Rabwah in 1948. (Author’s collection)
Sometime later, in October 1947, war broke out in Kashmir. I had to fly the community’s airplane to Sialkot and Rawalpindi numerous times as the Grand Trunk Road between Lahore and Gujranwala was broken in many places or submerged in water due to flooding. Most of these flights were undertaken on official business of the Muslim League or the administration of Azad Kashmir.
Towards the end of October 1947, Huzoor was informed that the de Havilland company had four Fox Moth airplanes for sale in their all-India office in Karachi. These planes had been initially imported from Canada by a Hindu party. They had arrived by sea in containers and were now finally being assembled at Karachi Airport in a hangar owned by de Havilland. During Partition, the Pakistan government had forbidden these planes from leaving the country, making it necessary for de Havilland to sell them within Pakistan. The price for one airplane was £2000 or Rs 29,200. Two of the planes had already been bought by the government of Sindh for the Chief Minister, Muhammad Ayub Khuhro.
When Huzoor found out, he immediately sent me to Karachi with instructions to buy both the remaining planes. One would be for the community which it would pay for. The other would be for the government of Azad Kashmir and they would make the payment for the purchase. Back then, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was to some extent involved in the administrative affairs of Kashmir.
I remained in Karachi for many weeks. Once both planes had been assembled and our test flights were completed, they were registered by the CAA. I then flew the first plane which belonged to the community to Lahore via Jacobabad and Multan. A few days later, I returned to Karachi by train and flew the second plane by the same route to Lahore and then on to Chaklala Airport in Rawalpindi. The Azad Kashmir government had an office in Rawalpindi and I handed the airplane over to them. Unfortunately, the administration did not take care of its plane. Both its flight and technical supervision was under the care of unskilled and negligent personnel. The result was that within two months the plane was involved in two accidents, in the second of which it hit a tree on taking off and was destroyed. Thankfully the pilot suffered only minor injuries, but the plane was a total write-off.
The Fox Moth had a passenger cabin immediately behind the engine. One of the seats had its back to the engine meaning that it faced the tail. Opposite to it was a slightly longer seat where two passengers could sit facing the front of the plane. Behind the passenger cabin was the pilot’s cockpit, which had a sliding top. There was a small round window between the cockpit and the passenger cabin and the pilot and passengers could communicate by signals or by passing notes. Like the L-5, the Fox Moth’s average flying speed was slightly over 125 miles per hour. However the L-5 was a monoplane while the Fox Moth was a biplane. The L-5’s engine was quite powerful given the plane’s size and weight. The Fox Moth was slightly underpowered.
The community had two airplanes once again. For a few months the needs of the community and the Kashmir War kept us heavily engaged. However, with time, communications in Pakistan started to improve and the need for these airplanes began to diminish.
I remember when Huzoor went to Rabwah for its inauguration in June 1948. Two days earlier, I had flown to Rabwah in the Fox Moth and landed in the spot where Qasr-e-Khilafat now stands. At that time both this area and the area where Darul Sadar, the Sadar Anjuman and Tehrik-e-Jadid offices and the homes of community workers now stand, was an uneven rocky field. After staying there for a few hours, I laid down some chalk lines on the ground with the help of a community member to mark off a future landing ground for Rabwah. This, however never came to fruition.
Rabwah in 1948. (Author’s collection)
On another occasion, when Huzoor was going on an official tour of Sindh, I flew to Karachi via Multan and Jacobabad. After that I flew to Hyderabad and Kunri. Since Huzoor’s residence was 25 miles to the north in Mahmoudabad State, his estate in interior Sindh, I rode there by horseback and with the help of Syed Abdur Razzaq Shah we prepared a landing ground very close to Huzoor’s office and residence. I rode back to Kunri and flew the plane to Mahmoudabad. After a few days I flew back to Lahore via Karachi.
On my return to Lahore, I made many flights for the community. This was in 1948 when the community had sent an infantry battalion of Ahmadi volunteers (the Furqan Battalion) to join the Pakistan Army fighting in Kashmir. The training center for the Furqan Battalion was a few miles south of Sarai Alamgir, on the banks of the River Jhelum. Whenever I flew between Lahore and Rawalpindi on official work, I would fly over the center and buzz them. The Furqan Battalion was led by Colonel Muhammad Hayat Qaisrani. They were on the front line during the Kashmir War and not only defended their territory with great determination, but performed as well as any battalion of the Pakistan Army.
On one occasion, Huzoor flew with me in the Fox Moth from Sialkot to Lahore. Accompanying him were his wife Syeda Mehr Apa and his daughter Sahibzadi Amtul Basit. For technical reasons, Walton Airport was closed that day and we landed in the Lahore Cantonment airport which back then was an Air Force base where civilian craft were not allowed to land. On another occasion, I was supposed to fly to Quetta in Balochistan, but due to floods in Sindh and roads being blocked, I had to leave the plane in Jacobabad in Sindh for technical reasons.
In 1950, Huzoor decided to sell both of the community’s planes. Flying the planes in turn, I took them to Karachi. The community in Karachi tried to sell the planes according to Huzoor’s instructions, but could not find any buyers. In addition, the cost of parking them and maintaining their flight worthiness was very high. Huzoor eventually decided to donate both planes to an organization.
Wing Commander S M Ahmad. (Author’s collection)
Afterwards, Huzoor allowed me to return to the Air Force where I served from 1950 to 1965. I retired after the 1965 War. During my time in the Air Force, I was an instructor at the Operational Flying School before taking command of two different fighter squadrons, the No. 5 Squadron which was the second jet fighter squadron of Pakistan and the No. 15 Squadron.
FLC at RAF West Raynham, 1953. (Author’s collection)
In 1952, I first attended the Instrument Rating Examiners (IRE) course at RAF Station Syerston in Nottinghamshire, followed by the Air Gunnery Instructor’s Course (AGIC) and the Central Gunnery Command (CGC) at RAF station Leconfield, Yorkshire. In 1953, I attended the Fighter Leaders’ Course (FLC) at the Central Fighter Establishment at RAF station West Raynham, Norfolk.
I then commanded the 33 Jet Fighter Wing. At the same time I was a member of the Pakistan Air Force’s famous aerobatics team, the Falcons. On 2 February 1958 this team made aviation history when a formation of 16 F-86 Sabres performed a simultaneous loop. I still have a photograph of it.
In 1958, I graduated from the Air Force Staff College with the PSA symbol (BSc in War Studies). From 1960 to 1963, I spent over two years as an instructor at the Army Command and Staff College in Quetta. My final posting before retiring was as head of one of the branches in the War Planning Department of Air Headquarters in Peshawar.
It is now 2010 and, at the age of 86, I am in America, at my daughter Dr Ayesha Ahmad’s house, writing down my memories of things that happened over 60 years ago. I feel it is important to record these events so that future generations might come to know of what happened in Qadian in 1947 and be acquainted with the story of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s small fleet of airplanes.
Loop performed by 16 aircraft—the author’s plane is in the center column, third from the front. (Author’s collection)