Air Cdre Pete Wilson – A Star of the Anglo-Indian community The younger generations in present day India may not know much about the Anglo-Indian community as their population has dwindled. But before Independence and soon after, the Anglo-Indian community was a big. My first memory of seeing an Anglo-Indian was when I was studying in Belgaum. I must have been about 8/9 years old and had got interested in the game of cricket. There used to be a major cricket tournament held every year in Belgaum and many teams took part in the tournament from nearby towns. A team from the Hubali Railway Yard had three brothers who were Anglo Indians. For a young boy like me, they looked very different from the rest of us and they were very impressive players! There after I hardly came across any Anglo Indians till I reached NDA where I met a few Anglo Indians who were either young officers posted as our instructors ( Flt Lt Chick Metland ) or some of our fellow cadets ( Peter Boosey ). I found them to be wonderful guys, full of fun and very good sportsmen. I was impressed by them. WHO WERE THE ANGLO–INDIANS? These are the people of Indian and British ancestry - largely descendents of British males and Indian females. Initially they were neglected by both, the British and Indian communities. Eventually they got some recognition after some Government intervention. They were given preferences in jobs like the ‘Customs and Excise’, the Police and the Indian Railways . Some of them also took to teaching and the defence services. They were a fun loving, open hearted and robust community. They loved life. They had tremendous sense of humour, party loving and helpful. ANGLO–INDIANS IN THE AIR FORCE Anglo Indians who came to the Defence Forces, preferred Air force more than Army or the Navy. Most of them became fighter pilots. A few opted for transport flying. When I reached the final year of training in NDA, my boss of Air Force training team was one Sqn Ldr Kinglee and that was my first real and personal interaction with an Anglo Indian. Even today I can visualise myself flying with him in a glider enjoying the ride. After my flying training, when I reached a Dakota squadron in the East, I met few dare devil fighter pilots from the neighbouring squadrons. By then I had heard stories of decorated Anglo Indian pilots like Flt Lt Pushong who had saved Jammu from falling to the intruders in 1,the947 war. He took supplies to the Army at night without any runway lighting. AIR CDRE PETE WILSON When I look back into my Air Force life I did come across few characters those have become legends in the IAF, in their own life time. One such legend who stands out is Air Cdre Pete Wilson. When I first met him in 1966 he was already a legend. His exploits during the 1965 Indo -Pak war were well known. He was commanding No 16- Canberra sqn that time. He led the attack on the Pak AF radar station at Badin on Rajasthan border, in which that installation was totally destroyed. He carried out the attack at low level and he was awarded Vir Chakra for that. Before that he had gone to Congo on UN assignment with our Canberra fleet where our aircraft did a commendable job. I was posted as an instructor to JBCU (Jet Bomber Conversion Unit) at Agra in1967 when Gp Capt Wilson got posted there as Officer in Charge, Flying. That was our first meeting. I instantly liked him. He was tall, handsome with a very friendly smile and clear blue eyes. As I got to know him more, my admiration of him went sky high. For the next two and half years that we interacted with each other turned out to be one of the best periods of my Air Force career. As a pilot and as an instructor, he was par excellence. I came to know that he was a flying trophy holder of his course. Since I was the flight commander in JBCU he would ring me up and ask if any Canberra trainer was available for flying and we could never say ‘No’ to him. Flying with him was most enjoyable and educational. He seemed to have a built in Autopilot in him. The Canberra trainer did not have the luxury of an autopilot, but he flew as if there was one on the aircraft. Just looking at him flying, was a learning lesson for me. He was the ultimate in flying professionalism. One day we saw the human side of him. He called me up asked me ‘’Pat, do you have a Canberra bomber ready with full tanks?” I said ‘Yes’. Then he asked me to clear him for a trip to Bangalore and back. (Canberra trainer could not make it to Bangalore in one hop ) The take off would be after about an hour later. He asked for one extra parachute to be placed in the aircraft. Our unit was to provide the navigator for the trip. Soon he came to the flight office with one sergeant who was working in his office. Then the story unfolded. That morning the sergeant with him had lost his mother in Kerala and the sergeant could not have attended her funeral in the normal way of traveling. So Gp Capt Wilson decided to drop him at Bangalore in an aircraft so that he could be there for the funeral. He flew him down as a third crew in a Canberra and came back. We all were really touched with this gesture. Who would do such a noble thing for someone working under him these days! By the end of 1969 I got posted to Iraq as a flying instructor and parted company with him. He took over the command of Air Force Station, Jamnagar with promotion as an Air Commodore. He remained there till after the 1971 Indo –Pak war. I kept on hearing about his exploits there and started admiring him more and more. During the ‘71 war preparations , he organised the camouflage of the Jamnagar station. It was so good, that a pilot of an aircraft that had taken off from the same station could not locate the main runway and instead landed on the parallel taxi track. There was a big commotion at the Command HQ ! The bosses wanted to ground the pilot for this mistake. But Pete Wilson had other ideas. He wanted the HQ to declare the parallel taxi track as an alternate runway in case the main runway gets damaged by enemy bombing. What a positive way of thinking!! The way Pete Wilson managed the station during the war days, is a lesson to all commanders. He had ordered the lighting up of Sarmath bombing range every night, which is very close to Jamnagar. Because of that, the Pakistani aeroplanes bombed the range every night and NOT one bomb fell on Jamnagar station. Pete was controlling all the R/T from the flying tower. However Pakistan Radio claimed the destruction of the base. This man was in the flying control all through the conflict. One does not know how he managed it but ask any pilot landing or taking off from Jamnagar during the war, Pete was there to greet him .He was decorated for his management of the station after the war. My course mate Air Marshal Trevor Osman commanded Jamnagar station later on. According to him the civilian staff of the station had only one yardstick for the station and that was ‘Wilson sab ke Pehle or Wilson sab ke baad’. They just loved him. I could go on narrating stories about Pete Wilson. But I feel that he did not get what he deserved from the Air Force. This legend of a man retired from the IAF as an Air Commodore. Later on he migrated to the UK and settled down there. After I joined Air India and started going to London I did meet him. He had joined the ‘Scotland Yard ‘. And his health was not that good but his sense of humour was intact. He told me that his job in; Scotland Yard ‘was just up and down. “Just take the files up and bring them down” I am told his health is not that good now. He was to attend the Canberra Get Together in Dec 2012 but because of ill health he could not do so. For me, Pete Wilson is still the most wonderful and natural pilot with whom I have flown and as one of the most humane souls I came across in the Indian Air Force. I did meet and interact with more Anglo Indians in my air force career, and some of them have etched their impressions on my mind. Veteran Sqn Ldr Subhash Patwardhan
Posted on: Fri, 23 May 2014 02:02:38 +0000
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