PAF ABROAD COLLECTION

After leaving the PAF at a young age, Flight Lieutenant Hameed Anwar continued to build on the reputation he had already gained as one of the finest professionals of the PAF. For many years he served as a fighter leader in Arab countries, the longest time in the Royal Jordanian Air Force (RJAF). His superior skills and leadership were greatly praised everywhere. Among his many admirers was the late ruler of Jordan, His Majesty King Hussein I. The painting shows Hameed Anwar performing low level aerobatics in honour of the King. The builder of modern Jordan had been on a short visit to the Mafraq air base that morning and had asked Hameed Anwar for an impromptu air display. Himself an enthusiastic jet pilot, King Hussein had then climbed up the air traffic control building to have a better view of the show. Hameed Anwar’s Hunter is shown by the artist just as it passes by the ATC building in a slow roll, while the King looks on from the upper balcony. In a letter written to the Chief of the Air Staff, PAF, in July 1993, the King Hussein described Hameed Anwar as “one of the best pilots and men I have been fortunate to know.”

Flight Lieutenant Saiful Azam, PAF, destroys an Israeli Mirage in Iraq. The painting shows his second encounter with Israelis in Iraq, in which he is shown dispatching one of the Mirages that were escorting the Israeli Vautour bombers. Moments later he would bring down one of the two escaping Vautour bombers, seen in desert camouflage and flying at low altitude in the background. He was decorated after the war by both Jordan and Iraq with gallantry awards.

Flight Lieutenant Saiful Azam, PAF, destroys an Israeli Mystere in Jordan. The encounter took place over the Jordanian air base at Mafraq. The burning Mystere shown in the painting, fell just across the barbed wire fencing around the base. Another Mystere which was damaged by Azam in the same air combat was able to make it back into the Israeli territory.

Joint exercises with the air forces of friendly/allied nations have become a routine component of the PAF’s yearly operational training schedules. Operationally practiced combat procedures during such exercises provide extremely valuable experience for the pilots, ground crews and support personnel of the participating nations’ air arms. The painting shows a scene from the second half of a sortie during Turkey-Pakistan Exercise “Anatolian Eagle 2016”. During the first half, six TAF F-16s from Konya AFB carried out simulated air combat with four PAF F-16s of No. 11 Squadron led by Wing Commander Tahir Mahmood. After completing the first segment successfully, two F-16s of the Pakistani 4-ship formation separated from the main TAF-PAF group and rendezvoused with a TAF KC-135 from No. 101 Squadron from Incirlik AFB for an air refuelling exercise. The F-16B flown by the Pakistani DCAS(O) - the senior PAF Observer - and the No. 11 Squadron Commander is shown taking fuel from the tanker, while their wingman awaits his turn. The Pakistani Chief of the Operations Branch would later command the PAF.

The Ambassador of Pakistan takes some time off from his desk in Washington to get airborne in an F-16 over Fort Worth, Texas, where all of the PAF’s F-16s were manufactured. Sixty years old in 1990, Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan that morning became the oldest Pakistani to fly the F-16. To mark the occasion his name is painted below the cockpit rail – courtesy of the U.S. Air Force to which the F-16 belongs. The Air Chief Marshal had by then retired from the PAF and was on his second assignment as his nation’s ambassador. When he took o f the Air Chief’s uniform in 1978 he had already flown all the piston and jet fighters that were on the PAF’s inventory but the Pakistani F- l6s had come five years later. Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar was the first graduate of the PAF Academy to become its Commandant and the first post-independence graduate of the same Academy to command the PAF.

Two Flight Cadets of the PAF – M Khalid Khan in the nearer Percival Prentice trainer and his wingman G. Sarwar Malik – were the first Pakistanis to be trained at RAF College, Cranwell. The painting shows them in a fly by over their Mess at Britain’s premier flying training institution. Both were nearing the end of their primary training at this stage, and Khalid Khan soon advanced to the next phase on the Harvard trainer and graduated with honours, winning the Dickson Trophy for being the top cadet in navigation, formation flying, instrument flying and bombing. G.S. Malik, unfortunately, became the victim of a botched operation in London for suspected appendix, and was eventually declared medically unfit to continue as a pilot. He retired as a Group Captain in 1981 after serving as a very popular Administrative Officer. The younger brother of Wing Commander M Asghar Khan (later Air Marshal and C-in-C), Khalid Khan continued to excel in his profession after returning to Pakistan. Judged by his seniors to be a very promising officer, Squadron Leader Khalid Khan was commanding No.15 (F-86F) Squadron when he was tragically killed in a flying accident over the Jamrud firing range near Peshawar. Khalid Khan ejected after his Sabre caught fire but due to unknown reasons his parachute failed to open fully.

At the successful end of a week-long exercise in Turkey under simulated war conditions, a detachment of No.9 Squadron takes of from Turkey’s Konya air base for its return flight to Pakistan. Seventy-six aircraft of eleven different types from five air forces of NATO countries participated in the exercise. The PAF F-16s had the honour of being the only non-NATO aircraft invited to join Exercise “Anatolian Eagle”. The painting shows Wing Commander Jawad Saeed, O.C No.9 MR Squadron (and the PAF Detachment Commander), on the wing of the “Red” Force Commander, Colonel Bilal Yalin. The two had got airborne together in a gesture of friendship for the aerial farewell. The PAF leader would soon be joined by his five other F-16s for the flight to Mushaf Air Force Base. PAF JOINS FIVE NATO NATIONS IN TURKEY FOR “ANATOLIAN EAGLE” 8 OCTOBER 2004 - OVER KONYA AIR BASE Colonel Bilal Yalin Commander, Red Force, TAF Wing Commander Jawad Saeed Detachment Commander, PAF.

Over the Cheng-du Aircraft Corporation factory in China, Group Captain Kaiser Tufail and Wing Commander Jamshed Khan begin a series of evaluation flights of the F-7MG, a much modernised version of the Russian Mig-21 fighter. The two PAF pilots felt honoured to be the first pilots invited to evaluate the new aircraft.

An air contingent from the PAF was sent to Izmir AFB, Turkey, in 2011 to join similar delegations from nearly fifty other nations for the Centenary Celebration s of the Turkish Air Force. The Pakistani delegation was led by the VCAS, Air Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, who was appointed the Chief of the Air Staf in March 2012. On the programme of festivities, one of the main events was a TAF air show at the Izmir air base, in which aircraft flown in from several friendly countries also participated. The PAF chose its newest fighter – JF-17 Thunder – to perform at this display. The occasion was unique as the show pilot was the squadron commander of the world’s first JF-17 squadron, No. 26, which had a long history of distinguished service on the unit’s earlier combat aircraft, namely the F-86, the F-6 and the A-5C. The agile Thunder in the hands of Wing Commander Khalid Mehmood, OC No. 26 Squadron, impressed the large number of spectators and his plane was locally nicknamed “Thunder from the East.” Artist Hussaini has chosen a downward view to include the ground display of parked historical aircraft of the TAF and many festively dressed celebrators, here seen on the Izmir taxiway.

The Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) was one of several air arms of friendly nations that the PAF has been asked to assist in their formative years. After Zimbabwe’s independence from the minority white rule in 1982, the AFZ needed an accelerated restructuring, training and modernisation programme to become self-reliant within a short time. The PAF Team to Zimbabwe was led by Air Marshal Azim Daudpota (appointed chief of the AFZ through a special act of parliament), under whose command these difficult objectives were achieved in about four years. The Prime Minister of Zimbabwe paid glowing tributes to the PAF Team’s leadership, its professional competence and dedication, at the end of its stay in Zimbabwe. Against the scenic Victoria Falls, the painting depicts the pilots of the AFZ engaged in a mock dog-fight training with their PAF colleagues. In the Hawk two-seat trainer in the foreground are Wing Commander Raashid Kalim (later Air Marshal and VCAS, PAF) with Squadron Leader Friedy Vinyu (AFZ) in the front seat, maneuvering against two simulated ‘enemy’ Hunter fighters. In the Hunters are Squadron Leader Elson Moyo of the AFZ and Flight Lieutenant Tahir Rasheed of the PAF. After Air Marshal Azim Daudpota’s return to Pakistan in 1986, Group Captain Parvaiz Mehdi Qureshi (later Air Chief Marshal and the CAS, PAF) was appointed, at the Government of Zimbabwe’s request, an advisor to the AFZ, until he too returned in 1988.

An aerobatic team of red Sabres, call sign “Red Dragons”, (the second team to carry this name) pulls up over Jamrud Fort for its last display at Jamrud range. The Chief Guest on this occasion was H M Raza Shah Pehlavi, the Shahinshah of Iran. This display was held on 9 March 1967.

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 brought the PAF back into the market for acquiring a low-cost fighter to complement the inventory of the 40 advanced F-16s that had begun to build up from early 1983. Three American options were evaluated by the PAF: the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt, the LTV A-7 Corsair 2, and the Northrop F-20 Tigershark, a single-engined derivative of the F-5. Of the three, the Tigershark was the best but since it had neither a large customer potential nor a competitive price, the PAF finally chose the Chinese F-7P to create the mixed force that economically met its operational requirements. The painting shows the F-20 being piloted by Group Captain Abbas H. Mirza (later Air Vice Marshal) during a five-sortie evaluation he flew on this fighter from the Northrop Facility at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Throughout the evaluation period, the F-20 carried the PAF roundels and fin flashes.