ghazi52
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The Royal Pakistan Air Force ushered in the jet age with the arrival of the first Supermarine Attackers, allocated to No. 11 Sqn in August 1951. A rather poor excuse for a jet aircraft featuring conventional controls, unswept wings, and tail-wheels, it was contracted by British leadership seconded to RPAF!
As rumours of the aircraft being unsafe spread, one fine morning the mother of a young squadron pilot found her way to base to have a word with the Squadron OC directly and inquire from him if the aircraft was safe to fly. Now any other squadron commander would have given her some words of assurance and sent her on her way, but not F.S. Hussain.
The loving mother was provided a comfortable chair to sit just beside the runway as F.S. Hussain strapped into his Attacker and for the next twenty minutes performed low-level aerobatics, including an inverted fly-past barely a few meters off the surface over the Drigh Road airbase runway.
Only F.S. Hussain could pull off a stunt like that. Within a few years, flight safety standards in PAF would go through a transformation, and such displays would become a distant legacy.
Air Cdre F.S. Hussain sadly passed away at 40 years of age due to diabetes. Flt Lt Hassan Zaheer, whose mother was the one that had inquired about the safety of the Attackers, went on to fly the B-57s before moving to PIA from where he retired as a Captain. He left for his heavenly abode last week.
As rumours of the aircraft being unsafe spread, one fine morning the mother of a young squadron pilot found her way to base to have a word with the Squadron OC directly and inquire from him if the aircraft was safe to fly. Now any other squadron commander would have given her some words of assurance and sent her on her way, but not F.S. Hussain.
The loving mother was provided a comfortable chair to sit just beside the runway as F.S. Hussain strapped into his Attacker and for the next twenty minutes performed low-level aerobatics, including an inverted fly-past barely a few meters off the surface over the Drigh Road airbase runway.
Only F.S. Hussain could pull off a stunt like that. Within a few years, flight safety standards in PAF would go through a transformation, and such displays would become a distant legacy.
Air Cdre F.S. Hussain sadly passed away at 40 years of age due to diabetes. Flt Lt Hassan Zaheer, whose mother was the one that had inquired about the safety of the Attackers, went on to fly the B-57s before moving to PIA from where he retired as a Captain. He left for his heavenly abode last week.
