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Time of India
10-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
Brave 300 rebuilt Bhuj runway in just 72 hours in 1971
Vadodara/Bhuj: On the night of Dec 8 during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, a squadron of jets from the Pakistan Air Force dropped 64 bombs on the Indian Air Force (IAF) airstrip in Bhuj, Gujarat. Damaged in eight places, the runway was rendered useless, leaving Indian warplanes no way to take off as the fighting peaked. That was when 300 courageous women from Madhapar, a village 5km from Bhuj, decided to step out. In just 72 hours, the women rebuilt the airfield which had been raided 35 times in 14 days, being struck by 92 bombs and 22 rockets. "In just three days, they rebuilt the Bhuj airstrip and made it operational again. Making Bhuj operational was vital as it was an important airbase. The story of these 300 women, the 'Jhansi Ki Ranis of Madhapar', who worked fearlessly amid continual bombardment must be included in our history books," said retired Wing Commander Vijay Karnik, the real-life hero of the film 'Bhuj'. As markets in Bhuj were closed on Saturday amid the rising tensions between India and Pakistan, Karnik, who was the base commander in 1971, said Pakistan had planned to destroy Bhuj airfield to isolate and capture Kutch. "From the Bhuj sector, we were striking at Karachi. The war was at its peak. Sawai Bhawani Singh, the Maharaja of Jaipur, who was commanding the 10 Para Brigade (special forces), also came to Bhuj after capturing half of Sindh province," he said. "They (Pakistan) started bombing from the very beginning... from Dec 3 onwards. On Dec 6, we shot down their aircraft over Bhuj, which further rattled them. On the night of Dec 8, they planned a concentrated attack. The PAF's B57 aircraft dropped 64 bombs. Each plane carried eight 1,000-pounder bombs," he said. "Our runway was severely damaged. The bombing was such that everybody in Bhuj town started evacuating the town," he said. "Even the contractor and labourers, who would repair smaller damage earlier, had fled. We put the repair machinery and material 200 feet to the side of the runway, but no one dared go near the strip," he said. "It was then that these 300 women from Madhapar, armed with nothing but patriotism, took up the practically impossible task of repairing the airstrip," he said, adding that the women were briefed on how to take shelter during bomb raids and hide under bushes. "They were daring to adhere to the instructions. They remade the runway very quickly, making our base operational again," he said. Seventy-three-year-old Harji Madhaparia, who was 19 then, says he was at a college function when he heard the sounds of low-flying jets. "We thought they were IAF jets. It was only after a few hours that we realized the airport had been bombed," said Madhaparia, who had enrolled in the Home Guard and was assigned patrol duty in Madhapar.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Veteran Salute: Growing in leadership over three decades with the Air Force
TOPEKA (KSNT) – With an immediate family full of servicemembers totaling 99 years in the military, Chief Master Sergeant Maurice Smith contributes almost a third to that service record. For over 30 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard, he'd travel across the globe; training fellow servicemembers, keeping aircraft sky bound and growing in leadership responsibilities along the way. During the Vietnam conflict, Smith and his team trained up airmen on B57's, one of the first jet bombers in Vietnam. 'The aircrews that flew over there would come to our group there, and we would teach them everything that we knew about the aircraft,' Smith said, 'so when they went over there they were highly qualified with that aircraft.' Veteran Salute: Training others around the globe Back stateside, Smith transitioned to the Air National Guard, playing a part in moving his unit from Hutchinson over to Topeka. 'I was on the sight survey team that helped bring the unit over here,' he said. 'I became a Dock Chief and got promoted to Master Sgt. at that time. As a Dock Chief I was responsible for anything that was flight worthy and they put it on what they call a red cross, I was the only one that signed off that could actually sign off the red cross to make it airworthy. If anything ever went wrong with that aircraft after we released it, it was my name.' His time in conflicts overseas wouldn't end after joining the Air Guard however. 'I went over just before Desert Storm,' Smith said. 'I was a technical aircraft superintendent, worked out of the battle staff 12 hours on 12 hours off for the duration of the war. We flew all the refueling missions for the whole war out of ours.' That's over 45,000 aircraft that were refueled through Smith's battle staff. Veteran Salute: Communicating for Kuwait combat 'On top of that, I was virtually a superintendent over almost 1,000 maintenance personnel also,' the Master Sgt. said, 'so I had that responsibility, and I was the youngest Chief out of all of them, yet I was the one they had to come to.' His time in Topeka nearly five decades ago really stuck with the Master Sgt. Nowadays he's enjoying living local in the capital city. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
