PAF flyer unveils exploits in Arab-Israel War
September 6, 2008
By Azeem Samar
KARACHI: Sattar Alvi is the gallant flyer of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) who in the Ramazan War of 1973 scored a kill against our ideological enemy No.1, Israel.
It was April 26, 1974, when part of Shahbaz Squadron (call sign Shahbaz but in actual No. 67 Squadron) of the Syrian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant Alvi downed a Mirage-IIICJ fighter jet of Israel over the famous Golan Heights that are still under occupation of the Zionist state. He was the Shahbaz-8 in the squadron of MIG-21 fighters all flown by the Pakistani pilots. His victim Captain Lutz of the Israeli air force, had bailed out from the Mirage, later captured by the Syrian forces and admitted to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
It took around 20 minutes for Sattar Alvi and his squadron to take off from the Syrian air base of Dumayr, fly over Jordan to reach the Golan Heights, strike the enemy aircraft and safely land back at the Syrian base. The limited fuel capacity of MiG fighters allowed just a 30-minute flying mission and that was the major concern of the eight Pakistani pilots.
The two intruding Israeli Mirages, backed by two Israeli Phantoms F4-Es, were on a reconnaissance mission from the Ramat David Air Base.
Another concern for them was intense ground activity of the Israeli forces to jam the radio communication among the Syrian fighter planes. “We the eight flyers of Shahbaz squadron switched our radio communication from Urdu to Pushto and Punjabi and more than once we were confronted with abuse in Punjabi language from the Israeli side and it should be because of some Israeli-Indian cooperation during the war,” said Alvi.
Alvi said that he had taken a one-year leave from the PAF and volunteered to serve the Syrian air force after the outbreak of the 1973 Ramadan War. “But on my paper my year-long absence from the PAF had to be shown as deputation for an air force of the brotherly country,” he said.
Sattar Alvi retired as Air-Commodore from the Pakistan Air Force in 1998 and his last appointment was commander of the Pakistani forces in Saudi Arabia. Alvi was not the first Pakistani pilot to score against the Israeli forces. Earlier Flt-Lt Saiful Azam, from the then East Pakistan, downed at least three Israeli fighters during the 1967 Arab-Israel war.
Alvi believed that if it was in the vital interest of the nation there was no harm in establishing friendly relations with Israel. “If Muslims could co-exist peacefully with Jews in Madina under an accord during the time of Last Prophet Muhammad (SAW) then why could it not happen now”, said Alvi who held several important instructional and command appointments in the PAF.
He was also director at Air Headquarters for the project of commissioning of the F-7 Chinese fighters into the PAF. He had also remained officer commanding of the Combat Commander’s School in Sargodha that is considered as the Top Gun of the PAF.
After his successful mission over Golan Heights, the Syrian government awarded him two of their coveted military awards i.e. Wissam Faris and Wissam Shujaat. Later the Pakistani government decorated him with Sitara-e-Shujaat. “Other than the military medals I was also awarded with land and other prizes by the Syrian government that during my stay there. I donated all of it to their National Defence Fund,” he said.
Alvi said that Pakistan still has a small but competent air force with very creditable leadership and officials. “I strongly believe that the PAF has the capacity and edge to play a role for building the air force of the brotherly Middle Eastern countries,” he said.
He said that Syria has still a long way to go for modernising and upgrading its forces to combat against much stronger enemy in the form of Israel with widened numerical and technological superiority. “In the region I think it is only the Egyptian air force equipped with American warplanes that could counter Israel but there is no chance in near future that Egypt would wage a war against the Zionist state,” he said.
