Wings of Duty — Page 41
41 moment we landed, the khuddam signalled to us not to turn off the engines. They quickly removed the relevant items from the plane and helped the passengers off. Back in the office, the officer and the other policemen with him were entertained with tea and various stories to divert their attention. The person presiding over the office kept them there as long as it took for us to fly back to Lahore. Even after this incident, I flew from Walton Airport to Qadian daily to survey its environs and check if there was any threat to the town. I would also look out to see if the daily convoys of Ahmadi refugees going from Qadian to Lahore faced any difficulties. But after a few days, I had to halt these flights because the police and army units in Qadian had started firing at my plane. You cannot hear ground fire from an air force plane due to the noise of its engine, but in a small plane like mine it was possible to hear machine gun or rifle shots. The first time I was fired at, I was miraculously saved by Allah. The top half of my L-5 cockpit was made of perspex. The windows could be opened inwards and buttoned at the bottom. I often flew with both the side windows buttoned down, meaning that they were kept half open. The roof of the cockpit was