Our Heroes need their identity back

[ghazi52]

 

[ghazi52]

"In the aftermath of the military crackdown that started in East Pakistan on 25 March 1971, the Bengali pilots in the PAF were grounded for fear of an adverse reaction. As the situation became more complex and war clouds started gathering, it was felt prudent to withdraw the.. flying clothing and equipment of Bengali aircrew, with hijacking of aircraft being precisely one of the fears.

At first, the Bengalis mulled hijacking one or more F-86 Sabres, but the mere presence of a Bengali pilot on the tarmac would have been viewed with suspicion... Besides, starting up a jet aircraft without help from ground crew and support equipment was a difficult proposition. How about sneaking into an already started one – a two-seater being flown by a single pilot? The idea sounded enticing, because gullible students going for their solo missions in the T-33 at No 2 Squadron seemed easy prey.

Students would surely obey any instructor’s command from outside, especially if it had something to do with aircraft safety. A visual signal for a fuel or hydraulic leak, a flat tyre, even a finger pointed generally at the aircraft would get an immediate response from the student. Chances were that the student could be sufficiently alarmed through hand signals about some external malfunction with the aircraft, and he would stop to find out more about the problem Flt Lt Matiur-Rehman had been an instructor in No 2 Squadron till he and his Bengali colleagues were grounded soon after the start of the counter insurgency operation in March. He was, however, given charge of the Ground Safety Officer with a mandate to check malpractices in aircraft maintenance and operations, thus authorizing him to move around on the flight lines and tarmacs in an official transport.

Given his affability, and his wife’s friendliness with neighborhood ladies, Matiur-Rehman was considered the least likely of the Bengalis to arouse suspicion. He fitted the plot perfectly. Apprehensions about the safety of his wife and two daughters were allayed by his Bengali colleagues when it was decided that the family would be moved with prior coordination to the Indian Consulate in Karachi, before the Hijack Day Relaxing in the squadron crew room, Minhas ordered his Mess breakfast to be heated. He could take his time to eat comfortably as he was not scheduled to fly that day, the visibility being poor for solo flying by students.

Those scheduled for dual flying were busy checking their mission details, so as to prepare the briefing boards and get the pre-mission briefing from their instructors. One of them noted the scheduling officer adding Minhas’ name on the scheduling board for a ‘Solo Consolidation’ mission. The change in scheduling took place as the visibility had improved and students were cleared to fly solo. This was conveyed to Minhas who was waiting for his breakfast in the Squadron tea bar. After being briefed by his instructor Flt Lt Hasan Akhtar, Minhas quickly gathered his flying gear. Breakfast had to wait, but Minhas hastily gobbled up a couple of gulaab jamans, the pilots’ favorite high-energy snack. He also shared a few swigs of a cold drink with his course-mate Plt Off Tariq Qureshi, before he headed to the flight lines to make good his 1130 hrs take-off time. “That was the last we saw of him, munching snacks on his way out,” recalls Qureshi. Preliminaries and start-up was uneven
Preliminaries and start-up was uneventful as the T-33, with the call sign ‘Bluebird-166,’ taxied out of the main tarmac." In the meantime Matiur-Rehman, who had earlier checked the students' flying schedule during a brief visit to the squadron, sped off in his private Opel Kadett car to the north-eastern taxi track that led out of the main tarmac.

The sides of the taxi-track had thick growth of bushes, which concealed his position both from the ATC tower as well as the tarmac. As the aircraft approached, he was able to stop it on some pretext, as expected. Seeing the instructor gesturing, Minhas must have thought that... some urgent instruction was to be conveyed. After all, his mission had been scheduled as an after-thought, and something might have gone amiss in the haste. He expected Matiur-Rehman to plug in his headset and talk to him on the aircraft inter-com. Not encumbered by his flying gear (parachute, anti-G suit, life jacket and helmet), Matiur-Rehman easily stepped on to the wing and slipped into the rear cockpit through the open canopy.

At 1128 hrs, ATC Tower received Minhas’ call: “Bluebird-166 is hijacked!” In the rough-and-tumble that followed, the T-33 got airborne from Runway 27 at 1130 hrs. The aircraft turned left, (a non-standard turn out of traffic). It was seen to be descending down to low level and... in no time, disappeared from view. Two more frantic calls, “166 is hijacked,” were the last that were heard from the T-33. Not sure if he had heard it right, Flt Lt Asim Rasheed, the duty ATC officer understood what was going on only when the aircraft did an abnormal turn out of traffic and ducked down very low. He immediately called up the Air Defence Alert (ADA) hut. “A T-33 is being hijacked. Scramble!”

A pair of F-86s lead by Wg Cdr Shaikh Saleem, OC of No 19 Squadron, who had just arrived in the ADA hut after inspecting the flight lines,.. immediately rushed to the nearby F-86s along with his wingman, Flt Lt Kamran Qureshi scrambled and vectored towards T-33, After a while, another pair of F-86s led by Flt Lt Abdul Wahab with Flt Lt Khalid Mahmood as his wingman, was scrambled.

The situation remained confused and it was apprehended that the hijack might have been successful. The prevailing uncertainty was cleared up in the afternoon, when a phone call was received from Shah Bandar that a plane had crashed nearby and the aircrew had not survived.

The Base search and rescue helicopter was launched immediately, and it was able to locate the wreckage at a distance of 64 nautical miles from Masroor. The tail of the T-33 showing its number 56-1622 could be seen sticking out in water-logged, soft muddy terrain at the mouth of Indus River, just 32 nautical miles short of the border. Estimated time of the crash was 1143 hrs. Minhas’ body was found still strapped in the seat, 100 yards ahead of the wreckage, while Matiur-Rehman’s body was found clear of the seat, lying further ahead. Both ejection seats had been thrown clear of the aircraft on impact, and there seemed no sign of ejection. Confronted with a very complex situation requiring quick thinking and steel nerves, Minhas was eventually able to counter Matiur-Rehman’s cunning design.

Despite having the option of ejecting safely, and in the course of action also tossing out the hijacker who did not have a parachute, Minhas did manage to prevent the aircraft from being hijacked to an enemy country, laying down his life in the process. He was destined to become the youngest star on Pakistan’s firmament of valiant heroes. May Allah bless his soul and may his Nishan-i-Haider be an inspiration for the future defenders of Pakistan. It has been 49 years, since the day of August 20, 1971, Rashid yet draws young minds to the esteemed profession of PAF.

He was the 8th recipient of Nishan-e- Haider and the only PAF personnel to do so. The pages of his diary and the letters he wrote to his family shows the exceptional person he was and how affectionate and a pure soul he was to sacrifice his life at the altar of freedom! Hailed as the "Kam Sin Shaheed (Young Martyr)" his name still shines like a dazzling star whenever it comes to the glorious story of the aerial defence of the motherland.

خدا رحمت کند ایں عاشقان پاک طینت را

By : Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail

 

[ghazi52]

Lt. Col. Faiz Ullah Khan.

He embraced Shahadat in a helicopter crash on 29 June 2004, while serving as a Staff officer in Sierra Leone during a UN Peacekeeping mission.

 

[ghazi52]

Wg Cdr Fayyaz Ather shaheed

 

[PAKISTANFOREVER]

"In the aftermath of the military crackdown that started in East Pakistan on 25 March 1971, the Bengali pilots in the PAF were grounded for fear of an adverse reaction. As the situation became more complex and war clouds started gathering, it was felt prudent to withdraw the.. flying clothing and equipment of Bengali aircrew, with hijacking of aircraft being precisely one of the fears.

At first, the Bengalis mulled hijacking one or more F-86 Sabres, but the mere presence of a Bengali pilot on the tarmac would have been viewed with suspicion... Besides, starting up a jet aircraft without help from ground crew and support equipment was a difficult proposition. How about sneaking into an already started one – a two-seater being flown by a single pilot? The idea sounded enticing, because gullible students going for their solo missions in the T-33 at No 2 Squadron seemed easy prey.

Students would surely obey any instructor’s command from outside, especially if it had something to do with aircraft safety. A visual signal for a fuel or hydraulic leak, a flat tyre, even a finger pointed generally at the aircraft would get an immediate response from the student. Chances were that the student could be sufficiently alarmed through hand signals about some external malfunction with the aircraft, and he would stop to find out more about the problem Flt Lt Matiur-Rehman had been an instructor in No 2 Squadron till he and his Bengali colleagues were grounded soon after the start of the counter insurgency operation in March. He was, however, given charge of the Ground Safety Officer with a mandate to check malpractices in aircraft maintenance and operations, thus authorizing him to move around on the flight lines and tarmacs in an official transport.

Given his affability, and his wife’s friendliness with neighborhood ladies, Matiur-Rehman was considered the least likely of the Bengalis to arouse suspicion. He fitted the plot perfectly. Apprehensions about the safety of his wife and two daughters were allayed by his Bengali colleagues when it was decided that the family would be moved with prior coordination to the Indian Consulate in Karachi, before the Hijack Day Relaxing in the squadron crew room, Minhas ordered his Mess breakfast to be heated. He could take his time to eat comfortably as he was not scheduled to fly that day, the visibility being poor for solo flying by students.

Those scheduled for dual flying were busy checking their mission details, so as to prepare the briefing boards and get the pre-mission briefing from their instructors. One of them noted the scheduling officer adding Minhas’ name on the scheduling board for a ‘Solo Consolidation’ mission. The change in scheduling took place as the visibility had improved and students were cleared to fly solo. This was conveyed to Minhas who was waiting for his breakfast in the Squadron tea bar. After being briefed by his instructor Flt Lt Hasan Akhtar, Minhas quickly gathered his flying gear. Breakfast had to wait, but Minhas hastily gobbled up a couple of gulaab jamans, the pilots’ favorite high-energy snack. He also shared a few swigs of a cold drink with his course-mate Plt Off Tariq Qureshi, before he headed to the flight lines to make good his 1130 hrs take-off time. “That was the last we saw of him, munching snacks on his way out,” recalls Qureshi. Preliminaries and start-up was uneven
Preliminaries and start-up was uneventful as the T-33, with the call sign ‘Bluebird-166,’ taxied out of the main tarmac." In the meantime Matiur-Rehman, who had earlier checked the students' flying schedule during a brief visit to the squadron, sped off in his private Opel Kadett car to the north-eastern taxi track that led out of the main tarmac.

The sides of the taxi-track had thick growth of bushes, which concealed his position both from the ATC tower as well as the tarmac. As the aircraft approached, he was able to stop it on some pretext, as expected. Seeing the instructor gesturing, Minhas must have thought that... some urgent instruction was to be conveyed. After all, his mission had been scheduled as an after-thought, and something might have gone amiss in the haste. He expected Matiur-Rehman to plug in his headset and talk to him on the aircraft inter-com. Not encumbered by his flying gear (parachute, anti-G suit, life jacket and helmet), Matiur-Rehman easily stepped on to the wing and slipped into the rear cockpit through the open canopy.

At 1128 hrs, ATC Tower received Minhas’ call: “Bluebird-166 is hijacked!” In the rough-and-tumble that followed, the T-33 got airborne from Runway 27 at 1130 hrs. The aircraft turned left, (a non-standard turn out of traffic). It was seen to be descending down to low level and... in no time, disappeared from view. Two more frantic calls, “166 is hijacked,” were the last that were heard from the T-33. Not sure if he had heard it right, Flt Lt Asim Rasheed, the duty ATC officer understood what was going on only when the aircraft did an abnormal turn out of traffic and ducked down very low. He immediately called up the Air Defence Alert (ADA) hut. “A T-33 is being hijacked. Scramble!”

A pair of F-86s lead by Wg Cdr Shaikh Saleem, OC of No 19 Squadron, who had just arrived in the ADA hut after inspecting the flight lines,.. immediately rushed to the nearby F-86s along with his wingman, Flt Lt Kamran Qureshi scrambled and vectored towards T-33, After a while, another pair of F-86s led by Flt Lt Abdul Wahab with Flt Lt Khalid Mahmood as his wingman, was scrambled.

The situation remained confused and it was apprehended that the hijack might have been successful. The prevailing uncertainty was cleared up in the afternoon, when a phone call was received from Shah Bandar that a plane had crashed nearby and the aircrew had not survived.

The Base search and rescue helicopter was launched immediately, and it was able to locate the wreckage at a distance of 64 nautical miles from Masroor. The tail of the T-33 showing its number 56-1622 could be seen sticking out in water-logged, soft muddy terrain at the mouth of Indus River, just 32 nautical miles short of the border. Estimated time of the crash was 1143 hrs. Minhas’ body was found still strapped in the seat, 100 yards ahead of the wreckage, while Matiur-Rehman’s body was found clear of the seat, lying further ahead. Both ejection seats had been thrown clear of the aircraft on impact, and there seemed no sign of ejection. Confronted with a very complex situation requiring quick thinking and steel nerves, Minhas was eventually able to counter Matiur-Rehman’s cunning design.

Despite having the option of ejecting safely, and in the course of action also tossing out the hijacker who did not have a parachute, Minhas did manage to prevent the aircraft from being hijacked to an enemy country, laying down his life in the process. He was destined to become the youngest star on Pakistan’s firmament of valiant heroes. May Allah bless his soul and may his Nishan-i-Haider be an inspiration for the future defenders of Pakistan. It has been 49 years, since the day of August 20, 1971, Rashid yet draws young minds to the esteemed profession of PAF.

He was the 8th recipient of Nishan-e- Haider and the only PAF personnel to do so. The pages of his diary and the letters he wrote to his family shows the exceptional person he was and how affectionate and a pure soul he was to sacrifice his life at the altar of freedom! Hailed as the "Kam Sin Shaheed (Young Martyr)" his name still shines like a dazzling star whenever it comes to the glorious story of the aerial defence of the motherland.

خدا رحمت کند ایں عاشقان پاک طینت را

By : Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail



View attachment 698201

The ONLY men in the ENTIRE history of MANKIND who have repelled a 7× bigger foe for many decades.............

 

[xyx007]

Ye Ghazi, Ye Tere Purisrar Bande Jinhain Tu Ne Bakhsha Hai Zuaq-e-Khudai

These warriors, victorious, These worshippers of Yours, Whom You have granted

 

[ghazi52]

 

[ghazi52]

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah With Later Chief Of Air Staff Air Marshal Asghar Khan At PAF Academy Risalpur, Circa 1948.

 

[ghazi52]

Flight Lieutanant A T M AZIZ
(SHAHEED) 1965 War

Sqn Ldr M A QURESHI
(SHAHEED) 1965 War

 

[m52k85]

Sqn ldr Ghani Akbar - 1965 War Hero

 

[GriffinsRule]

Sqn ldr Ghani Akbar - 1965 War Hero

Very nice share

 

[Cherub786]

View attachment 700938

Qaid looked amazing in sherwani. Best dresser of entire 70 year history of Pakistani politicians and leaders, which is kind of sad when you think about it

 

[ghazi52]

Air Cdre (R) Ab Sattar Alvi in discussion with sqn mates in front of Mirage-VPA. He shot down the Israeli Mirage-3 with MiG-21 F13 during Arab Israel war over Golan heights.

 

[ghazi52]

Air Marshal Asghar Khan's third death anniversary to be observed tomorrow

Serviceman turned politician and earned widespread appreciation for turning PAF and PIA into prestigious institutions


January 04, 2021

Air Marshal Asghar Khan with Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 1948. PHOTO: EXPRESS


ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan Air Force (PAF) chief and veteran politician Air Marshal Asghar Khan’s third death anniversary will be observed on Tuesday (January 5).

He was born in Jammu and Kashmir in 1921 in a family with distinctive military traditions. After completing his education at Aitcheson College, Lahore Asghar Khan joined Royal Indian Air Force in December 1940.

He was a World War II veteran fighter pilot and served in Burma.

The late PAF veteran was a member of the committee that was formed to distribute defence assets between the two newly-formed states – Pakistan and India.

After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, Asghar was deputed as wing commander and he was the first commandant of the PAF Academy Risalpur near Peshawar.

In July 1957, at the age of just 36, he became the first Pakistani and Muslim Commander-in-Chief of the PAF.

During a period of 18 years, from 1947 till his retirement in 1965, he turned the PAF into a prestigious institution for which he earned widespread appreciation. Under his command, PAF defeated Indian Air Force (IAF) during the 1965 war.

After retiring from the PAF, Asghar took over the command of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) and in a short span of time made it one of the best airlines of the world. That era of PIA is known as ‘Golden Age’.
Later, he quit the national airline to join politics and formed his own political party called Tehreek-e-Istiqlal in 1970.

His party was often referred to as a school of politicians which provided platform to many bigwigs including former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, incumbent Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid, Javed Hashmi and many others to enter into the political arena.

Asghar Khan, who rose to fame in 1970s as anti-Bhutto leader, remained incarcerated for five years during former military dictator General Ziaul Haq’s martial law.

The retired air marshal known for his integrity and principles, was the only serviceman turned politician who opposed the dictatorships of four military generals — Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf.

He also authored several books including The First Round, Pakistan at the Crossroads, Generals in Politics,

The Lighter Side of Power Games, We’ve Learnt Nothing from History, My Political Struggle and Milestones in a Political Journey.


Some of his books have also been translated into Urdu.


He passed away in Islamabad on January 5, 2018 just 12 days before his 97th birthday and laid to rest with full state honours at a graveyard in his native town of Nawanshehr in Abbottabad district.

 

[ghazi52]

An Unseen Photograph of Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas Shaheed N.H.

This time is around mid-1971,for an indoctrination course at AMI(Aero Medical Institute),just before starting jet conversion on T-33,at No,2 Sqn,Masroor.The Officers are from 51st GDP,this is half the course,

The Course was divided into two batches.

They are:

1st Row,standing,L-R:Sikander,Wali,Naseem ullah(retired as PIA B-777 captain),Tariq Qureshi.
2nd Row,standing,L-R:Hamid Sultan,Rashid Minhas,Shujaat,Masood Akhtar Hussaini((PAF Aviation Artist fame).
Photograph Courtesy : Mr. Anjum Minhas, Younger Brother of the Shaheed.