore and Neb dived in to give chase. Rathore got behind Rafiqui who was on the right while Neb singled out Yunus on the left. 
Overtaking rapidly, Rathore fired from about 600 yards registering some hits. Closing in still further he fired again, this time mortally hitting Rafiqui's Sabre. 
It banked sharply to the left and then dove into the ground near Heren village, some six miles from Halwara.

Meanwhile, Cecil looked around and noticing Yunus in trouble called a defensive break. Yunus responded, but for some incomprehensible reason pulled upwards, assisting Neb to catch up. 
Neb did not let go of the chance and fired a well-aimed volley, which Yunus did not survive. 
A puff of smoke rapidly turned into a sheet of flame as the Sabre disintegrated in mid air and fell to the ground. Left alone, Cecil fought his way out and dashed across after a nerve-racking encounter.

On 15th September, 1965, in spite of insufficient information from Ground Radar, Flight Lieutenant Cecil Chaudhry pursued his attack aggressively on enemy bombers and chased them 150 miles from his base.

During the engagement, he destroyed one enemy Canberra bomber. The services rendered by him were beyond the call of normal duty and contributed a significant share towards Pakistan Air Force achieving air superiority.

For his bold leadership, Rafiqui was awarded the coveted Hilal-i-Jurat, while Yunus and Cecil won a Sitara-i-Jurat each.




On April 13th, 2012, Group Captain (retd.) Cecil Chaudhry died at Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Lahore. He was 70 years old and fighting lung cancer since last year. 
May his soul rest in piece.