The concentration of air, sea and land power lay in the western wing of the country, and East Pakistan had only a single squadron of 12 F-86F aircraft at Dhaka. This was all that could be spared, in the hope that it would be sufficient for the comparatively limited air defence requirements of East Pakistan. Offensive operations from that wing had not been seriously contemplated, although the station commander, Group Captain Ghulam Haider, had been cautioned to have all planning and preparations completed.

Since the days of the Rann of Kutch, 14 Squadron had been taxed to the hilt, as 4 aircraft had been maintained on standby throughout, a state which continued till the end of the war. The constant demands on the limited effort available, and the long spell of watchfulness, had taken their toll in fatigue and the situation was further aggravated by the unsafe conditions that prevailed. There was but a single airfield with inadequate dispersals; there were no proper aircraft protective pens, no sandbags, no camouflage nets and no operational readiness platforms. Security was almost non-existent, as the airfield was unfenced, and there were no ground defence arrangements. Aircraft stayed in the open and pilots were accommodated in tents. Hessian cloth was ultimately purchased and together with the natural camouflage that existed almost all over East Pakistan, some degree of concealment became possible. One battery of ack ack was availabe for the defence of Dhaka's Tezgaon airfield. An old style radar-a Marconi-existed, installed at Kurmitola, but it was virtually useless as enemy aircraft could come from any direction and not be detected at low level.

The primary target was the big IAF base at Kalaikunda, with Rampurhat radar as the secondary. At Kalaikunda one could expect a good concentration of fighters and bombers set aside for tasks in the east. In fact it actually had over 80 aircraft: 1 Canberra squadron, 1 Hunter squadron, 1 Mystere squadron, 1 Vampire or Ouragon squadron and a number of miscellaneous aircraft. Of the other targets, Baghdogra had 2 Vampire/Ouragon squadrons, Tezpur and Chabwa I Hunter squadron each.

On the 6th, the Dhaka-based pilots were at standby from 0430 hours when Theatre ordered 6 aircraft to be ready for immediate strikes. There was a flash warning at 0830 announcing the start of the war. A CAP was accordingly flown overhead Dhaka all day. When Theatre decided upon the overall airfield strike plan later that morning, it was appreciated that a dusk strike in the east could not be synchronised with those in the west because of a one hour difference in local times. The mission order of 14 Squadron, therefore, prescribed a TOT at dawn on the 7th. IAF Canberras from Kalaikunda penetrated into East Pakistan air space as far as Dhaka during the night of 6/7 September, and dropped bombs at random without much effect in the way of damage or casualties. On the morning of 7 September the Indians launched a pre-dawn offensive consisting of widespread attacks against several targets in East Pakistan - the airfields at Chittagong, Jessore, Lalmunirhat, Shibganj, Thakurgaon and Kurmitola, as well as the Pak Army headquarters at Rangpur. Hampered by the low cloud and the natural cover which the country afforded, the Indian aircraft failed to locate Dhaka airfield, from where the Sabres were, operating. Instead, they attacked Kurmitola, an abandoned airfield nearby, where the PAF's SOC was located. Here, a barrack was hit by rockets, and there were two casualties, one Sergeant A R Choudhry, and a child.