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I, flew the Indian Gnat.

How different/similar is the Ajeet ?

More or less it was the same, german made servo valves for actuators, fully moving tail stabilizer or a stabilator, and wet wings. i think these are the only changes made to the Gnat. I did not remember seeing any size changes.
 
How different/similar is the Ajeet ?
Ajeet was just a minor improvement on the Gnat. The engine remained unchanged, which meant that the flight envelope and load carrying capacity remained pretty much the same as the Gnat.
 
@sandy_3126

Say hello to the the Mig-19, aka F-6 Farmer. :drag: (Taken by me)

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Cool i almost forgot you guys operated the chinese modified Mig19's, didn't you get a bunch of these free of cost from china. Did these fly in any of the wars? Do you know how it stacked up against the sabre in PAF training.
 
Cool i almost forgot you guys operated the chinese modified Mig19's, didn't you get a bunch of these free of cost from china. Did these fly in any of the wars? Do you know how it stacked up against the sabre in PAF training.
The F-6 (MiG-19) were inducted into PAF in 1966 and until 80s remained the backbone of PAF equipping some eight squadrons.....it participated in the 1971 war and bagged about a dozen air to air kills mostly Hunters, SU-7s and a MiG-21.......reportedly it could out maneuver anything except an F-86 yet with it's excellent thrust weight ratio, accelerate and climb like any Mach-2 type of it's era.
 
Both jets shot each other down in the war. Gnat was smaller and more agile. It was also more advanced than the Sabre from the late 40s. Gnat was used by the Combat Commanders School for studying its flight performance and for developing tactics. Lets not be unfair to the Sabre, it even shot down a Mig-21. :D

IAF MIG-21, Tail # No C 116. (1971)
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Here is an antique picture of both jets together, gives a good size comparison.

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i think we compelled the indians not to use the mig21s that (former) soviet union had provided to them on war-footing :)

because after a few dropped like birds they stopped flying them

IAF pilots, specially the flight programming training instructors devised clever tactics to engage one of the best fighters of it's era the F86 Sabre, and come out on top exploiting the sabre's weakness. it's performance was quite impressive across the 65 and 71 war which led India to license produce the aircraft as the "Ajeet" in India. The legendary performance of the Gnat deeply influenced the affection of the IAF to romanticize with the idea of a small agile nimble light aircraft...(Which in retrospect should have been laid to rest with the Gnat)

hate to burst your bubble but WRT to the air wars - IAF was never on top - not to say they didnt accomplish many feats but in close quarter air combat PAF had the edge

even neutral observers and foreign experts (not limited to just Chuck Yeager) would attest to that
 
i think we compelled the indians not to use the mig21s that (former) soviet union had provided to them on war-footing
because after a few dropped like birds they stopped flying them

Deal for Mig 21s was signed in August 1962,it a wasn't soviet gift.
 
rigght and it's only you using that term

And they were used throughout the '71 war.
 
And they were used throughout the '71 war.

i was talking about 65
 
i was talking about 65

The image shown is 1971 war.There were only 9 Mig 21s in IAF in 1965.
 
And they were used throughout the '71 war.

As a back up after the SU-7 failed, hardly any MiG-21s were encountered by PAF in the opening days of war....it was mostly, Hunters, SU-7s and in some cases Gnats.
 
MiG-21s were encountered by PAF in the opening days of war

They were used in the Eastern sector.
 
They were used in the Eastern sector.
Even Caribou Transport converted for bombing role was used in the Eastern sector since there was no opposition....the single F-86 squadron was grounded within 48 hours due to unserviceable runway.
 
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