Squadron Leader Saiful Azam
Saiful Azam was born in 1941 in Pabna, Bangladesh, and spent his early years living in Calcutta, India. In 1947, his family moved to the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. In 1955, he went to West Pakistan to attend high school, and in 1958 joined the PAF Cadet College. In 1960, he graduated as a pilot officer and was commissioned in the PAF.
Azam would have his first kill during the 1965 war between Pakistan and India. During the war, he was primarily tasked with ground attack missions deep into Indian territories. He flew a total of 12 ground attack missions in the areas of Kasur, Sialkot, and Wagha. On September 19 1965, during a fateful ground attack mission, Azam's formation was intercepted by two Indian fighters. In the ensuing fight, he shot down one of the attackers, a Folland Gnat fighter. His victim was Flight Officer. V. Mayadev, who was captured as a POW. It was an incredible feat as the Gnat had rarely been shot down in aircombats. His gallantry warned him the Sitaar-i-Juraat, the Flying Cross.
But he would again earn fame during the 1967 Arab Israeli War. He was one of dozens of PAF personnel to volunteer to fight on the Arab side.
He first saw action while acting as an adviser to the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF). On June 5 1967, Azam's formation of four Hawker Hunters bounced an Israeli formation of Dassault Super Mysteres attacking the major Jordanian airbase of Mafraq. Azam shot down one Mystere and critically wounded another.
Two days later, Azam was to see action again, this time in Iraq. On June 7 1967, an Israeli formation of four Vatour bombers, escorted by two Mirage IIIs was in the process of attacking the strategic Iraqi airbase H-3. This time flying in an Iraqi Hunter Hawker (No. 702), Azam intercepted the formation. Two of his wingman was shot by a Mirage III, flown by Captain Gideon Dror. Azam was quick to avenge his wingmen's demise and shot down that Mirage. He then pounced upon the camouflaged Vatour bombers, and scored another kill. Both his victims, Captain Dror flying the Mirage, and Captain Golan flying the Vatour were taken as POWs.
After the war, Azam, then a Flight Lieutenant, was awarded Jordan’s Husame Isteqlal and Iraq’s Medal of Bravery, the Noth-es-Shuja.
Saiful Azam would not fly during the Bangladesh Independence War if 1971, as he was a Bengali. After independence, he joined the newly formed Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) or Bangladesh Biman Bahini as the Director of Operations. In 1977, he became Wing Commander and Base Commander of the BAF airbase in Dhaka. In 1980s, he, then a Group Captain, retired from his career as an accomplished aviator.
