WHERE SKIES BECOME CANVAS

In the chaotic scene that surrounds them, the officers, airmen and civilian staff migrating from the re-demarcated India to their newly born country deplane from the Dakotas. Many of their colleagues – now unwelcome in hostile India – would arrive by special trains, trucks and some even by foot, to gather at the airfields near Karachi, Lahore, Dhaka and as shown in this painting at Chaklala Aerodrome of Rawalpindi. Not all of them know even where to begin. They are short of everything – planes, spare parts, fuel, ground facilities and even rations and tents. But imbued with patriotic fervour and perseverance, these pioneers would within that decade organise their modest assets with feats of improvisation that would transform their Air Force into a disciplined and lethal sword, to guard the skies from Kashmir to the Arabian Sea.

One of the first jobs of the newly formed Pakistan Air Force was to continue the policing of the North-West Frontier region. The painting shows a scramble by No.5 Squadron Tempest IIs from inside the historical Miran Shah Fort.

One of the unforgettable birth pains of the nation was the tragic sight of trains, trucks and bullock carts, bringing thousands of abused and hungry Muslim refugees fleeing the murdering zealots who had turned them out of their homes. Many did not survive the journey but those who did, their new country opened its comforting arms. To help the civil administration cope better with the influx, two Austers of No.1 AOP Flight patrol over a train as it nears Lahore. The Commander of the unit, Flight Lieutenant M M Jaffery, is piloting the Auster in the foreground, while Pilot Officer Jan Mehmood follows him in the other.

Flight Lieutenant Altaf Sheikh had just pulled up his B-57 after his dive bombing run over the heavily defended Adampur airfield when it received direct hits from the IAF's medium ack-ack guns. As the B-57 began to lose control, the pilot ordered his navigator Flight Lieutenant Bashir Chaudhry to eject and then fired his own seat out of the cockpit. Both landed in the close proximity of the airfield and while attempting to escape, were surrounded by Indian police. They were to become the first prisoners of the war.

Squadron Leader Brijpal Singh Sikand, Commander of an Indian fighter squadron, surrenders to a PAF F-104 in combat. The painting shows him landing his Gnat fighter at Pasrur, a Pakistani airfield near Gujranwala. The F-104 was flown by Flight Lieutenant Hakimullah who became the air chief two decades later. Sikand was taken prisoner and later rose to be an IAF Air Marshal. This encounter was the most unusual event of the 1965 Air War.

On the morning of 6 September 1965, a formation of 6 F-86s of No.19 Squadron attacked the advancing columns of Indian Army at Wagah. In 20 minutes of action, the Grand Trunk Road was littered with scores of burning tanks, armoured and soft vehicles. The formation was led by Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider with Flight Lieutenants M Akbar, Dilawar Hussain, Ghani Akbar and Flying Officers Khalid Latif and Arshad Chaudhry in his formation. The vehicles of Indian armour which were advancing bumper to bumper on the G T Road had saffron roundels painted on them to help their own aircraft recognize them. But things happened the other way round: the PAF fighters spotted them first. The 5" rockets, which were used for the first time in combat by the PAF, had a devastating effect on the enemy armour.

In 1952, No.11 Squadron, Drigh Road (now Faisal) Air Base, formed an aerobatic team with the curious name "The Paybills", that happened to be the squadron's call sign. This was the PAF's first jet aerobatic team, flying the squadron's Attackers. The painting shows the formation flying over Manora. This team was led by F S Hussain, the renowned flyer and aerial acrobat of his time.

The first formation aerobatic team, formed by No.9 Squadron on its Furies, was called "The Red Dragons". The painting shows the team performing officially for the first time in 1951 at Peshawar. The occasion was the farewell ceremonies for the PAF's outgoing C-in-C, Air Vice Marshal R L R Atcherley. "The Red Dragons" thus gained the honour of being the first aerobatic team in the subcontinent.

The Jordanian T-37 aerobatic team was formed to welcome H M King Hussein at a graduation parade held at the RJAF's Mafraq Air Base. The two words of blessings for the King were painted on two of the four T-37s for the occasion. The aerobatic team was trained in just twenty days by its Pakistani leader, Squadron Leader Shahid Nisar, who was on exchange posting in Jordan. The other pilots were – Squadron Leader A Hameed Qadri (PAF), RJAF Captain Muhammad - Al - Omari and a United States Air Force Captain Michael.

The painting shows flying instructor Flight Lieutenant R.L. Jebb waving off Flight Cadet M. Sadruddin on his first solo after just three hours and fifteen minutes of instruction (against the usual 10-15 hours). This early evidence of his naturally flying ability led to Sadruddin’s selection for training at Britain’s premier flying institution at RAF Cranwell. Thus began the long and brilliant career of the Air Vice-Marshal during which he continued to build his reputation as not only the PAF’s top aerial marksman (1960) but also a highly successful commander of 3 fighter squadrons, 1 fighter wing and two air bases. He was chosen to induct the PAF’s first two supersonic fighters (the F-104 and the F-6/Mig-19) and landed – in 1961 and 1965 – the first plane of each type in Pakistan, both at PAF Base Sargodha (now Mushaf). In addition to commanding the UAE Air Force for three years he held, in the PAF, several senior command and staff appointments before retiring as the AOC, Air Defence Command.

Although both the F-6 and the F-86E had reasonable capabilities in the close support role, there was a need to regain the medium range day/night strike power which had been shared by the F-86F and the B-57 until 1967. There was also the lingering gap in night air defence. To fulfil these requirements, the PAF turned to the French Mirage fighter bomber series. The induction started in 1968 with Mirage III strike interceptors. In the 1971 War, these aircraft were effectively used for day and night air defence as well as offensive roles. The painting shows the first batch of Mirages arriving overhead the Karachi coast line. Formation: Wing Commander - M M Alam, Squadron Leader - Hakimullah, Squadron Leader - Farooq F Khan, Squadron Leader - Farooq Umar, Flight Lieutenant - Arif Manzoor and Flight Lieutenant - Akhtar Rao.

Pakistan Army’s prestigious Command and Staf College (established 1907) at Quetta regularly held firepower demonstrations every year, showing the efFectiveness of difFerent ground-and air-delivered weapons for its students, some of them from foreign countries. The painting shows a scene from one such display in 1963 where the PAF’s F-86 and F-104 aircraft participated. At a firing range located on the western hills of the Quetta valley, F-86 fighter-bombers have already fired difFerent types of ordnance for the benefit of students and directing staff, visible on a ridge that provides them the best view. The PAF demo ends with a pair of F-104s adding to the students’ experience a rare display of what fighter jets flying faster than sound look and sound like to observers on the ground - rare because supersonic flights are not permitted over populated areas owing to the sonic booms shattering most types of window panes and causing other property damage. (For this display, the windows of the College buses and cars have been wound down for the same reason). About thirty seconds before the arrival of the first F-104, the air force Range Safety OfFicer draws the spectators’ attention on loud speakers to a very fast and smoky trail silently approaching along theirlow horizon, then assuming the silvery shape of the Starfighter. Riveted eyes follow the soundless F-104, flown by Flight Lieutenant Hakimullah as he flashes past directly in front of them at 900 mph but no jet roar is as yet heard; then comes the loud bang of the shock wave attached behind his plane as the pilot climbs away. Within seconds the College students are asked to focus on another black dot rapidly approaching from the opposite direction. Seconds later, this Starfighter also flown at Mach 1.2 (900 mph) by the Sargodha wing leader, Wing Commander M. Sadruddin, arrives just as silently and the sonic boom he creates is also heard only after he has gone well past the observers. Some of the spectators were also able to pick out the faintly visible shock cones around the two Starfighters’ fuselages; and everyone saw the continuous line of dust kicked up by the shock waves travelling along the ground directly below the two F-104s. The speed of 900 mph was ideal for showing supersonic flight near the ground. The F-104 was actually capable of flying at 1550 mph (Mach 2.3). Wing Commander M. Sadruddin - Oficer Commanding No. 33 Wing and Flight Lieutenant Hakimullah - Flight Commander No.9 Squadron.

In 1976, the Ford Administration eased the U.S. arms sales restrictions on Pakistan and India and made an offer of 110 A-7 Corsair IIs for the PAF. The A-7 package was very attractively priced and the long range fighter-bomber was being offered with its entire range of PGMs, ASMs, EW suites and full day and night/all-weather capabilities. In March, a flying and engineering Evaluation Team of the PAF arrived at Vaught Corporation’s facility at Dallas/Fort Worth airport and spent several days in testing the capabilities of the A-7. The painting shows Air Commodore Wiqar Azim taking of in his Corsair (complete with PAF markings!) with a typical bombs and Sidewinders load on the way to the firing range, while a Vaught test pilot waits of the runway to take of behind him in one of several evaluation flights. The PAF team returned very impressed with the results they achieved, as well as the A-7’s outstanding combat record in the Vietnam war. Since the evaluation flights had gone of extremely well, a State Department evaluator was heard to claim that the A-7 offer was one that the Pakistanis just could not refuse. In August, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger arrived in Pakistan and held several intensely diplomatic meetings with Prime Minister Bhutto, including one in which the air chief – ACM Zulfiqar Ali Khan – was also specially invited. The U.S. government promised not only the 110 A-7s with the full range of its munitions but also extensive economic and development aid to the country, on the condition that Pakistan abandon its plans for developing a nuclear deterrent. The Pakistani side did not take long to decide. An American ambassador-historian later wrote in his book that none of Pakistan’s top leaders “were willing to place their country’s security against India in American hands, especially after India had acquired a nuclear capability.” The team comprised these officers: Air Commodore Wiqar Azim – Team Leader (Later Air Marshal), Wing Commander Hamid Farooq – Engineering Member (Retired as Group Captain), Squadron Leader Shafique Haider – Flying Member (Later Air Marshal), Flight Lieutenant Niaz Hussain – Avionics Member (Later Air Vice-Marshal).

“The Hashemite Diamond” was the national air display team of Jordan between 1964 - 65. It was the largest formation aerobatic team in the Middle East at the time and became well-known in the region for its impressive performances. The team was formed, trained and led by Flight Lieutenant Hameed Anwar of the PAF. The painting shows the Diamond over the historic Jerash ruins north of Amman.

The nation prepares to pay homage to 27 Pakistan Army soldiers who laid down their lives in the service of their nation, fighting bravely in a foreign land some three thousand miles away, for the cause of peace and stability. They were part of the United Nations troops in Somalia (UNOSOM) intervening to keep the peace between locally warring groups in a chaotic civil war. Powerful warlords opposed to the presence of the U.N. peacekeepers continued to pose the most serious threat to peace in mid-1993. On the tragic day of 5 June 1993, the Pakistani soldiers were trying to control a hostile mob demonstration in Mogadishu city when they suddenly found themselves facing deadly sniper fire from several vantage points. The situation triggered a bloody combat that followed, in which several attackers were killed but 27 Pakistani soldiers also became martyrs. The PAF assigned the sombre task of bringing home the Shaheeds’ remains to the Boeing 707 cargo planes of No. 12 Squadron. The painting shows most of the coffins having been offloaded from the PAF transports and laid out temporarily on the airbase tarmac. A short time later, these were moved to a nearby venue for the Funeral Prayers. The President, the Prime Minister, the Services Chiefs and many other condolers attended the ceremony. The earthly remains of the heroes were subsequently transported and buried in their hometowns under the care of the Pakistan Army. PAF pilots assigned for this emergency evacuation flight were Wing Commander S. Jamal-ud-din (OC 12 Sqn and Captain) and WingCommander Rizwan Yousaf (Co-pilot).