The Param Vir Chakra is India’s highest military decoration, awarded for the most conspicuous bravery or pre-eminent act of valor in the presence of the enemy. The Vir Chakra is the third-highest wartime honor, sitting two tiers below. Reflecting on the campaign by historians and veterans demanding his decoration be upgraded, Cooke candidly stated, “A few people have said that and I said well that’s a nice sentiment. If you’re going to give me the Param Vir Chakra, for God’s sake give it to me while I’m still alive, because everybody who’s won it has got it posthumously.”
In that final hour-long sit-down, Flt Lt Cooke pulled no punches about what transpired during and after the 1965 war, an interview that has brought into sharp detail several controversial aspects of the mission and the pilot’s bitter exit from the Indian Air Force:
Sent to War with the Wrong Ammunition
Cooke expressed deep bitterness that his leadership failed to properly arm his Hawker Hunter for combat. He revealed that instead of high-explosive ammunition and spread harmonisation, his aircraft was sent into battle with practice rounds. “The commanding officer and the armament officer, they failed to configure my aircraft for war, which meant all four of my cannons should have been fitted with 125 rounds of high explosive ammunition,” Cooke says. “I was fitted up with 25 rounds per gun, which is one second’s firing time, which is what poor Afzal Khan got. That’s why his aircraft was shattered into smithereens. And the other guys, I was hitting them with ball ammunition. It was like throwing cricket balls at them, you know, bang, bang, bang. Nothing much was happening. Crazy. If at least one of those was high explosive, I’d have got them.”
Accusing a Senior Pilot of Refusing to Fight “Bengalis”
Cooke alleged that a senior, highly experienced Pilot Attack Instructor in his squadron repeatedly refused to fly combat missions during the war. “For the duration of the war he refused to fly,” Cooke reveals. “He said, ‘I’ve got sinus, I’ve got this.’ We’re flying at three-four thousand feet doing CAP. He says, ‘Cookie, to tell you the truth, I don’t want to fly.’ I said why? He says, ‘I don’t want to fight against fellow Bengalis.’ Wow. Oh yes, La Fontaine knew that. No action was taken against this guy, and we youngsters were flying three-four sorties a day.”
Calling Out a Future Air Chief Over a Fleeing Pilot
Cooke claimed that when air defence scrambled to intercept the raid on Kalaikunda, a flight leader abandoned the engagement entirely. “Flight Lieutenant Sachdeva took off and he was under control of Sqn Ldr “Mama” Sahni, and he said he can’t see anything… and he went and landed in Ranchi,” Cooke states. “La Fontaine knew this. When I found out about this, I was absolutely livid. This was after the war. So I barged into La Fontaine’s office, I said, ‘Sir, did you know this?’ And La Fontaine is sitting back there, he says, ‘What are you making a fuss about, Cook? We gave you the Vir Chakra.'”
Criticising Flying Officer Ghuman in the Sekhon PVC Engagement
Reflecting on the 1971 air battle in which Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon earned a posthumous Param Vir Chakra, Cooke leveled sharp criticism at Sekhon’s flight leader. “Now his leader was a fellow called Ghuman,” Cooke recalls. “Ghuman used to be in my squadron, good pilot… Now this is why, first time I’m saying it, I do believe that Ghuman should have turned back and joined the fight. He ran off and landed, I think at Pathankot or wherever. I don’t know if any action was taken about that, but for God’s sake, you’re in a war, you got a number two who’s being attacked, you go there and you get in touch.”
Discrediting His Wingman’s Award and Citation
Cooke asserted that his wingman, Flying Officer Subodh Chandra Mamgain, panicked during the fight and did not deserve the Vir Chakra he was awarded. “Then he comes up and says, ‘Cookie, I’m scared.’ I said, ‘Look, I’m scared as well, but they’re attacking our base, they’re killing people out there, this is our job,'” Cooke recounts. He added that upon landing, Mamgain claimed, “I did this and I did that,” and was awarded a medal despite having nothing on his gun camera film, while Cooke’s own citation omitted his bravest act: “On my citation, nothing is mentioned about me saving Mamgain’s life when I had no ammunition, and that is one of the main reasons why I resigned.”
Calling High Command Strategies “Absolutely Stupid”
Cooke did not hold back when evaluating the top-level air defence strategy devised by senior officers prior to the attack on Kalaikunda. “La Fontaine came up with the idea, ‘Look, we will fly over East Pakistan at 40,000 feet… The Pakistanis would see the trails, they’ll come up, we’ll have a dogfight at 40,000 feet and come back and land.’ So that was the plan, which I thought was absolutely stupid,” Cooke declares.
Profane Confrontation with Wg Cdr (later Air Chief) Dennis La Fontaine
When Cooke confronted his Commanding Officer Wg Cdr Denis La Fontaine over the official handling of the battle, the argument turned explosive. “I lost my temper. I threw my fist… I used very strong language. ‘Sir, you didn’t fucking give me the Vir Chakra, I did my fucking job, which is to defend my base!'” Cooke recounts. “Now he could have had me arrested for insubordination and threatening sort of behaviour. So La Fontaine did the next best thing. He phones up Air Headquarters and says, ‘I want this guy to be posted out.”
Shutting Down the ‘Chief’
Describing his exit interview with Air Vice Marshal H.C. Moolgavkar, then “Chief” of the Central Air Command, Cooke recalled how he shut down the Chief’s argument about training costs. “He said, ‘Look, the government has spent a lot of money training you.’ So I said, ‘I’m glad you brought up that point, because I’ve been credited for shooting down Afzal Khan and the other one completely destroyed. So I’ve been credited with at least two Sabre jets. How many millions did that cost?’ And his face became really shocked. So then he says, ‘Okay Cook, touche, you got me. Nothing I can do to make you stay.'”
Total Base Panic and Desertion Under Fire
Cooke described returning to Kalaikunda with severe battle damage, only to be fired upon by friendly anti-aircraft guns while the control tower sat empty. “I could see all these flak things around me. I said, ‘Oh my God, these guys are firing at me.’ So I called up flying control, I said, ‘Tell these army guys to stop firing at me.’ Nobody answered because everybody had abandoned their post. Everybody.”
Rejecting the Official Vir Chakra Pension
After leaving the service and moving to Australia, Cooke formally rejected the government’s official pension for his gallantry award. “All Vir Chakra recipients were given a small pension of 50 rupees per month. I got that right around 1971 or 72 when I was in Australia,” Cooke explains. “I said, ‘I don’t need this.’ So I refused to take it. I said, ‘I don’t need their namak.'”
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