Flg Hurricanes in Burma, member of IAF 1st Aerobatic team, ldg Howitzers by night at Poonch in 47, 1st crew of 1st Bomber sqn, flg the C-119 Packet to India & ldg it at Leh, 1st head of a spook setup & finally Vice chief. That’s Lalu Grewal! (1/23)
Lal Singh “Lalu” Grewal was born in Ludhiana on 9 March 1924 into a Sikh family. His Father, Dr. Arjan Singh Grewal had served in Mesopotamia in WWI & his brother, Gopal Singh Grewal, joined the Army, though died in a Dakota Crash in his early years. 2/
Lalu spent his early years in Ambala & Kasauli & went to Govt College Lahore. He joined the 16th Pilot Course in Sep ’42 along with a large batch of cadets, of which 57 were finally commissioned as Pilot officers. Lalu was one of the only two to rise to be an Air Marshal. 3/
In those days flying was still risky and 19 of his coursemates perished in flying accidents. But the 16th Pilot Course would be known in history for giving the IAF its three Twin-engine stalwarts who starred in the 47 war – Lalu Grewal, TN Ghadiok & PL Dawan, VrC & Bar. 4/
Lalu was sent to the Initial Training School at Lahore and then to No. 2 EFTS at Jodhpur for basic training on TigerMoths which he completed in Mar 43. He earned his wings at SFTS, Ambala on Audax/Hart & completed Hurricane conversion at 151 OTU, Risalpur in Jan ‘44 5/
He was posted to the newly formed 9 Sqn in Bhopal along with 18 other rookie Pilot officers. In Mar ’44 he was baptised when, due to lack of fuel, he executed a successful forced landing of his Hurricane. In Apr, he along with 6 others, was posted to the newly formed 10 Sqn. 6/
Reporting to “B Flt”, Lalu spent the next 16 months with 10 sqn, flg over 100 sorties on the Burma front. The battle-hardened pilot was posted to the IAF display team, the first Aerobatics fmn of IAF, under Mehar Singh in Nov ’45. He roamed the country, enthralling youngsters. 7/
In Aug ’46 Lalu was posted to 12 Sqn at Bhopal to fly the newly inducted Dakota aircraft. Lalu would go on to create history on this aircraft and as a pioneer of twin-engine flying in IAF. In June ’47 he was posted to 6 Sqn on Daks but reverted to 12 Sqn on partition. 8/
Promoted to Flt Lt, Lalu found himself at the center of the 1947 Kashmir War, flying in men & material in a display of flying that had not been seen so far. By the end of it, he had made the max number of landings by day & night at Poonch while it was under enemy fire 9/
In Dec’47, Mehar Singh asked Lalu to fly Howitzers to besieged Poonch at night & without lights! Unfazed, Lalu replied – “Will get the guns there, but the sqn may be short of some Daks later”. The guns were delivered as promised & all Daks flew back. Lalu won a Vir Chakra. 10/
In Nov ’48, Lalu was asked to be part of yet another first crew of a newly formed sqn – this time the Heavy Bomber 5 Sqn on B-24 Liberators at Poona. He would be at 5 Sqn till Oct 52, lastly as the Flt Cdr. In btwn he completed the Heavy Bomber Course in UK and FIS at Ambala. 11/
Soon after, 29 year old Lalu was sent for Staff College to Wellington with the 6th Course & then as instructor to the Academy at Begumpet. In Aug ’54 his next challenge beckoned. He was sent to the USA for familiarisation and induction of the C-119 Packet. 12/
On return, he was made the CO of the Conv Trg Sqn at Agra briefly. But Lalu & Packets were needed elsewhere. He moved as Flt Cdr of 12 Sqn before taking it over as CO. Here, executed the first landing of the Packet in Leh, something that the Americans had deemed impossible. 13/
After the 12 Sqn Command, Lalu spent nearly three years at Western Air Command running the Air Ops (Ops-1/Air-1), but 12 Sqn needed him one more time & he came back as the CO, this time in the rank of Wg Cdr. It was just so he would be in the hot chair during the 62 Ops.14/
During his 21-month command of 12 Sqn for the second time, Lalu was instrumental in modifications to the Packets to enable them to take over the entire role of droppings in J&K from the aging Daks. This came in much handy during the Chinese War and Lalu was awarded an AVSM. 15/
Now a Gp Capt, Lalu found himself in a totally new job. In Mar ’63, he was sent to Washington, as head of a 6 member IAF team & 2 IB officers, for the covert airlift cell conjured earlier by Biju Patnaik and Bob Marrero to spy on China/Tibet. 16/
Lalu & his deputy received specialised int & aviation trg. On 7 Sep 1963, Aviation Research Centre (ARC) was created as a front to coordinate aviation cooperation with the CIA. Lalu Grewal was named the first ARC operations manager at the newly completed Charbatia airfield. 17/
Lalu Grewal remained the boss of ARC for the next 5 years by when ARC had 22 C-46 Commando ac, 6 Helios, and multiple bases. Gp Capt Bewoor chimes in – “It was said that the safest aircraft to fly in was the one where Lalu Grewal was the pilot, such an aircraft cannot crash.” 18/
Lalu’s time at ARC was nicked – “Lalu’s Circus”. The U2 Flights from Charbatia & Int msns over Tibet occurred in this period. The combination of Lalu Grewal as Ops Manager & Chandan Singh as his Dy was unbeatable. Lalu the maverick & Chandan the calm, reserved & cautious. 19/
In 1969, by now an Air Cmde, Lalu Grewal was sent to attend the NDC Course & on return posted as Director of Intelligence at Air HQ. He held this position during the ’71 war & till 1972. It was during this tenure that he was awarded PVSM for his service to the nation. 20/
He briefly commanded 12 Wing, Chandigarh and as AOC J&K, before taking up another surprising assignment on promotion to Air Vice Marshal in 1973 – as Flying Examiner with the Civil Aviation Department, a role he held till 1976. 21/
On return, he was promoted to Air Marshal and posted as AOC-in-C of the Eastern Air Command a Shillong for next 2.5 years. He served his last couple of years as Deputy and Vice Chief respectively, retiring aged 56 in 1980. 22/
Lal Singh Grewal typified the versatility, derring-do of aviators of that era, moving from Fighters to Transport/ Bombers, flying 33 types of aircraft, in a career dotted with challenging leadership roles. In 1999, he passed away peacefully in USA, his daughter by his side. 23/
Originally published on Twitter
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