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A little piece on PAF Starfighters by recent ''Aeroplane Icons Magazine''
Other than the short assignment of aircraft to the Republic of China, the first overseas customer for the F-104 Starfighter was Pakistan. Following the withdrawal of the F-104A from service with the USAF’s ADC, a batch of F-104A aircraft (plus two dual-control trainers) was supplied to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) under the US Mutual Defence Assistance Programme. They entered service during 1961 and continued to fly until 1972 when dwindling spares support forced their early retirement.
Twelve F-104As were delivered, these being 56-803 to 807, 868, 874, 875, 877, 879, 773 and 798, plus trainers 57-1309 and 1312. In response to Pakistan’s requirements, all of the F-104As were refitted with the M-61 Gatling 20mm gun that had previously been removed from most F-104A airframes because of reliability issues. Pakistan had considered the exclusive use of the aircraft’s Sidewinder missile armament but the decision to re-fit the cannon system proved to be a wise move, as the aircraft were soon being used in actual combat. The improved J79-GE-11A engine (designed to be stall-free and to deliver a maximum thrust of 15,800lb) was also installed in the aircraft. This made the Pakistan F-104s somewhat unique in that despite carrying cannon armament, they were still the lightest of the F-104 series whilst being equipped with a more advanced J79 engine, thereby enjoying an excellent thrust-to-weight ratio.
The only PAF unit to be equipped with the F-104 was No.9 Air Superiority Squadron, a unit that had previously operated ancient Hawker Fury fighters, and although the jump from the biplane era was drastic, the unit’s experience with the Starfighter was very positive. The serviceability rate of the F-104A during the first five years of service was over 80 percent and the aircraft performed well throughout its operational life. Employed in the medium and high level air-to-air role by the PAF, the F-104A Starfighters remained in service for twelve years and flew some 11,690 hours. During the 1965 Pakistan-India War, the F-104s flew a total of 246 hours and during the 1971 War, the F-104s flew a total of 103 hours.
U.S Air Force F-104A firing two Sidewinders, 1957.
During the first of these two conflicts, the Pakistan Air Force was forced to use its small force of Starfighters as high altitude interceptors in both day and night fighting roles, using the aircraft’s AN/ASG-14T1 fire-control system in conjunction with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. From 1 September onwards, the F-104s were employed more extensively in air defence and air superiority operations, and from the 246 missions flown by F-104s during hostilities, 42 were at flown at night against the Indian Air Force’s Canberras. The F-104A’s relatively unsophisticated fire-control radar was more than adequate for the Soviet high altitude bomber threat for which it was designed, but it could not illuminate small targets against ground clutter, making it less-than ideal for anything other than high-altitude interception. Therefore the standard high speed intercept tactic employed by PAF’s F-104 pilots was to approach their targets from below, with a typical height differential of between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, against a target that they would acquire at a range of 10-15 kilometers. This tactic was well known to the Canberra jet bomber pilots of the IAF who flew the attack missions into Pakistan, and they adopted a standard hi-lo-hi profile to minimize the threat of interception. During most of their inbound and outbound flight over Pakistani territory the IAF Canberras would stay below 1,000ft during their approach and exit phases. This posed a difficult night intercept problem that required the F-104A to be flown in an unconventional low-altitude intercept profile that severely challenged the capabilities of its airborne radar. To pick up the low flying bombers on their radar scopes, the F-104 pilots had to get down to less than 500ft to point their radars upwards and clear of ground clutter, towards the enemy bombers.
The PAF’s problems were aggravated by the Canberra’s tail warning audio alarm that would sound as soon as Starfighter got anywhere near a line-astern astern position, enabling the bomber pilot to take timely evasive action and shake-off his pursuer. But despite the Starfighter’s limitations, the Indian Air Force’s pilots regarded the F-104 as a very serious threat. On 3 September 1965, even before the War began, an Indian Gnat pilot surrendered to an F-104 pilot, who forced the Gnat pilot to land at an abandoned airfield at Pasrur in Pakistan. On 6 September two Starfighters were sent on dawn patrol from Sargodha. They were vectored towards a flight of four IAF Mysteres engaged in bomb and rocket attacks against a stationary passenger train at Gakkhar railway station. One of the F-104 pilots was forced to return to base with a radio failure but the second pilot put his F-104 into a dive in full afterburner power, plunging supersonically through the Mystere formation (which promptly scattered.) The Indian pilots tried to escape at very low level but they couldn’t escape the Starfighter. One Mystere was hit by a Sidewinder missile and became a victim of one of the world’s first air victories by a Mach 2 combat aircraft. The other F-104 pilot,who had missed his chance the previous day, enjoyed greater success on 7 September when he was scrambled in an F-104A at 05:15 hours and directed by radar towards an incoming raid at Sargodha. He made visual contact with the IAF Mysteres and headed towards them. By the time he caught up with them, the Indian aircraft were roughly eight miles away from Sargodha, flying at 150 feet on a south-easterly heading towards India. As the Mystere pilots jettisoned their drop tanks, he positioned himself behind one Mystere and released a GAR-8 ( Sidewinder )missile, which went straight into the ground. The Mystere pilot immediately began to employ evasive tactics and a full “dogfight” ensued, with the Starfighter pilot using the F-104A’s superior climb and acceleration to lift the combat from ground level to more than 7,000ft in order to gain room for manoeuvre, but allowing the F-104 to get into a turning fight was a mistake. The Mystere pilot showed commendable courage by staying in the fight, and despite being mortally wounded he eventually scored several cannon strikes against the Starfighter, causing it to be abandoned. This was the first and only Starfighter to be lost through enemy action in the 1965 war, and the incident served to illustrate that in less-than ideal circumstances, the Starfighter was still vulnerable to older and less-capable fighters.
The Indian pilot (Squadron Leader A.B. Devayya) was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra in 1988, some 23 years after the war, when Indian authorities learned of the event through an account of the encounter published in John Fricker’s book “Battle for Pakistan.” Another Starfighter had already been lost on the previous night when its pilot inadvertently flew into the ground whilst attempting a landing approach in a dust storm over Peshawar, although the pilot managed to survive, having been thrown clear of the aircraft during the impact. On 21 September, an Indian Air Force Canberra was intercepted at 33,000ft and shot down with a Sidewinder. The bomber’s pilot ejected and was made a POW while the navigator was unable to bail out and was killed in action.
This was the first “kill” achieved by an F-104A at night after a number of near misses. F-104s were also used during 1965 for low level, daylight reconnaissance missions over the IAF’s air bases. The speed of the Starfighter gave the Indians no time to react to each incursion, effectively making the Starfighters invulnerable to interception. The F-104s were also employed as escorts for the much slower Lockheed RT-33 reconnaissance fighters that were used for photographic missions deep into India’s territory, the presence of Starfighters virtually guaranteeing that no air opposition would be encountered. Six F-104 pilots received gallantry awards during the 1965 War and a few years later the Starfighter went into battle yet again after a second conflict began in 1971. This time the F-104A was also used for deep penetration strikes against enemy airfields and radar. It was no surprise that the United States Government imposed an embargo on further arms sales to both India and Pakistan as soon as the 1965 war had started. Little consideration was given to the practicalities of this action, and it ignored the fact that India was a long-time ally of the Soviet Union, using very little American military equipment, meaning that the sanctions degraded the ability of only the Pakistani Armed Forces. The PAF fleet of F-104s was severely affected by the arms embargoes and it soon became increasingly difficult to maintain a serviceable fleet of aircraft. By 1972 the PAF concluded that it was no longer possible to keep the Starfighters in service in any significant quantity and so the F-104A fleet was withdrawn. Without restrictions of spares and other support, it is possible that Pakistan’s F-104A aircraft might have remained active for at least another decade - something that would have been quite remarkable for a machine that had suffered such a troubled beginning.
F-104As were also supplied to the Republic of China Air Force and two of these aircraft were transferred to Pakistan as replacements for the machines that had been lost during the first conflict with India. Further Starfighters were also supplied to the Royal Jordanian Air Force, with 18 machines being delivered during 1969. At least ten aircraft were temporarily transferred to Pakistan during hostilities in 1971 although few details have emerged about the role played by these aircraft, and it is not known if they participated in combat missions against Indian aircraft. It is also open to question whether they were flown by Pakistan’s or Jordan’s pilots. However, it is believed that two F-104As were shot down on the last day of the conflict on 17 December, and although loss claims vary, it seems likely that five PAF aircraft and four Jordanian aircraft were ultimately lost during the Starfighter’s time in service. Unlike Pakistan, Jordan (free of any arms embargo) maintained its Starfighter fleet until 1975 when Mirages were finally introduced as
replacements.
Magazine Cover:
@syedali73 @MastanKhan @Indus Falcon @Zarvan @Horus @Windjammer @Sage @Indus Falcon @Side-Winder @nomi007 @Psychic @Imran Khan @waz @Umair Nawaz @SquadronLeaderDin @Ulla @RAMPAGE @HRK @dexter ............ That's all I remember for now, tag others.
Other than the short assignment of aircraft to the Republic of China, the first overseas customer for the F-104 Starfighter was Pakistan. Following the withdrawal of the F-104A from service with the USAF’s ADC, a batch of F-104A aircraft (plus two dual-control trainers) was supplied to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) under the US Mutual Defence Assistance Programme. They entered service during 1961 and continued to fly until 1972 when dwindling spares support forced their early retirement.
Twelve F-104As were delivered, these being 56-803 to 807, 868, 874, 875, 877, 879, 773 and 798, plus trainers 57-1309 and 1312. In response to Pakistan’s requirements, all of the F-104As were refitted with the M-61 Gatling 20mm gun that had previously been removed from most F-104A airframes because of reliability issues. Pakistan had considered the exclusive use of the aircraft’s Sidewinder missile armament but the decision to re-fit the cannon system proved to be a wise move, as the aircraft were soon being used in actual combat. The improved J79-GE-11A engine (designed to be stall-free and to deliver a maximum thrust of 15,800lb) was also installed in the aircraft. This made the Pakistan F-104s somewhat unique in that despite carrying cannon armament, they were still the lightest of the F-104 series whilst being equipped with a more advanced J79 engine, thereby enjoying an excellent thrust-to-weight ratio.
The only PAF unit to be equipped with the F-104 was No.9 Air Superiority Squadron, a unit that had previously operated ancient Hawker Fury fighters, and although the jump from the biplane era was drastic, the unit’s experience with the Starfighter was very positive. The serviceability rate of the F-104A during the first five years of service was over 80 percent and the aircraft performed well throughout its operational life. Employed in the medium and high level air-to-air role by the PAF, the F-104A Starfighters remained in service for twelve years and flew some 11,690 hours. During the 1965 Pakistan-India War, the F-104s flew a total of 246 hours and during the 1971 War, the F-104s flew a total of 103 hours.
U.S Air Force F-104A firing two Sidewinders, 1957.
During the first of these two conflicts, the Pakistan Air Force was forced to use its small force of Starfighters as high altitude interceptors in both day and night fighting roles, using the aircraft’s AN/ASG-14T1 fire-control system in conjunction with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. From 1 September onwards, the F-104s were employed more extensively in air defence and air superiority operations, and from the 246 missions flown by F-104s during hostilities, 42 were at flown at night against the Indian Air Force’s Canberras. The F-104A’s relatively unsophisticated fire-control radar was more than adequate for the Soviet high altitude bomber threat for which it was designed, but it could not illuminate small targets against ground clutter, making it less-than ideal for anything other than high-altitude interception. Therefore the standard high speed intercept tactic employed by PAF’s F-104 pilots was to approach their targets from below, with a typical height differential of between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, against a target that they would acquire at a range of 10-15 kilometers. This tactic was well known to the Canberra jet bomber pilots of the IAF who flew the attack missions into Pakistan, and they adopted a standard hi-lo-hi profile to minimize the threat of interception. During most of their inbound and outbound flight over Pakistani territory the IAF Canberras would stay below 1,000ft during their approach and exit phases. This posed a difficult night intercept problem that required the F-104A to be flown in an unconventional low-altitude intercept profile that severely challenged the capabilities of its airborne radar. To pick up the low flying bombers on their radar scopes, the F-104 pilots had to get down to less than 500ft to point their radars upwards and clear of ground clutter, towards the enemy bombers.
The PAF’s problems were aggravated by the Canberra’s tail warning audio alarm that would sound as soon as Starfighter got anywhere near a line-astern astern position, enabling the bomber pilot to take timely evasive action and shake-off his pursuer. But despite the Starfighter’s limitations, the Indian Air Force’s pilots regarded the F-104 as a very serious threat. On 3 September 1965, even before the War began, an Indian Gnat pilot surrendered to an F-104 pilot, who forced the Gnat pilot to land at an abandoned airfield at Pasrur in Pakistan. On 6 September two Starfighters were sent on dawn patrol from Sargodha. They were vectored towards a flight of four IAF Mysteres engaged in bomb and rocket attacks against a stationary passenger train at Gakkhar railway station. One of the F-104 pilots was forced to return to base with a radio failure but the second pilot put his F-104 into a dive in full afterburner power, plunging supersonically through the Mystere formation (which promptly scattered.) The Indian pilots tried to escape at very low level but they couldn’t escape the Starfighter. One Mystere was hit by a Sidewinder missile and became a victim of one of the world’s first air victories by a Mach 2 combat aircraft. The other F-104 pilot,who had missed his chance the previous day, enjoyed greater success on 7 September when he was scrambled in an F-104A at 05:15 hours and directed by radar towards an incoming raid at Sargodha. He made visual contact with the IAF Mysteres and headed towards them. By the time he caught up with them, the Indian aircraft were roughly eight miles away from Sargodha, flying at 150 feet on a south-easterly heading towards India. As the Mystere pilots jettisoned their drop tanks, he positioned himself behind one Mystere and released a GAR-8 ( Sidewinder )missile, which went straight into the ground. The Mystere pilot immediately began to employ evasive tactics and a full “dogfight” ensued, with the Starfighter pilot using the F-104A’s superior climb and acceleration to lift the combat from ground level to more than 7,000ft in order to gain room for manoeuvre, but allowing the F-104 to get into a turning fight was a mistake. The Mystere pilot showed commendable courage by staying in the fight, and despite being mortally wounded he eventually scored several cannon strikes against the Starfighter, causing it to be abandoned. This was the first and only Starfighter to be lost through enemy action in the 1965 war, and the incident served to illustrate that in less-than ideal circumstances, the Starfighter was still vulnerable to older and less-capable fighters.
The Indian pilot (Squadron Leader A.B. Devayya) was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra in 1988, some 23 years after the war, when Indian authorities learned of the event through an account of the encounter published in John Fricker’s book “Battle for Pakistan.” Another Starfighter had already been lost on the previous night when its pilot inadvertently flew into the ground whilst attempting a landing approach in a dust storm over Peshawar, although the pilot managed to survive, having been thrown clear of the aircraft during the impact. On 21 September, an Indian Air Force Canberra was intercepted at 33,000ft and shot down with a Sidewinder. The bomber’s pilot ejected and was made a POW while the navigator was unable to bail out and was killed in action.
This was the first “kill” achieved by an F-104A at night after a number of near misses. F-104s were also used during 1965 for low level, daylight reconnaissance missions over the IAF’s air bases. The speed of the Starfighter gave the Indians no time to react to each incursion, effectively making the Starfighters invulnerable to interception. The F-104s were also employed as escorts for the much slower Lockheed RT-33 reconnaissance fighters that were used for photographic missions deep into India’s territory, the presence of Starfighters virtually guaranteeing that no air opposition would be encountered. Six F-104 pilots received gallantry awards during the 1965 War and a few years later the Starfighter went into battle yet again after a second conflict began in 1971. This time the F-104A was also used for deep penetration strikes against enemy airfields and radar. It was no surprise that the United States Government imposed an embargo on further arms sales to both India and Pakistan as soon as the 1965 war had started. Little consideration was given to the practicalities of this action, and it ignored the fact that India was a long-time ally of the Soviet Union, using very little American military equipment, meaning that the sanctions degraded the ability of only the Pakistani Armed Forces. The PAF fleet of F-104s was severely affected by the arms embargoes and it soon became increasingly difficult to maintain a serviceable fleet of aircraft. By 1972 the PAF concluded that it was no longer possible to keep the Starfighters in service in any significant quantity and so the F-104A fleet was withdrawn. Without restrictions of spares and other support, it is possible that Pakistan’s F-104A aircraft might have remained active for at least another decade - something that would have been quite remarkable for a machine that had suffered such a troubled beginning.
F-104As were also supplied to the Republic of China Air Force and two of these aircraft were transferred to Pakistan as replacements for the machines that had been lost during the first conflict with India. Further Starfighters were also supplied to the Royal Jordanian Air Force, with 18 machines being delivered during 1969. At least ten aircraft were temporarily transferred to Pakistan during hostilities in 1971 although few details have emerged about the role played by these aircraft, and it is not known if they participated in combat missions against Indian aircraft. It is also open to question whether they were flown by Pakistan’s or Jordan’s pilots. However, it is believed that two F-104As were shot down on the last day of the conflict on 17 December, and although loss claims vary, it seems likely that five PAF aircraft and four Jordanian aircraft were ultimately lost during the Starfighter’s time in service. Unlike Pakistan, Jordan (free of any arms embargo) maintained its Starfighter fleet until 1975 when Mirages were finally introduced as
replacements.
Magazine Cover:
@syedali73 @MastanKhan @Indus Falcon @Zarvan @Horus @Windjammer @Sage @Indus Falcon @Side-Winder @nomi007 @Psychic @Imran Khan @waz @Umair Nawaz @SquadronLeaderDin @Ulla @RAMPAGE @HRK @dexter ............ That's all I remember for now, tag others.
