Valiant soldier (1923-2006)
Narayanrao Shitoley (popularly called Nanu by friends) was born in December 1923. His father had served in the Gwalior State Army and had taken part in World War I. He studied at the Royal Indian Military College (RIMC), Dehradun, from 1935 to 1941. The Indian Air Force (IAF) had not been getting good officers and an Air Force officer visited the RIMC in 1941 to recruit suitable cadets. Nanu was selected and after passing the medical tests at Royal Air Force (RAF) station at Lahore, carried out his military training at Lahore and Pune. One year’s training at Hyderabad included navigation, radio telegraphy, gunnery and artillery spotting techniques. He was now entitled as an Observer to wear a badge of half wing with the letter ‘O’.He was posted to No. 5 CDF at Cochin.
A great shortage of pilots was felt in 1942 and Observers were given the option to re-muster as pilots. Nanu took the opportunity. Flying training was imparted at Hyderabad and Ambala. He flew about 150 hours on Harvard and 40 hours on Hurricane aircrafts. His first posting was to No. 1 Squadron where the commanding officer was Squadron Leader (later Martial of the Air Force) Arjan Singh. The airfield was shared with No. 28 Squadron of the RAF and a Squadron of U.S. Air Force (USAF). There was hardly any interaction with the Americans as they had their own mess and technical area. The squadron was given tasks for photo-reconnaissance and ground attack support, which had often to be carried out at tree top level, demanding zero margin for error. The Hurricane aircrafts of the IAF were highly vulnerable to Japanese superior planes and their anti-aircraft guns. They were provided escort by RAF Spitfire aircrafts of the RAF for deep reconnaissance missions. Keen to fly, only a month after joining the squadron, he could make it to the airfield in bad weather. The unit successfully completed photo-reconnaissance of the target area in October 1944. A total of 9,555copies of the photographs were printed and dropped to forward troops, a task for which the squadron received congratulatory messages from the GOC XXXIII Corps.
The British launched a major offensive in December and the Japanese forces fell back. In the rapid advance achieved by the British, aerial reconnaissance to determine the position of own troops was critical. This information had to be conveyed to the forces in marked maps. Imphal was too far from the area of operations and the Squadron moved to Kan airfield, about 175 miles south of Imphal. Crossing of River Irrawady was planned for February and accurate information of the enemy positions and preparations was a high priority task allotted to the Squadron. Nanu along with other pilots was busy in photo-reconnaissance and hitting opportunity targets.
As the ground forces approached Meiktila, No.1 Squadron moved to Sinthe. The Army was under great pressure to take Meiktila, which had strong anti-aircraft defences. Four planes of the squadron were hit seriously. The Japanese reacted vigorously and taking off from Rangoon airfield, 300 miles away, bombed the Sinthe airfield. This feat showed their superb airmanship. There followed a see-saw battle with counter-attacks by the Japanese forces. Finally, Meiktila was taken on 3 April, which was a great blow to Japan. The Squadron had been in intense action for 14 months during which it had flown 4,813 sorties over 7,219 hours, an enviable record. It was relieved by No. 9 Squadron on 26 March. The Squadron was complimented for reliable photo-reconnaissance and high serviceability of the aircrafts by Air Vice-Marshal Stanley Vincent. Nanu was awarded DFC for outstanding work.
He commanded the newly formed Communication Squadron from 1949 to 1951 after Independence. He had once flown Nehru from Delhi to Mumbai. On the return flight, he noticed that air speed was not showing as the crew had put the pilot cover on. Returning to Mumbai would have reflected poorly on the IAF. He continued on to Delhi relying on his flying skills. He attended a flight safety course at the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1961, and was Station Commander at Palam. He retired in April 1975 and settled in Mumbai. He passed away on 1 December 2006.