WARS & ENCOUNTERS COLLECTION

Turning past the 26,600-foot Nanga Parbat, two Photo Reconnaissance Mirage IIIRPs head for the highest battle zone of the world, the Siachen glacier. Providing combat escort, a pair of watchful F-16s follow, while the operational crew in the DA-20 (foreground) ensure that the four fighters receive all the electronic support they need. DA-20 : Wing Commander Masood Akhtar Pilot, Squadron Leader Aftab Iqbal Co - Pilot, Squadron Leader Ayaz-ul-Haque Controller, Squadron Leader Pervez A Khan Controller, Flight Lieutenant M Nawaz Electronics. Mirage IIIRPs: Flight Lieutenant Asad Lodhi and Flight Lieutenant Nasir Kamran. F-16s: Wing Commander Shahzad Chaudhry and Squadron Leader Gul Abbas Mela

The 1971 India – Pakistan War in the West began on 3 December 1971 and Pathankot airfield, located at the junction of Punjab and Kashmir, became the lynch-pin for all crucial land and air operations. It was bombed and pinned down by the PAF Mirage aircraft during the day and by the B-57s at night. The painting shows Pathankot airfield camouflaged with nets and camouflage paint, due to which the details merged very well with the surrounding terrain and were difficult to spot from the usual distance by an attacking pilot. Here Squadron Leader Farooq Umer is manoeuvring and aligning his Mirage fighter recce aircraft to photograph this heavily defended IAF airfield after an earlier air strike by the PAF. Visible at the beginning of the runway are two Indian aircraft burning on the main runway. Clearly visible on the parallel taxi tracks are three grey patches indicating the points at which the taxi track has been freshly repaired, after PAF strikes of the previous day.

No 24 Squadron of the PAF operated the GD/Martin RB-57Fs, the highly specialised ultra high altitude reconnaissance aircraft. Their enormous 122 ft wing span earned them the name of ‘Droopies’. The RB-57F could cruise comfortably at 80,000 ft out of the reach of any fighter or SAM of that time. They were in PAF service during the 1965 War and overflew most of the IAF airfields at heights up to 67,000 ft or more. During one of the post-war reconnaissance missions, the ‘Droopy’ shown in the painting was badly damaged by 3 Russian supplied SA-2 SAMs. The aircraft was hit when it lost some height over Ambala during a turn towards its home base. The fragments of exploding SAMs around the aircraft caused major structural damage and almost knocked out the vertical stabilizer and one of its auxiliary turbojets, which hampered its accurate flight. Despite the intense enemy activity, the skilful handling of the situation both by the pilot and the navigator made it possible for the aircraft to land back at Peshawar. The aircraft skidded along the runway with its nose wheels jammed before it came to a final halt. Pilot: Squadron Leader Rasheed Mir, Navigator: Flying Officer Sultan Malik

It is the ninth day of war on India’s western front, inside the Shakargarh Bulge. The PAF has been flying at moderately high sortie rates in support of Pakistan’s No. 1 Corps resisting the Indian Army’s armour-infantry thrusts into this combat zone. What the PAF pilots impatiently wait for is their army’s long-planned response to India’s aggression in East Pakistan - in a joint and synchronized land-air campaign that would take Pakistan’s Strike Corps deep into enemy territory. Meanwhile, the pilots of all combat squadrons deployed in northern Pakistan continue to support their army’s stabilization missions along the border from Bahawalpur to Kashmir. Artist Hussaini paints an air battle in the aforementioned war scenario. A flight of three F-86s led by No. 18’s Squadron Commander (his third sortie of the day) is on a close support mission near Nainakot in the bulge. As Wing Commander Bokhari fires a rocket salvo at enemy vehicles hidden under a clump of trees, he hears his wingman, Momin Arif, calling out “Lead, three SU-7s at 2 o’clock.” Bokhari orders, “Drop tanks, go!” and turns his formation hard right to position behind the IAF fighters, and his own F-86 in an ideal spot to press the trigger, when his No. 3 (Cecil Chaudhry) comes sliding in from the left, and pleading at the same time, “Leader, leave it for me please.” Bokhari says, “Go ahead,” keeps his cool and quickly shifts his gunsight onto another SU-7. Within seconds he squeezes the trigger and happily notes his bullets ripping into his victim’s fuselage. Moments later the stricken SU-7 explodes, pieces of it showering down. Decades later, data from the IAF revealed that the downed SU-7 was piloted by Flight Lieutenant K. K. Mohan (who did not survive) belonging to the Ambala-based No. 26 Squadron. The excited Cecil claimed a kill but apparently fired out of range because the IAF did not record the loss of any other SU-7 in this encounter. Wing Commander Ali Imam Bokhari – OC No. 18 Squadron (Leader), Flight Lieutenant Momin Arif – Number 2, Squadron Leader Cecil Chaudhry – Number 3

In the C-in-C's Command Operations Centre (COC), Air Marshal Nur Khan and his handful of operational staff officers included his Chief of Operations - Air Commodore A. Rahim Khan. Their working hours were hectic, but both of them managed to don their flying coveralls and leave the COC discretely from time to time. They felt naturally attracted to visit combat units to see at first hand how the squadrons were performing their assigned tasks and if they had any urgent needs that could be additionally met - by interventions from the highest leadership levels - to make their tasks more efficient. While on such visits, they could not sometimes resist the temptation to join in with the younger pilots in operational missions. Such risks have always been considered inadvisable during ongoing operations, to ensure the security and continuity of top leadership in war. For that reason, all combat missions flown by the C-in-C and the ACAS(O) were kept a strictly-guarded secret. This painting by Hussaini shows Air Commodore Rahim Khan leading one of the strike missions with the pilots of No. 19 Squadron against IAF Station Srinagar. That air base had by then been struck by the same squadron several times, leaving little of value for re-attacks. As the formation's next target of opportunity, Air Commodore Rahim Khan spotted an Indian Army convoy on the road between Srinagar and Awantipura air bases. Each of the F-86s used all their six-guns to destroy the convoy. The pilots observed several fires and explosions and saw panicked Indian soldiers abandoning their vehicles under the unexpected PAF attack. Half an hour later, all four Sabres returned to their home base - Peshawar - without any damage. Air Commodore A. Rahim Khan — Leader — (Later Air Marshal and C-in-C), Flight Lieutenant Dilawar Hussain — Number 2 — (Later Air Marshal), Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider — Number 3 — OC 19 Squadron (Later Air Commodore), Flight Lieutenant Rao Akhtar — Number 4 — (Later Wing Commander)

Just eight weeks prior to the event recorded in this painting, the PAF’s RB-57F Tail # 63-13286, flown by the same squadron commander, was treated to a salvo of SA-2 SAMs fired at him over the IAF’s bomber air base at Ambala – the subject of another Hussaini painting of the 10 October 1965 encounter. While none of the missiles had hit the aircraft, the violent overpressure waves and shrapnel damage caused by the proximity-fused SAMs exploding all around him was an experience he hoped to avoid in this mission near the western coast of India. After safely landing his damaged RB-57F on 10 October, Squadron Leader Rasheed Mir’s engineering team had immediately begun the complex structural repair and completed it within two weeks. Mir had flown the plane’s first post-repair air test on 2 November. Now, # 63-13286 is airborne again on a PR mission at 68,000 feet, with both crews in astronaut pressure suits as usual. Having already photographed the Indian airfields at Jodhpur, Bikaner and Ahmadabad, Squadron Leader Mir has lined up with IAF Station Jamnagar. While doing so, he has noticed under him the contrails of the IAF’s five Hunter interceptors, as they hopelessly claw for altitude with full throttles but already at the upper edge of their maximum ceiling. The CO wryly imagines the upturned faces of the Hunter pilots below and wonders if a “Say Cheese” radio call to them might be a just retribution for the Ambala SAMs. Instead, the rich praise his squadron receives for the scores of high res pictures he brings back turns out to be Mir’s best reward. Squadron Leader Rasheed A Mir – OC No. 24 Squadron (Pilot) and Flight Lieutenant Tassawar E. Piracha – Navigator/Systems Operator

The painting shows a part of the fierce tank battle that raged at Chawinda on 19 September 1965, in a sensitive territory of Pakistan. Observers later compared it in scale to some great World War II armour actions. The PAF contributed decisively to the failure of this Indian armour thrust, by controlling the air above the battlefield throughout the campaign. Sabres from Sargodha and other bases kept up the pressure on the Indian Centurions manoeuvring to engage the Pakistani tanks, rendering many of them immobile or burning wrecks. The Sabre in the foreground was piloted by the young and aggressive Flight Lieutenant Saiful Azam, No.4 in a formation of four led by Squadron Leader Azim Daudpota of 17 Squadron. While attacking the Centurions with rockets and guns, the four F-86s kept a watchful eye above them for any intruders. Soon after pulling out of a tank, Saiful Azam’s group was warned of the IAF’s presence. The Sabres manoeuvred quickly to spot the enemy, which turned out to be four diminutive Gnats. Within seconds one of the Gnats (it belonged to the Amritsar-based No.9 Squadron) was under Saif’s guns and he shot it down, watching the pilot eject. Saif’s victim was Flight Lieutenant Maya Dev, promptly taken into custody by the Pakistan Army troops below. Saiful Azam won the Sitara-i- Jur’at (Star of Valour) in the 1965 War with India, but was later to add to his medals while on secondment to Jordan’s RJAF and the Iraqi Air Force during the 1967 Arab-Israel War. While patrolling the skies over Mafraq in an RJAF Hunter on 5 June 1967, Saif shot down an Israeli Mystere and damaged another. On June 7, Saif was flying an Iraqi Hunter, and this time shot down an Israeli Mirage and a Vautour bomber. Rightfully proud, he now wore gallantry medals awarded to him by two more nations: Jordan’s Wisam-al-Istiqlal (Order of Independence) and Iraq’s Nawt-al-Shuja’a (Medal of Bravery).

The last aerial encounter of 1971 War turned out to be a dog-fight between a supersonic MIG-21 and the relatively slow and much older F-86 Sabre. The F-86 flown by Flight Lieutenant Maqsood Amir emerged as the victor and the Indian Mig-21 pilot Flight Lieutenant Tejwant Singh, who ejected after being hit, was taken prisoner. Squadron Leader Rab Nawaz was the Radar Controller for this interception.

Low over the hilly terrain in the north central Pakistan called the Salt Range, an F-86 Sabre flashes past the exploding Hunter it has just shot down. Minutes before, Flight Lieutenant Mujahid Salik – the Sabre pilot in the foreground – had been directed by the nearby Radar Unit into intercepting the Indian Hunter. Mujahid closed in behind his quarry and a burst from his six machine guns caused the Hunter to disintegrate almost instantly and its pieces slammed into a hillock below. The Indian pilot Flight Lieutenant Sudhir Tyagi of No. 27 Squadron did not survive. In the background Flying Officer Arshad Toor is seen manoeuvring his F-86 behind another Hunter. Pakistan’ s air defence installations located around the Salt Range had become a prime target of the enemy air force during the 1971 air war. Known for its subterranean salt mines, a number of memorable air battles were destined to occur over this area. Flight Lieutenant Dildar Kazi from Kalar Kahar radar conducted this mission.

Two F-104 Starfighters flown by Wing Commander Arif 1qbal and Squadron Leader M Amanullah are seen carrying out a surprise attack on an IAF desert base at Utterlai. An IAF HF-24 fighter is seen destroyed on the taxi track, after a gun attack by Squadron Leader Amanullah. The second of the two HF-24s, scrambled to intercept the starfighters, was shot up by Wing Commander Arif Iqbal, also by gun attack.

Over the village of Khalsapur – twelve miles southeast of the PAF’s Risalewala Air Base – an SU-7 of the IAF explodes under a sidewinder impact. The SU-7 pilot, Flight Lieutenant Ramesh Gulabrao Kadam of the IAF’s Tactics and Combat Development Establishment does not survive. In the pursuing F-6 is Wing Commander Sayyed Manzoor-ul-Hassan Hashmi, the Commander of No.23 Squadron. Squadron Leader Samiullah Khan conducted this low-level interception from Kirana radar.

As a fierce ground battle raged in the Shakargarh salient below, 4 F-6s from Sargodha challenged 5+ intruding SU-7s of the IAF. Soon, one of the SU-7s (flown by Squadron Leader Jiwa Singh the Flight Commander of No.26 Squadron from Adampur) began to disintegrate under a burst of 30mm shells from the F-6 formation leader, Flight Lieutenant Atique Sufi. In the melee that followed, Flight Lieutenant Mushaf Ali Mir (later Air Chief Marshal and CAS, PAF) sent one more SU-7 down. The remaining SU-7s quickly retreated as they were pursued by the other two F-6 pilots, Flying Officers Salim Arshad and Riaz Sarwar.