The story involves an Indian Air Force Pilot, Americans, Russians and a mystery woman
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| Flying Officer Mervyn Pinto seated in a fighter plane at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada |
I was on summer vacation at my grandparent’s house in Pune when I first watched ‘Top Gun’. I remember being glued to the television, transfixed by Maverick fearlessly manoeuvring his plane through the sky while ‘Danger Zone’ blasted in the background. My grandmother was sitting by, sipping tea when she laughed and said, “Oh, I remember when your grandfather was Top Gun.” For a second, I thought I heard wrong. Did she just say my grandfather was Top Gun? “Yes, of course,” she said nonchalantly as she glared at Tom Cruise on screen with narrow eyes as if to say, “My husband did it better.”
To my grandfather’s irritation (“It was no big deal,” he grumbled), his old flying logbooks were pulled out and we sat around the dining table pouring over pictures from his days as a fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force.
My grandfather, now Retd. Wing Commander Mervyn Pinto (nicknamed Osprey by his coursemates) along with seven other pilots, were chosen to represent the Indian Air Force at the USAF Combat Crew Training School. From 26 August 1963 to 18 January 1964, they trained at the Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, along with pilots from Burma, Korea, Indonesia and Pakistan. At the end of the course, my grandfather was presented with a certificate of excellence that awarded him the position of ‘Top Gun’.
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| The Indian squadron at Nellis |
This was the first batch of pilots from India selected to attend the honourable program and the pilots took every advantage of it. “We were sent to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, to learn English before the course started,” my grandfather says with a grin. “We wanted to stay longer, so we pretended as if we couldn’t speak the language and got ourselves three extra weeks. Eventually, the instructors caught on and we were sent to start our training.”
The pilots trained to transition from flying Vampires to T33s and then F86 Sabres, moving from manual to power controlled aircraft. The F86 Sabres were the real mean machines of the sky and the pilots were taught the art of strafing—attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft.
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| My grandfather standing in front of the F86 Sabre |
At the time, tensions were running high between Russia and the United States and the air force base was on standby for take-offs. At the bachelor’s squadron where the pilots lived, every building had a huge wooden crate. Inside, was enough provisions to keep everyone alive in case they were attacked by Russia.
I asked my grandfather for a few juicy details about life on the air force base after dark. Who was that mystery woman who wrote a letter to him? He didn’t comment. As far as he was concerned, all he did was wake up, study and train. Or maybe he was just nervous because my grandma was hovering nearby.
There is one story he was very proud of though. Over Christmas, the Indian pilots were asked to decorate a window. Very seriously, they painted US sabres flying over an Indian village, to represent camaraderie between the nations. Over Christmas lunch, their artwork was much appreciated until one bright spark among them sneaked off and added an IAF plane shooting the US aircraft down. I’m told that the joke was taken in the right spirit.
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| A picture sent back home from Nevada |
It’s no surprise that I’m not so fascinated by the Top Gun movie anymore. I’ve got the real deal sitting at home sipping on his evening drink, thinking it was no big deal.
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| At the Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada |
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| The Top Gun certificate |
Source : story by Andrea Pinto in Condé Nast Traveler
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