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Who Won the Air War in 1971?

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C'mon...

My primary Q remains..if the PAF intended to destroy these AC, why not loose them in battle ? Were the pilots scared to loose their lives ? What was stopping them from taking at least one IAF Ac with them or knocking off a vital target as they went down ?

What was the point of 'saving' assets the Pak nation had entrusted to the PAF to save the Pak nation.. only to destroy them on the ground ?

LOL! So your going to come up here with bunch of assumptions put together and debate with us? :lol::bounce:

Also, your going to look at the pictures and make assumptions and sarcastic comments about it.. while the pilots who fought it and cleared the skies add no value?? :lol:
 
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LOL! So your going to come up here with bunch of assumptions put together and debate with us? :lol::bounce:

There are no assumptions, only Questions..

The only ans I have go so far is Group photographs.
 
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There are no assumptions, only Questions..

The only ans I have go so far is Group photographs.

Well you clearly have no clue or neither do you bother to read the thread itself.. or better go on Bharat-Rakshak (d-doss?) to get a better excuses? :P
 
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Forget it...I hav got my ans. Don't want to embarass anyone anymore.
 
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PAF did, and IAF couldn't do. The ratio of air battles won by PAF is too much compared to the IAF. Its not even worth discussing. This thread is started by someone who is confused about his air force when he heard from somebody from the other side who FOUGHT it.

Why doesn't anyone remove the confusion with some solid facts in support of the assertions that the PAF won? Why not explain the points raised in the article? Why not explain what the PAF achieved for their country in the war?

Why not explain why Bhutto castigated the PAF in 1971 and the individual officers by name for their efforts (or the lack of them).

It should be easy enough to demolish the premise of this thread with some relevant facts!
 
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and what do you have to offer besides Bharat-Rakshak, which magically becomes a reliable source? honestly, I don't see the point of this discussion at all, there's no clear evidence. we can just work with whatever we have.

1965 BBC interview clearly shows us indian claims being trashed, while the USAF air chief's comments pretty much say Sargodha is the best. I don't get how you can just discredit that, this isn't a science where we need people with degrees in DogFight-ology or a PhD in Air Combat.

it's one man's word against the other, and obviously we would rather stick with the USAF on this one. do you have any pro-indian claims made by the Soviets, you can check their records?

The 1965 interview shows a bunch of young pilots bragging in front of a camera! That's about it.

The source was not Bharat Rakshak, if you bothered to click on the link. Again it is Pakistanis who make the claim of winning the air war in 1971. The primary burden of proof is on them.

I have shared sufficient data (and not mere individual opinions of some opinionated person) that show that the IAF achieved it's objectives and some more.
 
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The 1965 interview shows a bunch of young pilots bragging in front of a camera! That's about it.
I believe the british reporter mentions the indian claims of shooting some of those pilots down. The PAF pilot's response was rightly arrogant, seeing how he was still standing.

The source was not Bharat Rakshak, if you bothered to click on the link. Again it is Pakistanis who make the claim of winning the air war in 1971. The primary burden of proof is on them.

I have shared sufficient data (and not mere individual opinions of some opinionated person) that show that the IAF achieved it's objectives and some more.
written, of course, "By Indranil Banerjie, Rupak Chattopadhyay and Air Marshal (Retired) C.V.Gole"

"By the end of the first week of the war, PAF fighters in the West appeared to have lost their will to fight. By this time, the IAF was repeatedly hitting secondary targets including railway yards, cantonments, bridges and other installations as well as providing close air support to the Army wherever it was required. (My note: Duh? both sides struck at type of targets mentioned above) The most dangerous were the close air support missions which involved flying low and exposing aircraft to intense ground fire. The IAF lost the most aircraft on these missions as is proved by the high losses suffered by IAF Sukhoi-7 and Hunter squadrons. But their pilots flew sortie after sortie keeping up with the Army and disrupting enemy troop and tank concentrations.

Once it was known that the Indian Army was knocking at the gates of Dhaka, the PAF in the West virtually gave up flying. During the last few days of the war, the IAF brass ordered attacks on PAF airfields with the sole purpose of drawing out their aircraft. But that rarely succeeded as the PAF aircraft for the most part remained secured inside their pens, refusing to come out and fight. The strongest indictment of the Pakistani Air Force was made not by an Indian but by the Pakistani leader, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who took over from General Yahya Yahya Khan after the 1971 defeat. On taking over, he made a speech in which he castigated the PAF chief Air Marshal Rahim Khan and several other officers by name."
^^^looking at the part in bold for the paragraph above, it seems Chuck Yeager's words were not as ridiculous as we thought. seriously, Vinod, if this is your idea of a joke, I suggest you stop wasting our time. do not make me post more than I have to, I already have enough to deal with. when I first came, I wasted time arguing with indians. now, I waste time arguing with "jahel" or ignorant Pakistanis about democracy and the economy. I can't keep doing this yaar!:hitwall:
 
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written, of course, "By Indranil Banerjie, Rupak Chattopadhyay and Air Marshal (Retired) C.V.Gole"

"By the end of the first week of the war, PAF fighters in the West appeared to have lost their will to fight. By this time, the IAF was repeatedly hitting secondary targets including railway yards, cantonments, bridges and other installations as well as providing close air support to the Army wherever it was required. (My note: Duh? both sides struck at type of targets mentioned above) The most dangerous were the close air support missions which involved flying low and exposing aircraft to intense ground fire. The IAF lost the most aircraft on these missions as is proved by the high losses suffered by IAF Sukhoi-7 and Hunter squadrons. But their pilots flew sortie after sortie keeping up with the Army and disrupting enemy troop and tank concentrations.

Once it was known that the Indian Army was knocking at the gates of Dhaka, the PAF in the West virtually gave up flying. During the last few days of the war, the IAF brass ordered attacks on PAF airfields with the sole purpose of drawing out their aircraft. But that rarely succeeded as the PAF aircraft for the most part remained secured inside their pens, refusing to come out and fight. The strongest indictment of the Pakistani Air Force was made not by an Indian but by the Pakistani leader, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who took over from General Yahya Yahya Khan after the 1971 defeat. On taking over, he made a speech in which he castigated the PAF chief Air Marshal Rahim Khan and several other officers by name."
^^^looking at the part in bold for the paragraph above, it seems Chuck Yeager's words were not as ridiculous as we thought. seriously, Vinod, if this is your idea of a joke, I suggest you stop wasting our time. do not make me post more than I have to, I already have enough to deal with. when I first came, I wasted time arguing with indians. now, I waste time arguing with "jahel" or ignorant Pakistanis about democracy and the economy. I can't keep doing this yaar!:hitwall:

That is of course your choice. You may chose not to engage in debates with the Indians or the "Jahel" or ignorant Pakistanis.

I never tried to hide that it is an Indian source. If you look at the article it is pretty objective. It does not go with the Indian claims of the kills nor the Pakistani numbers. It tends to rely on facts rather than opinions, goes into a detailed discussions of the objectives of the two sides etc. It goes beyond the numbers and that is what is required in any serious debate.

It was just a starting point for a discussion. People are open to come up with something better. I am no expert, merely an enthusiast.
 
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There are no assumptions, only Questions..

The only ans I have go so far is Group photographs.

Normally I am a cool minded guy don't get angry but there is so much a person can take specially when it comes to PAF. NO one is more dear to me than PAF if I can ground and suspend my own son for something he did , How can I sit on a forum a listen to all the arguments made against PAF.

To tell you the truth you will not like my answers if I give you . so forget it I am not going into that at all.

I will just give you a small example we were 3 F-86 vs 4 Gnats 2 of us shot the plane all 3 of us saw it going down but it went inside India during that one of our guys go shot down ( God bless all there souls).
When we came back we developed the film and yes the bullets hit the Gnat now we had a problem claiming it by the evidence we had and what we saw we got 2 planes, and IAF got 1 of us but the very next day in the Indian news it came that 4 Gnats shot 3 sabers. Now tell me at that time what could I or my course mates do:hitwall:. Same thing happend on our side they said we shot 3 planes and lost 1, A lot of things were written wrong to keep the people strong and you will agree to this point . The difference between 1965 and 1971 war was that 71 war to fast and yes I admit that both side have kept things under the blanket since the war but the truth is that what our guys and the Americans gathered info is what we have and according to several agencies we did have a 3 to 1 ratio. Now if you look at the numbers of plane in the inventory of IAF no one has a correct number no one and this info was given to me by one of my Indian cousemates in USA , but we being a smaller air force it was very visible how many planes we got f-86s from USA and Iran plus F-5s ( which did not take part in the war the dame planes didn't have ejection seat cartridges in them ). Now after the war we could tell that these are the numbers we have on ground but when the same question was asked to IAF they gave us a figure which would suggest that either they had fighters 7 times more than PAF or they are not giving us the right number because if they had so many planes they would have run us over in 1 day. Another thing 3 of our pilots who got shot are not even mentioned in the books and in am 100% sure IAF had done the same they just didn't mention. Remember I told you your minister got shot in a helicopter we have 7FF and 4 of us as witnesses that it was shot down by IAF by accident that chapter doesn't even exist in your books and vise versa.
So my friend I might be retired but I can't just open my mouth and give out info just like that If one day PAF decides to declassify its there choice but what I have seen and what I had done and what I have read I am talking about classified we did have greater ratio of kills. Do you think PAF was happy when East had to surrender the war was over if we had a 1000 planes we couldn't have stopped the separation it was inevitable.
We can go round and round with this topic but the out come will never be right from your point as a Indian and my point as a Pakistani.

And yes we did take photos during the war and why not 15 plus pilots of PAF against 110 fighters and bombers of IAF do you think that is a jock. We all talk about war who won and who lost if you would have been in my place you will never right the word War why? Its very hard to pick up pieces of your brother and put the in a bucket. Human body is mostly water and at the speed you crash most of the stuff turns to liquid.
 
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^^^I have been reading this thread very patiently at the "silliness" which is going around. like Vinod, I am a enthusiast and have done some research on my own (from available data, both indian, pakistani and others) but i will not post it (because each side indian and pakistani are taking extreme positions) and therefore there isnt any objectivity in this excercise.
All i know is that PAF held their own in the west, the PAF was over-matched in the east, and if the war prolonged any further than it did, IMO the PAF would have struggled. no one won the air war because it was not decisive. only the land war in the east was. end of the bloody story.
 
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Very well said Sir Murad K…:tup:

Forget it...I hav got my ans.

I dont think you will ever get one from either side...:disagree:

Whatever the figures were, reality is that it was a very small airforce pitched against a very large airforce. While we compare numbers ( that are made up from the sources from both sides) , they never show the real picture…Despite robust in her sheer size, IAF was never able to achieve Air Superiority , let alone the Air Supremacy….While they did achieve Favourable Air Situation in limited sectors, but that’s wasn’t what they were looking for...

Anyways, while the people at front fought their hearts out, it was the leadership at the moment that put all their feats under the carpet …rest is all history
 
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Normally I am a cool minded guy don't get angry but there is so much a person can take specially when it comes to PAF. NO one is more dear to me than PAF if I can ground and suspend my own son for something he did , How can I sit on a forum a listen to all the arguments made against PAF.

To tell you the truth you will not like my answers if I give you . so forget it I am not going into that at all.

you Dont need to say anything SIR, let them think what they wanna think.......let them believe what they wanna believe. I believe what u said and hope all others will repect those matters of confidentiality and the things u cannot state or disclose here.
 
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^^^I have been reading this thread very patiently at the "silliness" which is going around. like Vinod, I am a enthusiast and have done some research on my own (from available data, both indian, pakistani and others) but i will not post it (because each side indian and pakistani are taking extreme positions) and therefore there isnt any objectivity in this excercise.
All i know is that PAF held their own in the west, the PAF was over-matched in the east, and if the war prolonged any further than it did, IMO the PAF would have struggled. no one won the air war because it was not decisive. only the land war in the east was. end of the bloody story.

Probably an assessment that is closer to the truth.
 
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Normally I am a cool minded guy don't get angry but there is so much a person can take specially when it comes to PAF. NO one is more dear to me than PAF if I can ground and suspend my own son for something he did , How can I sit on a forum a listen to all the arguments made against PAF.

To tell you the truth you will not like my answers if I give you . so forget it I am not going into that at all.

I will just give you a small example we were 3 F-86 vs 4 Gnats 2 of us shot the plane all 3 of us saw it going down but it went inside India during that one of our guys go shot down ( God bless all there souls).
When we came back we developed the film and yes the bullets hit the Gnat now we had a problem claiming it by the evidence we had and what we saw we got 2 planes, and IAF got 1 of us but the very next day in the Indian news it came that 4 Gnats shot 3 sabers. Now tell me at that time what could I or my course mates do:hitwall:. Same thing happend on our side they said we shot 3 planes and lost 1, A lot of things were written wrong to keep the people strong and you will agree to this point . The difference between 1965 and 1971 war was that 71 war to fast and yes I admit that both side have kept things under the blanket since the war but the truth is that what our guys and the Americans gathered info is what we have and according to several agencies we did have a 3 to 1 ratio. Now if you look at the numbers of plane in the inventory of IAF no one has a correct number no one and this info was given to me by one of my Indian cousemates in USA , but we being a smaller air force it was very visible how many planes we got f-86s from USA and Iran plus F-5s ( which did not take part in the war the dame planes didn't have ejection seat cartridges in them ). Now after the war we could tell that these are the numbers we have on ground but when the same question was asked to IAF they gave us a figure which would suggest that either they had fighters 7 times more than PAF or they are not giving us the right number because if they had so many planes they would have run us over in 1 day. Another thing 3 of our pilots who got shot are not even mentioned in the books and in am 100% sure IAF had done the same they just didn't mention. Remember I told you your minister got shot in a helicopter we have 7FF and 4 of us as witnesses that it was shot down by IAF by accident that chapter doesn't even exist in your books and vise versa.
So my friend I might be retired but I can't just open my mouth and give out info just like that If one day PAF decides to declassify its there choice but what I have seen and what I had done and what I have read I am talking about classified we did have greater ratio of kills. Do you think PAF was happy when East had to surrender the war was over if we had a 1000 planes we couldn't have stopped the separation it was inevitable.
We can go round and round with this topic but the out come will never be right from your point as a Indian and my point as a Pakistani.

And yes we did take photos during the war and why not 15 plus pilots of PAF against 110 fighters and bombers of IAF do you think that is a jock. We all talk about war who won and who lost if you would have been in my place you will never right the word War why? Its very hard to pick up pieces of your brother and put the in a bucket. Human body is mostly water and at the speed you crash most of the stuff turns to liquid.

The highlighted portions sums it all.

I too find it diff to absorb the loose remarks made here. But it is quite natural given the levels of distrust & animosity that exists amongst us. One need not take these to heart, we all love our Services & Regiments like our children or the schools we studied in. Any slur on it is fiercely challenged simply coz we have all ' been thru the mill".

I could cite numerous examples of false reporting , both during hostilities & peace time on part of Pak. But then I feel " he too is doing his job'.

Even though I sometimes succumb to the temptation of replying back in the same coin, somewhere down the line we simply need to smile & let things pass.

If still not happy.. simply agree to disagree & move on.
 
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Probably an assessment that is closer to the truth.

yes an assesment that shouldnt just conclude the facts based on quantity(level of resources available for PAF at that time) but also their courage, skills, training, will-power, bravery and enthusiasm as well as the achievements they made in such hard circuimstances and conditions fighting for their country. thanks
 
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