Official and Unofficial Aviation Art

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Aviation Art by Rehan Siraj

Illustrations: Pakistan Air Force at War
PAF Falcons - Picture Gallery - Aviation Art by Rehan Siraj - Pakistan Air Force at War

PAF In Jordan's Defence: The painting depicts a Jordanian Hunter flown by F/L Saif ul Azam of PAF shooting down an Israeli Mystere IV A over Mafraq Air base Jordan, The encounter took place on 5th June 1967 during the Arab- Israel War.

 

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PAF In The Battle of Sharoora: In 1969, South Yemen (strong ally of USSR at that time) attacked and captured Mount Vadiya in Sharoora Province of Saudi Arabia. PAF pilots (and officers and men of other branches) who were serving in Saudi Arabia, along with the Saudi pilots drove the enemy away. The painting depicts two RSAF Lightnings successfully carrying out the close air support mission against the enemy tanks. RSAF Lightnings and F-86s took part in that battle.

 

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The First Encounter: The painting depicts a PAF F-104 of No. 9 Squadron, flown by F/L Aftab Alam Khan destroying an IAF Mystere and damaging the other. The Indian formation was attacking a train at Wazirabad, Pakistan. This encounter took place on 6th September, 1965 at 0525 am (PST).

 

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Shoot Them All: This painting depicts a pair of F-86 Sabre rolling out for takeoff on a Close Air Support Mission during 1965 War.

 

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F-86s greet the Enemy: The painting depicts a formation of PAF F-86s of No. 19 Squadron lead by S/L Sajjad Haider destroying Indian Tanks which were advancing towards Pakistan on GT Road. The encounter took place on 6th September, 1965 and within 20 minutes the Grand Trunk Road was littered with scores of burning tanks, and other support vehicles.

 

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Pathankot Attack: This painting depicts F-86s of PAF attacking IAF Patahnkot airfield on the evening of 6th September, 1965. Nearly all the Indian Mig-21s (in addition to the other aircrafts) were destroyed in this attack. The Mig-21s were not seen again during the war. Sabres counted 14 wrecks burning on the airfield.

 

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End of a Sabre Salyer: On 19th September, 1965, a formation of F-86s of No.17 Sqn carried on a close air support mission in Alhar (Sialkot- Chawinda) sector. While attacking Indian Centurion tanks, they were warned of the IAF’s presence, which turned out to be 4 Gnats of IAF’s 9 Sqn. F/L Saiful Azam quickly maneuvered his F-86 behind one Gnat and shot the “Sabre Slayer” down. The pilot of the Gnat F/L Maya Dev ejected and was taken into custody by Pakistan Army troops. F/L Saiful Azam was awarded Sitara-i- Jurat. The Gnat has infact not proved to be a real Sabre Slayer because in dogfights between Sabres and Gnats, Sabres shot down 2 Gnats and damaged 1 while Gnats shot down 3 sabres and damaged 1 (confirmed).

 

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The First Punch: This painting depicts the F-86s of No.26 Sqn attacking IAF Srinagar Airbase on 3rd December, 1971. From then on, 26 Sqn Sabres continued to attack the airfield frequently causing considerable damage. The attack was led by W/C S A Changezi. On that evening, PAF successfully launched surprise attacks on 7 different Indian targets, including Airbases and Radar sites, achieving the desired objective without loss.

 

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Utterlai Strike: This painting depicts PAF F-104s surprise attack on the IAF Utterlai airfield on December 11, 1971. The star fighters destroyed two Indian-made HF-24s in this raid.

 

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Starfighter scores an SU-7: The painting depicts a PAF F-104 piloted by S/L R.A.Bhatti shoots down an IAF SU-7 over Amritsar sector on
December 4th, 1971.

 

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Cobra: This painting depicts an AH-1F Cobra of Pakistan Army Aviation flying a close air support sortie.

 

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Zafar Chaudhary’s Nilofur: Flying Officer Zafar Chaudhary (later CAS of PAF) while serving in 7 Squadron of Royal Indian Air force,before partition, named his Spitfire (C/N RN-183)” Nilofur”. He named it in her inspiration. Nilofur was a beautiful Turkish princess who was married to a son of Nizam of Hyderabad.

 

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Going For The World Record: On 2nd February,1958, a formation of 16 F-86s performed a loop during an air display at Masroor Airbase, Karachi and made the world record in Aviation history. The Falcons (their call sign) depicted here are doing taxi while others have taken off for the practice mission. The formation was led by W/C M Z Masud.

 

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The Bear Intercepted: This painting depicts an imaginary interception of an Indian Navy TU-124 Bear by PAF Mirage IIIO over the coastline of Pakistan.

 

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Welcome Boys: This painting depicts F-7s of No.14 Squadron “The Tail Choppers” returning from the mission and landing on their home base.