Jahman with MiG-21
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AURI had prepared two of ways to train MiG-21 pilots as preparation to welcome the arrival of the interceptors. First, AURI sends its four pilots directly to the USSR. These pilots were Captain Sukardi, First Lieutenant Jahman,
Second Lieutenant Igon Suganda, and Second Lieutenant Mundung. The last two pilots were grounded as soon as they arrived in Russia. Mundung was ill, and Suganda was too small. Even the smallest size of the G-suit was too big for him. They were replaced by First Lieutenant Sobirin Misbach and First Lieutenant Saputro.
The second way was in country training. Major Rusman was picked by Air Commodore Leo Wattimena to be trained directly by Russian instructors. "So we were trained at the same time but in different places," explained Air Vice
Marshal (Ret) Rusman.
A small team that was sent to the USSR, placed in Lugowaya, a small town, which borders on India, where a USSR Air Force base was 1ocated, stayed there only for four months, "Just to know how to fly," explained
Jahman. "This doesn't mean we didn't fly, we did fly, solo," he added.
When he got his order to fly to Russia, Jahman was just four months based in Letfuan, after being assigned in Morotai previously in order to support the Trikora campaign. According to Jahman, he was moved to Letfuan following the death
of Captain Gunadi when his MiG-17 crashed during take off due to afterburner failure. This tragedy happened in June 29, 1962. The squadron Commander at that time was Major Rusman.
It was easier to those who went to Russia because that was the origin place of the MiGs. Unlike Rusman," First I have to add English labels to everything written in Russian in the cockpit panel, " Rusman recalled. As they arrived
in Indonesia, the MiG-21 was assembled and the Russian technicians guided Indonesian technicians. Rusman also prepared himself and had to leave the front line at the time when nobody knows when hostilities will occurred in West Papua. If the
dutch started a war, it was planned that Rusman certainly will be called back.
Besides as senior officer in the Fighter Squadron, Rusman was also the Operation Officer in Air Squadron 11 DH-115
Vampire, the first Indonesian jet trainer. It was no doubt that, his seniority made Leo choose him to be the
first man to fly the MiG-21 in the country. It was coincident that Leo had to leave the country. Rusman had no problem to familiarize himself with the MiG-21 considering his considerable flying time of flight hours with MiG-15 and
MiG-17. "Basically it was no different than the MiG-17," Rusman explained this delta wing plane.
The express program was started. He devoured the MiG-21 manual book and the Russian Instructor answered all his questions. The plane was completed, duely assembled by the technicians and was declared ready to fly.
Finally Rusman reached the crucial point, flying the plane that was nicknamed the flying rocket in the presence the top brass. "Theoretically, I had understood this aircraft", Rusman said.
On that morning, July 1962, all was set at Kemayoran Airport. Some of the MiG-17 and MiG-15, based at Kemayoran, lined up at the parking lot. Among the important people attending this special occasion were Air Force
Chief-of-Staff Chief Air Marshal Suryadarma and some of the AURI senior officers. In the hangar, a Tumansky R-11-F2-300 turbo jet engine started to roar. The plane rolled down the runaway and Rusman had no awkward feeling, just the same old feeling when
he was flying the previous Russian planes. At the end of the runway, the roar of the 5.950-kg thrust jet raised. That was the full power of Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau (OKB) spectacular creation.
Rusman took off and climbed, and the audience applauded. According to the flight plan, the plane was going to turn left. Rusman jerk the handle to the left. God, he was stunned, the plane was spinning hard. He had not
expected that it would be so sensitive. But soon he regained his consciousness. "So that's it, I just make a full turn four times instead," he said laughing. After he landed, the audience congratulate him and express their admiration. They
were astonished to see that Rusman was able to roll more than once. "They just don't know how shocked I was."
Few days later, Rusman explained, Squadron 14 with the strenght of 20 MiG-21, based at Iswahyudi Air Force Base, Madiun, was inaguarated officially by the Air Force Chief-of-Staff at Kemayoran Airport. And Rusman
was appointed commander. Earlier, Squadron 11 MiG-15/17 was formed officially, while Squadron 12 MiG-19 was established afterward. And then they established Wing 300, the mother of the combat squadrons, which was based
at Kemayoran. Rusman was the commander of Wing 300 from 1963 to 1966.
The maiden flight was followed by several more and transition flights. And thousands of kilometer up north, Jahman with his three partners also began to fly the same plane. Later on, after they returned from Lugowaya (1963),
the four pilots along with Rusman then became the instructor of this particular fighter that was operational in the USSR in 1959 and kept in front line for 30 years. AURI main target was to speed up the transfer of technology from
Russian pilot to the Indonesian.
Crashed
Rusman, one of the Indonesian MiG pilots
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A commander has to know everything earlier than his subordinates. And as squadron commander, Rusman sticks to this philosophy. He kept improving his skill to fly the MiG-21 whether from instructors or manual books.
One day, a month after the inaugural flight, Rusman was flying alone to test the plane high flying speed. That morning, August 29, 1962, Rusman who collected 1.500 hours of flying the MiG-21 took off from Madiun and made a round
trip along East Java (Read: Rusman Reach Beyond
Mach-2).
"What surprised me in flying at high speed that the plane was faster than I thought," said "Hell Cat", fighter nickname for Rusman. According to Rusman, this gives Russian an edge on facing the threat from US B-52
Stratofortress bombers which has a maximum speed of Mach 1. And it was
similar to Indonesia. Deterring enemy bomber threats from hostile countries became the main task for the MiG-21. "We must be able to intercept at the point where they can release
bombs," explained Jahman, former Iswahyudi Air Force Base Commander.
To accelerate faster in intercepting bomber, MiG-21 was equipped with afterburner. The problem was the afterburner sometime malfunctioned when the aircraft was armed with a 500-kg conventional "free fall" bomb.
This technical faulty had caused the lost of several MiG-21 pilots. Like in one Thursday, during the high flight training in Madiun.
One pilot, Rusman recalled, failed to take off because
the afterburner did not work properly. The plane kept running in high speed on the runway, only the nose lifted.
The young pilot kept trying, he switch on again. He realized he
was running short of runway in only a few seconds. Without a moment of hesitation, he pulled out the ejection seat to bail out. The plane slipped into the river at the end of the runway.
It was hard to think clearly when you were under pressure. Maybe that was what happened to this young pilot. In his panic, he pulled out the ejection seat, which was not provided with the zero ejection seat technology and can
only be actived in 1,000 ft level. The determined young man died. "He actually had asked my permission to go to Yogya after his flight to be engaged on Saturday," Rusman reminisced. Earlier on Tuesday, one pilot also had an accident
One plane crashed in to the hardwood timberland, in Cepu in one night training flight. The plane knocked down the trees for about 1 Km.
Another pilot also made a mistake during landing. According to Rusman, he had already told him that if he speed down from high speed, the intake would open. This process would cause vibration. Unfortunately, since he
was shocked, he ejected quickly. The pilot survived but the plane was a total loss.
Rusman also experience a near accident caused by afterburner, when he took off from Kemayoran to Madiun. His calm and rich experience became so crucial in this kind of situation. Rusman knew very well that at this speed
the aircraft could only drift. A little miss handling could be fatal. The very thin wing could almost not be relied on to give enough lift power. The plane was drifting right above the villager's house roofs.
MiG-21 cross country
Even though it was very fast, the interceptor could not be expected to do strategic tasks. Its capabilities were only to soar quickly, fly level, combat, and go home! It has such a short endurance.
Realizing the limitation of this plane while Indonesia had a very large area to cover and defended, Rusman planned to test the radius action of the MIG-21. As a try out, Rusman flew across East Java. The fact was the plane
was only able to fly for 1 hour and 40 minutes. "And it was with the drop tank and
efficient flying technique," said Rusman.
What could they accomplished with only 1 hour and 40 minutes? After some calculation, they know they could reach Medan! "But we could not go back," Rusman responded. What if the weather was bad, an engine trouble,
or there was disturbance on the ground? Whereas the plane had to fly in a straight line, no tolerance to "turn left-right". The distance time of Kemayoran- Medan was about 1 hour 30 minutes. This means, only 10 minutes left for
emergency situation. Rusman had questions in his mind. But he had decided he has to land on some big island.
Finally he visited Medan and not satisfied enough, Rusman, Sukardi, and Ibnu Subroto, performed cross-country flight across Sumatra in 1963. Followed Kemayoran-Palembang-Medan-Padang-Kemayoran route, the
three interceptors made low pass in every region they visited. They also stayed in three cities they had visited. The community welcomed them enthusiastic ally. It was a success, and due to this, the trip was broaden to the eastern part
of Indonesia one-year later. This time consisting of six planes. The route was Madiun-Makasar-Morotai-Biak. In big formation, it consist of nine MIG-21. This cross-country was not done to show off the AURI power, "But it was to
improve the skill, and regional orientation to the pilots," Rusman explained.
During the Confrontation with Malaysia, which was known as the Dwikora Campaign, Indonesia was deploying Tu-16 bombers and MiG-21s. Because of its short range, the MIG-21 had to be based in Palembang and
Medan. During its service time to AURI, MiG-21 had not experienced air combat. Even during Dwikora, there were only few times it had came across Royal Air Force Hawker
Hunter or HS Buccaneer while escorting Tu-16.
Leo Wattimena himself did not want air duel between both sides. "Unless you are attacked," Leo ordered. Even so, the two guided missiles of K-13A or AA-2
Atoll guided missiles as NATO called it and one 30 mm canon,
were always readied. Even it was prohibited for provocative action, still there were pilots who like to play around; just to see how ready the enemy radar was.
Taking-off from Medan, the planes were flying in low level along Malaka strait. As they reach the borderline, tower would notice whether there was any plane took off from Butterworth. "We would pull up quickly to
escape," explained Jahman who became Squadron 14 Commander after Rusman. When RAF planes reached the border, AURI's MiG-21 had already far flown. "We (MiG-21) never got in to any air combat. As an interceptor, we just wait for
the enemy that unclearly when to appear. That was our task, waiting and waiting," Said Jahman who flew MiG-21 number 2164.
To Rusman or Jahman, MiG-21 fate was a little faint after "the failed rebellion" by the Indonesian communists. Both of these first-generation MiG pilots were uncertain whether the MiG-21 was sold. Unlike the MiG-19, "I
took them myself to Pakistan, and trained the pilot at the same time," said Rusman. Jahman added that Indonesia had to buy MiG-19 because of Russian trade politics. To Jahman knowledge, Russia only willing to give away MiG-21 as long
as MiG-19 was also procured.
According to a story circulating at that time, Indonesia gave MiG-19 to Pakistan in exchange for transport aircraft. Jahman told
Angkasa magazine that, Pakistan gave a transport airplane to Indonesia, which turned out to be in
poor condition. We noticed it when this plane was barely flown again ever since it landed. From the plane characteristics, as Jahman told, it looked like the plane was a Lockheed
Constellation. That was why the MiG-19s was given
to Pakistan. Actually the condition of the MiG-19 was not too good. It saw little service. "Though technician said OK. As soon as the ignition was on, something would always be wrong," told Jahman.
But clearly though, for Pakistan which was involved in a war with India, it was worthy. Besides Indonesia, China had also contributed the same plane. Actually Pakistan intented to borrow AURI's Tu-16 bombers which were
armed with AS 1 Kennel guided missile, but the Minister/Air Force Commander in Chief Omar Dhani turned it down.
"I didn't know whether it was sold and who was the buyer. If it was true anyway it was high-level business," said Jahman who always flew MiG-21 number 2160 and 2170, with a sour face. "That fighter was really great,"
Rusman kept saying this, as if he never had enough compliments for this great interceptor. AURI MiG-21 ended its golden era after a full month of farewell flights in
1967.(ben/donna)
MiG-21, the most feared interceptor jet