Our Heroes need their identity back

[ghazi52]

Our Heroes need their identity back


13 September 1965

In the early morning haze, a formation of four F-86 Sabres of PAF just returned from the Chawinda Sector after turning a number of Indian tanks into debris. Now Flight Lieutenants Saleem, Manzoor and Amanullah alongwith their "Sherdil Squardon Leader" were about to have a cup of tea, after submitting the mission details to their Wing Commander. The Squadron Leader belonged to East Pakistan (Dhaka), with a petite figure and lank body, he looked quite unimpressive. Due to his courage and bravery; he was called Sherdil. Suddenly, there was a buzzer they all rushed towards the briefing room.

1030 hrs Batala Gurdaspur Railway Tracks, India

The formation of four Sabres was deployed in their raid & reconnaissance mission in the area, where a train, full of arms and ammunition for the reinforcements of Indian Army in the various sectors was passing. This formation was directed to destroy this consignment.
"Lead Contact!", Called Manzoor on the RT.
"Yes No.2" said the Sherdil Squadron Leader.
"I have a visual of a train at 11'O clock" Manzoor answered.
"Copy that, let me check" Sherdil answered and dived towards the target.
Going pn a very low altitude flight, Sherdil was nearly parallel to the train. The terrified faces of civilians were enough to tell that it was a passenger train not an ammunition train.
"Negative fellows, not the target" said Squadron leader and took his plane up again.
As the Sabres reached the Gurdaspur Railway Station, they spotted a train . A long line of freight wagons was enough to tell that it wasn't an ordinary train.
"Lead! I think we are lucky this time" Saleem stuttered cheerfully on the RT.
"Let me check it Junior", Squadron leader said and dived towards the train.
Now there was only one way to check it. Sherdil opened the gun sight and fired a brief burst with its six 0.5 inches Browning Machine Guns of Sabre. The result proved devastating as the tiny burst resulted in a big explosion.
"Let's get it boys" Squadron Leader Said.
All the four sabres lined up and started emptying their guns and rocket pods on the train. The massive cache of weapons started turning into ashes. After fireworks of just 2 minutes, there was nothing left except for pieces of steel and thick clouds of smoke.
"There are some wagons left, let me take care of that" Squadron leader said and dived towards the train. The sound of machine gun burst and a huge explosion shook the air. Leader was on a tree top height, the flying splinters of train hit his plane. It was enough to crash a plane but Sherdil controlled the situation and avoided the crash.
"Lead we must return to the base, enemy would be here any moment" Amanullah said.
"No some wagons are intact, they must be destroyed. I won't allow even a single bullet to reach the Indians" Squadron Leader said and dived in the thick cloud of smoke, making the lowest flight of the course.
"There was again the whistling sound of two rockets, which resulted into the most gigantic explosion that these aviators had ever heard during the mission. They were about 200 feet above the train, but the shock waves of the explosion shook their planes like plastic toys and they were barely able to control them.
There was no hope for the Sherdil to avoid the explosion as he was very near the exploding train. "Lead are you OK?" asked Manzoor
"My canopy is full of smoke, returning to the base, said the Leader.
Pakistani Territory was only 12 miles away from the point of action and it was only a flight of one and half minute.
"Smoke is clear, now it seems alright" was the final transmission from the leader. After that it was silence
Other three sabres returned to base safely but the leader didn't. In search of Leader, a rescue operation of five hours was conducted, but it ended effortless. As it was later assumed that while descending by the parachute from his crippled Sabre, he was shot down. If he'd reached the ground alive, nothing on earth could stop him from reaching Pakistan", the legendary PAF officer Squadron Leader “Nosey” Haider said.
This Sherdil Squadron Leader was awarded Sitara e Jurrat and world knows him as Squadron Leader Alaud Din Ahmed 'Butch'.

....................................................................................


...............

December 04, 1971
Dhaka, East Pakistan
0730 HRS

After waiting for whole night long, the 23 years old Flying Officer was finally called for the mision. He was sitting in his ADA when the intercom rang, he was ordered to scramble in his F-86. Alongwith his No.2 Flying Officer Gul, they took off.

"Two enemy birds approaching you from south, engage! the ground control told them.

They spotted a pair of Indian SU-7s, which started firing at them.

"Contact left Gul", Flying Officer shouted at the intercom and yanked his F-86 to avoid the damage. Making loop after loop, he was finally behind the SU-7. Taking it into the gun sight, he fired a 2 seconds burst with his six 0.5 Browning Machine guns. The aircraft was hit but escaped making a long trail of black smoke.

Meanwhile Gul also made his target run away .

0940 HRS
Dhaka Air space

The duo of Flying officer and Gul was again airborne. This time two Indian Hunters were over Dhaka. Soon they spotted the enemy aircrafts.

"One for you and one for me buddy", Flying Officer told Gul with a laughter.

The race between hunters and F-86 started. After a series of classic scissors, Flying Officer was able to take the hunter into his gun sight. Taking aim, he fired. Within seconds, the hunter was blown to pieces when it hit the ground, giving no chance to the pilot to eject. The duo landed back safely.


01330 HRS

Flying officer was on a flying patrol along with his wingman, Flying Officer Shamshad.

As the wheels locked, they were warned for 2 approaching SU-7s.

"Shamshad, engage right", he ordered his wingman and dived for his share of the targets. SU-7 fired 2 missiles at him, which Shamshad avoided by yanking his air craft.

Meanwhile Flying Officer also took his target into sight, and fired his sidewinder missile, which landed directly into the windpipe of SU-7, shattering it into pieces. Now he dived towards the SU-7 which was chasing Shamshad. As he noticed the flying officer coming after him, he turned and ran away.

Now they were directed to reach Kurmitola.

"Plenty of prey today, let no one escape from here aliv e", he told Shamshad.

After a flight of 1 minute, they spotted 4 hunters in a box formation. Two hunters infront of Flying Officer broke off the formation and turned left. But Flying Officer was on their tail like a leech, firing long bursts at them. One hunter got damage and ran away while the second hunter was only 600 feet away, so it got a direct hit and blew into pieces. The other aircraft was getting out of point blank range, so he fired the other side winder misile, which exploded the hunter like a nepalm bomb.

On the other side, Shamshad downed one hunter with his machine guns and was after the other one.

"I am out of fuel, going to the base", shamshad told him.

"Ok you go, let me chase the bastard", Flying officer replied.

He was out of missiles and guns were empty. But only he knew that.

"Send back up, I am out of ammo", he told the ground control.

He was informed that 2 F-86 are airborne, he turned towards Dhaka air field. Suddenly he noticed a formation of 4 Mig-21 has surrounded him. Keeping his mind sharp, he throttled his aircraft to the full and made a max-rate-steep-turn on the tree top height. Migs were constantly firing at the Flying Officer, filling him with anger. After taking a steep turn, he moved his old F-86 towards the newly built Migs, his magazines were empty. Migs broke off from the formation and turned towards Indian Territory.
The flying officer landed on the ground and greeted by the base commander himslef for this battle. Later he was awarded Sitara e Jurrat for his act of bravery. Today the is known as Flying Officer Shams ul Haq.

 

[ghazi52]

10 April 1959 was a red letter day in the history of the Pakistan Air Force. It was the day that the PAF achieved its first ever ‘kill’ in an air engagement. Strangely enough, this happened not in the middle of a war, or even a limited confrontation with an enemy. It happened as a finale to a stealthy incursion into Pakistani airspace by an Indian photo reconnaissance Canberra. Such violations had occurred earlier also but the PAF’s air defence system was still in a state of flux, dependent as it was on WW II vintage radar cover. Besides, the earlier incursions had been only a little way into Pakistan and the intruders invariably managed to slip quickly back into their own airspace before PAF interceptors could close in for an engagement.

But today there was a difference. It was Eid-ul-Fitr a religious holiday to mark the end of Ramadhan month long fasting in Pakistan and the whole nation would be in a mood of festive relaxation. It would be reasonable to assume that even the PAF would have lowered its guard somewhat to accommodate Eid celebration programmes of its personnel. Today the Indian snooper should be able to fly pretty deep into Pakistan and get away with it. Such thoughts must have been the prelude to that day’s IAF photo recce mission. The rest of the story at first hand comes from Flight Lieutenant Yunis of 15 Squadron at Peshawar:

“The air defence alert (ADA) arrangements at Peshawar were spartan - a couple of chairs in the balmy April sunshine in one corner of the alert platform where we sat and chatted and drank tea - it was still too early in the morning to expect our breakfast from the mess. I had been detailed for ADA that Eid day along with two other bachelor pilots - the married officers were ‘spared’ so that they could join the festivities with their families. They would be green with envy at the bachelors before that day was over! I myself nearly missed the excitement to come, when Naseer Butt, who was to be my formation leader, threatened to put me on mobile duty as punishment for being late. But perhaps our common Cranwellian connection persuaded him to relent! I had a total of 450 hours at that time, with about 100 on the Sabre. Boredom had not quite begun to set in when the alarm sounded for a scramble of two Sabres. In no time at all, Naseer and I were off the ground in a maximum rate climb, on a vector of 150 degrees.”


The vector had been given by Pilot Officer Rab Nawaz, the duty air defence controller crouched tensely in front of his radar screen in the operations cabin of 223 Squadron, commanded by Flight Lieutenant S A Rahman. The WW II Type 15 mobile radar unit was deployed at Wegowal, an abandoned airstrip near Sargodha, and was hooked up to a makeshift Sector Operations Centre located at the Tiwana House in Sargodha cantonment. It was from this SOC that the duty operations officers, Flight Lieutenant A M Shahzada, had given Peshawar the order to scramble.
Rab Nawaz was a very junior officer and his job was not made any easier by the absence of a height finding facility. Moreover, the aircraft blips spread across nearly 10 to 15 miles of the range scale on his vintage radar screen. Nevertheless Rab Nawaz persevered and, with intense concentration, eventually succeeded in manoeuvring the Sabres into visual contact with the target, whose contrails no doubt played an important part in this interception. Yunis continues:

“At about 20,000 ft, we spotted a double trail way above and far ahead. Assuming two Hunters, I selected their wingspan on my gunsight. No target was available to our controlling radar but we were vectored on a curve of pursuit. When we were at 41,000 ft, the trails could be identified as a single Canberra flying on a steady northerly heading, clearly oblivious of any threat to it. Overhead Gujrat now, it appeared to be at about 50,000 ft. We punched our tanks and, although we were still out of range, the mounting excitement threatened to get the better of sound judgement.”
The Sabre leader now called for clearance to shoot and, for a moment, Rab Nawaz debated whether to go through the full standard procedure for obtaining permission. But that would very likely cause enough delay to allow the positively identified Canberra to slip away - such a close encounter may not occur again in a long time. He quickly told Shahzada at SOC that he was about to clear the Sabres to shoot - and proceeded to do just that. Yunus goes on:
“We were still not within optimum range but Naseer impatiently launched into a series of energy-climb/burst-of-gunfire/stall out sequence which became more desperate with each repetition. In the meantime, I kept a steady height and heading in order to give rear cover to my leader. It suddenly occurred to me that, if the Canberra spotted us, he would in all probability turn right i.e., towards the border, so I eased over in that direction. The leader had given me the okay to have a go if I could, but I could see I was still too far below the target. Presently, the Canberra did turn right and then, as if he had spotted me, quickly reversed. On that side he must have spotted Butt, for he seemed to panic and tightened his turn, which of course caused him to lose height rapidly. I saw my chance and put a bead on his right engine - just in time I remembered my Hunter wingspan setting and quickly ranged on half the Canberra’s span - immediately I could see my bullets impacting on his right engine. I traversed the bead to the centre, not letting go of the trigger till the guns stopped - due to over-heating, as it turned out. But I had fired 1,200 rounds by then and the doomed Canberra whipped into a spiral.

“I had not seen any ejection but, in fact, both crew were found, relatively unharmed, by a ground party and after the usual interrogation, returned to India. While I headed for base, stunned by the excitement of my experience, Butt watched the Canberra spiral down to its impact point. As I approached Peshawar I was sorely tempted to do a victory roll over the base, and barely resisted the temptation - this may have been providential because two sorties later this aircraft had an aileron-jam malfunction which the pilot overcame only in the nick of time to avoid a crash. Had this jam occurred during my contemplated victory roll, I could have easily wound up being an ‘over confidence’ statistic in a fatal accident inquiry. Eid Mubarak to me, indeed!”

A befitting Eid gift to the Pakistan Air Force, which had drawn first blood!

Flight Lieutenant Yunis was awarded the ‘Sitara-e-Jurat’ . He rose to the rank of Air Vice Marshal and retired in June, 1990.

Courtesy : PAF Falcons

 

[MastanKhan]

Our Heroes need their identity back

President Ayub Khan Visiting Sargodha Air Base in October 1965, Personally Congratulating Sqn. Ldr M.M Alam for the record he made. In the end footage of Indian GNAT can be seen which was forced to land on our side - Exclusive

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Our Heroes need their identity back

Hi,

Others may have seen that Gnat on the ground or heard stories about it---but I am possibly the only one who had seen it fly overhead in pakistani air space before being forced down to land---.

I was 8 years old at that time and my dad heard it first saw it and and yelled---there goes an indian Jahaz---I ran out to the open and saw it being chased at very very low altitude by a pakistani aircraft---.

 

[k s ahmed]

September 1965

Indian Army faced defeat in Rann of Kutch. Chambb and Jaurian were also captured by Pakistan Army. It was obvious by the speed of Pakistani troops that they will capture the remaining area of Kashmir as well. It was the time of hostilities, insurgencies and battle from both sides.
PAF was playing a vital role at that time. Indian Army and air force faced lethal blows by PAF from day one. Under the visionary leader ship of Commander In Chief Air Marshall Nur Khan, PAF became a nightmare for Indians. Air Marshall Nur Khan decided to take aggressive stance against the enemy.
September 04, 1965
A Flight Lieutenant of No.9 Squadron was on air patrol in his Star Fighter (F-104), over Kashmir Area. Suddenly his radio woke up. The C-in-C Nur Khan was on the line. Directing him to head toward the most important and the most protected Amritsar Air Field and perform a Super Sonic Boom over the Indian Air Field. Though his intention was not to fire on the air field, but his aim was to deliver a warning to Indians. In the dark of night, the young aviator took the direction of Amritsar and reached the air field. Instead of performing his dare devil trick on high altitude; he lowered his height. He started pressing the throttle to gain enough speed to break the sound barrier. As the jet crossed the required speed, the sonic boom generated by the mighty F-104 shook the atmosphere. Indian air defense was alerted, making the sky red with exploding ack ack shells; they made a net of fire in the sky. But it was futile as they had no match with the skills of the pilot.
As he crossed Amritsar, Nur Khan was again on the radio, asking, "Boy have you done it?"
"Yes Sir", the young aviator replied.
"Make another Pass", Nur Khan commanded.
"Right Sir", saying it, he again turned towards Amritsar.
This time the Indian Air Defence was alert. They started immense firing but it again proved to be useless, as the F-104 again passed through the Indian sky. Making a fearsome boom, giving a clear reply to the Indians that we can hit you whenever, wherever we want.
After a short while, in a nervous and afraid manner, Indian Radio broadcasted the news that 8 Pakistani planes rocketed Amritsar Air Field. Whereas it was only one F-104 which gave a loud and clear message to the Indian Command.
The pilot landed safely on Pakistani air field and later provided air support in numerous missions to Pakistani forces.
Today the world knows the Brave Aviator as Air Vice Marshall Farooq Umar Hilal e Imtiaz Military, Sitara e Jurrat, Sitara e Basalat, Tamgha e Basalat

yep- well deserved medals .. very nice story Ghazi .. keep up with the good work

 

[ghazi52]

He was only a teenager from Kahuta, when his father Malik Kala Khan passed away. Facing the adverse circumstances manly, he worked in an early age to support his family, cleared secondary school and later joined PAF as an aircraft technician on 19 June 1958.

Seeing his passion, skill and intellect, he was allowed to undergo officer's training course in 1963. On January 30, 1966, he passed out as an officer and posted at No.9 squadron chaklala. As a navigator, he initially operated on C-130, later in 1970 he was transferred to No.7 Squadron of B-57 at Masroor air base. During Pakistan India war in 1971, he was detached to Mianwali along with his zealous crew.

Amritsar was a major air base of Indian Air force. Besides its strategic importance the installation of the radar made it even more important for PAF to destroy it. On dusk of December 05, 1971, Flight Lieutenant Javed Iqbal and the brave navigator took off from Mianwali airbase to Amritsar airbase for bombardment. In the outskirts of Amritsar after checking their payload, they dived towards the airbase delivering the destructive luggage on the runway, the B-57 rose up for the second blow. When the bombs hit the ground, heavy ack-ack fire by the enemy covered the sky. As the resilient aviators dropped the second installment of destruction on the planes standing on the tarmac, a barrage of ack-ack fire hit the B-57. Javed tried to control the air craft but failed. Consequently, both aviators ejected from the burning aircraft.

Javed's ejection was unsuccessful and he landed on the ground as a martyr, though navigator ejected safely, but before landing on the ground, he was unconscious because of a head injury . He was urgently transferred to a hospital in Delhi. Where after struggling with death for twelve days, he embraced martyrdom on December 17, 1971. His funeral was offered in Islamic Way, so a Pakistani PAF Officer Flight Lieutenant Amjad was called to participate, as he was a POW those days in India.

To wrap the coffin in Pakistani flag, Indians brought the flag from Saudi Embassy in Delhi. After performing of rituals, he was buried in the Nizam ud Din Auliya Graveyard, Delhi. Meanwhile in Pakistan, the navigator was reported as "Missing in Action". His wife Bashiran Bibi kept waiting for months, until she received a letter from the Red Cross along with the pictures of Navigator's funeral, mentioning that her husband has embraced shahadat on December 17, 1971.

Years after years, the contingents visit the 'Urs' of Hazrat Nizam Us Din Auliya and visit the grave of Navigator and pay homage to the great son of Pakistan.

Today, the history knows the brave son of soil as Flight Lieutenant Ghulam Murtaza Malik Tamgha e Jurrat.

.............................


Great gesture from Indian authority. Salute.......

 

[ghazi52]

December 04, 1971

A young flight lieutenant was flying over Chamb sector in search of a target. Just a couple of days ago, he was in PAF academy Risalpur as a flight instructor. As the war broke out, he and his fellow instructors volunteered for active role in the operational area. Enemy had more resources, so the Vintage Harvard TG-6 aircrafts were also brought in the war zone. Carrying only 400 rounds of machine gun and four 60 pounder bombs, it was a suicidal mission to fly just at the speed of 145 MPH. whereas enemy had superior aircrafts.

Flight Lieutenant was ordered to deliver his payload on the enemy column advancing in the area. Soon he noticed the movement of enemy convoy in the area.

"Contact I have visual on the target", Flight Lieutenant told the base.

"You are clear to engage", Base acknowledged.

Getting the approval, he dived on the target. Dropping the 60 pounder bomb and firing the machine guns, the Flight Lieutenant stunned the enemy. Enemy vehicles were destroyed but the location of the pilot was also exposed.

Enemy ack-ack started intense firing on the aircraft. Neglecting every fear, he again dived on the enemy; firing and dropping the bomb. A shell exploded near his aircraft which shattered the canopy and damaged the aircraft. Not only the aircraft was damaged but it also fractured his right arm which started bleeding profusely. With a broken arm and absence of canopy it was nearly impossible to control an out dated machine. Ground control advised him to eject. But the flight Lieutenant took the aircraft away from the battle field to Pakistani territory, flying the aircraft with just his left hand, landing safely on the Chaklala air field. He not only destroyed the enemy but also saved the aircraft.

Later, the flight Lieutenant was awarded with Sitara e Jurrat.
The world knows the brave aviator as Group Captain Asrar Ahmed, Sitara e Jurrat, Sitara e Basalat.

 

[ghazi52]

After the start of war on September 06, 1965, air insurgencies from both sides became an important part of war strategy. Night used to bring bomber aircrafts from both sides. Indian pilots of Canberra bombers developed a technique to climb to middle altitude of 25-30000 feet and then descend to low level to approach the target. On the target the IAF Canberra would pull up to 8-10000 feet and aggress.
Keeping the low level in all the process and later climbing to the middle height while entering the Indian Territory. To counter this strategy, main role was given to PAF Star fighter F-104 due to its radar based firing system and target accuracy. Moreover its supersonic speed was more than enough for IAF, as just a sight of F-104 was enough for them to make an escape. Because of this trait, it was known as بدمعاش Badmaash among PAF pilots. It was playing a vital role to counter the Indian Bombers strategy and had to do several CAP missions.


September 21, 1965 0400 HRS

A Squadron Leader of No. 9 Squadron was on a ADA mission. He was flying with an earnest desire to counter any intruder. Suddenly his radio came to life when Sakesar radar directed him to the Fazilka sector. The intruder IAF was escaping after bombing Sargodha air base. Taking the jet to the supersonic speed, the ambitious aviator reached the area pointed by the radar. Soon his eyes caught the sight of a Canberra bomber, heading towards Indian Territory, flying at 32000 feet. Resorting to his AIM-9B missile, pressing the button, air craft received a minor jerk with a flame. Indicating the launch of sidewinder missile. At the next moment, the Canberra was hit. Illuminating the pitch dark night, the Canberra exploded. Pilot ejected but was later captured.
Later on, it was revealed that it was the only confirmed missile kill at night in actual combat by an F-104 Star Fighter anywhere in the world and the Squadron Leader became the first aviator to make this record. Government of Pakistan awarded him Sitara e Jurrat for this act of velour.

Today, world knows the brave aviator as Squadron Leader (Later Air Chief Marshal) Jamal Ahmed Khan Nishan e Imtiaz, Sitara e Jurrat, Sitara e Basalat.

 

[Nomad40]

Hi,

Others may have seen that Gnat on the ground or heard stories about it---but I am possibly the only one who had seen it fly overhead in pakistani air space before being forced down to land---.

I was 8 years old at that time and my dad heard it first saw it and and yelled---there goes an indian Jahaz---I ran out to the open and saw it being chased at very very low altitude by a pakistani aircraft---.

NO WAY? WHAT!!!!!!

 

[MastanKhan]

NO WAY? WHAT!!!!!!

And that is the truth---yessir---that fckr was lying power lines high---.

 

[Nomad40]

And that is the truth---yessir---that fckr was lying power lines high---.

What a small world eh! Well how did your dad know it was an Indian Plane? I how so many questions now--------I had a one on one fist fight with that gnat in the museum (I was 5 or 6) Just because it was an Indian Plane btw being that age I was as tall as the wing tips.

 

[MastanKhan]

What a small world eh! Well how did your dad know it was an Indian Plane? I how so many questions now--------I had a one on one fist fight with that gnat in the museum (I was 5 or 6) Just because it was an Indian Plane btw being that age I was as tall as the wing tips.

Hi

From the shape of it, flying very low and by the markings on the aircraft

 

[Nomad40]

Hi

From the shape of it, flying very low and by the markings on the aircraft

Out standing, My gramps told me about the attack on Karachi Oilfields.

My grand father said that In 1965 IAF were no where to be seen in the sky Just piles of burning debris on the ground but in 1971 IAF planes were found Flying in Pakistan Like flies our Fighters would chase them but almost always out numbered.

PAF dominated the Skies in 1965 and they were never bothered about an air raid.

Things were different in 1971.

They would close all the Lights and cover the windows with cloths from the out side and wait till the IAF su-7 and Mig-21 would rocket the town and after a little while they would see PAF fighters chasing the IAF planes or Going for a counter attack.

Once they saw a IAF Plane dropping bombs on some houses.

 

[ghazi52]

All brave men of substance who delivered beyond the call of duty !

AIr Marshal Nur Khan Awan HJ, with Sqn Ldr Nosy Haider SJ and Flt Lt Shabbir Syed SJ. in 1960's

.



Pakistani Falcon S/L Saad Hatmi with the Indian Air Force (IAF) Gnat captured in 1965 war. He flew it from Pasrur to Sargodha, which is now placed in PAF museum in Karachi.

The Indian pilot S/L Brij Pal Singh Sikand was taken as POW.

In an article Late Air Cdre Saad Hatmi narrates the event as:

" From the air it looked like a big Mela at Pasrur airfield as Wing Commander Ayaz and I arrived overhead. The IAF Gnat had been switched off at the end of the runway. There were people everywhere and more were coming; they came on foot, bicycles, tongas, horses, cars and buses; all to see the IAF fighter. We had to buzz the airfield many a time before the crowd gave us enough room to land. It was a touching scene as we parked next to the Gnat. The crowd broke into wild clapping and greeted us with loud cheers of "PAF Zindabad". The Gnat was being guarded by a detachment of Army Jawans.

Some Pakistan Army officers met us as we came out of the aircraft. One of the officers gave us a brief account of the morning events. They were in their tented camp when they saw the aircraft, but were not quite sure of its identity till it came in to land. They rushed out to the airfield and got to the pilot as he was stepping down from the cockpit. (I believe the IAF Pilot, Squadron Leader Brij Pal Singh Sikand nearly `passed out' when he realised that he had landed inside Pakistan.) "

 

[ghazi52]

December 17, 1971
Sargodha Air Base,
West Pakistan.

Formation leader from elite No. 18 squadron with his wingman Flt. Lt Taloot Mirza, was on a routine patrol over the battle area, in their Sabre F-86s. They were flying over Pasrur area, where two armies were engaged in a fierce fight, they were cautioned by control. "Two rats approaching from east. Locate and terminate.", (Rat was the code for Indian MiG-21). The intruding pair scrambled from Amritsar. They were still out of PAF's radar cover but their presence was detected by their VHF frequency. Formation Leader soon detected the pair of MiGs. With a high speed, a MiG from the formation dived at the Sabers and fired a burst. Formation leader immediately broke into MiG with maximum speed and avoided the volley of fire.

The desperate MiG tried to get behind the Sabre but failed. In pure frustration, he fired his K-13 sidewinder missile at the Sabre. Making a steep turn again, formation Leader avoided the launch and the missile missed him. The Leader now made a barrel role maneuver, which cramped the MiG for space. As the Leader expected, the two MiGs zipped past him, offering him a space to hit. The table was turned on the attackers now. Placing his gun on the target, he started firing with his six 0.5 inches BMGs, on the MiG which attacked him. The volley landed right behind the canopy of MiG which started oozing black smoke. In a panic the pilot of MiG ejected and his air craft dived into the ground in a big ball of flames. The Indian Pilot was arrested by Pakistan Army immediately and later was identified as Flt Lt Tejwant Singh. Whereas the other MiG chased by Taloot Mirza ran away. The aerial combat between supersonic MiG and the old Sabre was the last conflict of the war

The formation leader was awarded Tamgha e Jurrat for his act of valor. Today the world knows this brave aviator as Flight Lieutenant Maqsood Amir (Later Group Captain).

 

[Jackdaws]

Ayub Khan basically gave away Kashmir during Tashkent. The more I read about the history surrounding our wars, the more it becomes apparent that we gave up everything for no return because our leaders wanted to retain what little power that had instead of thinking long term for the benefit of the nation. Thats been true for all our leaders since Jinnah in one form or another.

Not really. After India was given a pounding by China in 1962, death of Nehru in 64 — India was considered weak both militarily and politically. By 1965, Pak had joined SEATO and CENTO and received American military equipment which was far superior to anything India had. India also opted for arbitration in the Rann of Kutch dispute where Pak caught the Indians napping and made inroads. So Ayub Khan actually saw it as a great opportunity to wrest all of Kashmir by force. As an Indian, I can tell you that from a military perspective he seemed correct. Your opponent has just lost its tallest leader and has lost a war only 3 years ago. Its resources are stretched. You have superior equipment and you have just militarily surprised your enemy in Rann of Kutch. You also believe that the people of Kashmir will side with you. It seemed all the boxes were ticked.

That's why I have great respect for Shastri. Your character as a war time leader matters more when the odds are stacked against you. Pakistan did not expect India to open a second front in Punjab as India was seen as weak and leaderless. From what I've read and military readers can correct me if I am wrong - Indian Army was so shocked at the lack of defence on the Punjab front that they actually slowed down their advance because they assumed they were walking into a trap. After the tank battles of Assal Uttar and Chawinda also saw heavy tank losses on both sides. Militarily, this was the last chance for Pak to get Kashmir. It didn't and Shastri unfortunately doesn't get enough credit in India for rallying a country in those times while all the glory is reserved for Indira in 1971. I personally rate Shastri achievements higher because the odds were against him.