IAF Cheetahs and Mi-8s put the first troops on the Siachen Glacier on 13 April 1984. Air Force flying over the glacier began in 1978.
Cheetahs on 13 April
Between about 5 and 5.30 in the morning on 13 April 1984, the first pair of Cheetahs took off from the base camp for the Siachen Glacier. Squadron Leader Surinder Bains and Wing Commander Sandhu crewed one. Squadron Leaders Rohit Rai and Biswas crewed the other.
The Air Force had positioned six Cheetahs under Sandhu and two Mi-8s under Wing Commander K.K. Sangar at Thoise. Reconnaissance sorties had started on 3 April. After snowfall, the plan on 12 April was to drop troops about 3 km short of Bilafond La and 6 km short of Sia La.
According to an account in ThePrint drawing on logbooks, the Cheetahs flew about 17 sorties that day and put 30-odd soldiers on the glacier. The drop near Sia La was abandoned for weather. On 17 April, when the weather opened, six Cheetahs flew about 32 sorties to complete the placement of troops.
A logbook entry from 1978
The Air Force knew the glacier already. Flying Officer Manmohan Bahadur of No. 114 Helicopter Unit records the first sortie over it, to support an Army expedition under Colonel Narendra Kumar, on 20 September 1978.
On 6 October 1978, Squadron Leader Monga and Bahadur landed Chetak Z-1410 at about 15,500 feet, by his recollection, and lifted out two casualties. The Press Information Bureau also dates the first IAF landing on the glacier to October 1978. Cheetahs reached 114 HU in 1981.
The lift behind the helicopters
A Press Information Bureau account of 2024 lists An-12, An-32 and IL-76 aircraft carrying stores and troops and dropping supplies at high altitude airfields, with Mi-17, Mi-8, Chetak and Cheetah helicopters taking men and material on to the glacier. It does not separate the first days from later years. Accounts of April 1984 itself name only Cheetahs and Mi-8s on the glacier lift.
The same account says about 300 troops were soon in place on the peaks and passes. Fighters followed. A detachment of Hunters from No. 27 Squadron began operating from Leh in September 1984, and flew more than 700 sorties there over the next two years.
Cover image: Indian Air Force, GODL-India, via Wikimedia Commons. Resized for this page. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IAF_Cheetah_helicopter.jpg