None of Indian defected .. ha ha ha...
Because they have mastered the art of lowering their landing gears mid flight!
SURRENDERED AND LANDED AT PASRUR ON 3rd SEPTEMBER, 1965
On 3 September, 1965 two F104s, flown by Flt Lt Hakimullah and Flg Off Abbas Mirza, were scrambled from Sargodha to intercept four Indian Gnats. During the ensuing combat, one Gnat, which had strayed away from its main formation, being unable to combat the F-104s, surrendered and force-landed at an abandoned airfield at Pasrur near Sialkot. Flt Lt Hakimullah circled overhead until the capture of the aircraft and the pilot was assured by Pakistani troops. The pilot of the captured Gnat was Sqn Ldr Brij Pal Singh, who later rose to be an Air Marshal in the IAF. This aircraft was then ferried from Pasroor to Sargodha by Flt Lt Saad Hatmi.
Gnat is a single seat fighter manufactured by a British company Folland Aircraft in 1955.
It was also manufactured in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. This agile fighter was inducted in Indian Air Force in 1959. It had one Rolls Royce engine (Orpheus 701) with a thrust of 4520 lbs. It could climb to a height of 50,000 feet.
It had two 30mm built in cannons. Gnat could carry two 500 lbs bombs or eighteen 3 inches rockets under its wings.
The Second Incident of Surrender
But Sikand was not the only incident and on 24 June 1965, the PAF had an occasion to force down an IAF fighter jet.
The incident concerns a Ouragan fighter which was on armed reconnaissance mission near Badin. The aircraft was forced to land in Pakistan and F/L Rana Lal of 51 Auxiliary Squadron, IAF Jamnagar, remained a prisoner until 14 August 1965.The aircraft is on display at the PAF museum at Peshawar.
These two incidents do not show the IAF in very good light. Not much is known of F/L Rana, but thankfully he did not rise to become an Air Marshal. But Rana, cut a sorry figure as after taking off from Bhuj, he ventured inside Pakistan and was forced to force land at a village at Janshahi, after he was accosted by two F-86 of the PAF. He could have put up a fight, but he landed and surrendered.
