The Glorious Seventeen Days September 1965 War Introduction Like her war with China on the NEFA and Ladakh borders, Indias Rann of Kutch adventure against Pakistan also turned out to be a fiasco. Indian Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri announced his intention to choose a front of our liking. The actual start of Indian action against Azad Kashmir was made by an attack on HajiPir and Bharat Gali on August 25, followed by a bigger attack two days later in which half of the defenders were wiped out. The Pakistan Air Force could not make any mistake in this behalf, and was prepared to meet any eventuality; it had in fact, already been flying CAP (Combat Air Patrol) missions. On August 31, 1965 - the day when it was decided to use Pakistan Army in support of Azad Kashmir forces - Wg. Cdr. Muhammad Anwar Shamim who was the Officer Commanding of the Fighter Wing PAF Base Sargodha, addressed his fighter pilots. There was clear evidence, he told them, that India would throw its Air Force into the conflict. The Government of Pakistan did not want extension of the conflict, and desired to keep the PAF out of the war operations as far as possible; in spite of desperate calls from the Azad Kashmir forces in the Poonch sector, Air Force had not been used. The pilots were under instructions to shoot down enemy aircraft only inside Pakistan territory. September 1, 1965 The first air engagement between the PAF and the IAF took place on 1st September, 1965; four Indian Vampires which were attacking our ground positions in Chhamb, were brought down by two F-86 Sabres. Describing the first PAF operation, Major General Akhtar Malik, who headed the Deva operations in Chhamb area told newsmen five days later how the Indians lost heart only few hours after the attack by Pakistani troops, and how their Commander asked his headquarters to rush whisky. We understood the message and I got in touch with Sargodha. Suddenly, I heard a thunder; Indian planes were ablaze. I was marvelling about the accuracy of my batterymen when I saw the PAF jets hovering; it were they who had hit the Indian planes. A marvellously swift response. Sqn. Ldr. Sarfaraz Ahmad Rafiqui and Flt. Lt. Imtiaz Ahmed Bhatti had opened the account for PAF. The most significant aspect of this engagement was Indias withdrawal of Vampires from air operations. The battle between the PAF and the IAF was going to be one of numbers; every IAF aircraft destroyed meant catching up with the enemy. The PAF would prove that in war it was quality and not mere quantity which mattered; more important than anything else was the man in the cockpit. During the six days - 1st September to 6th September. 1965, when Indian Army crossed the international boundary in the Lahore sector - the Indian Air Force continued to commit air violations of Pakistan territory September 2, 1965 Thirty six F-86 and five F-104 were flown for CAP missions in the Jhelum-Muzaffarabad area, with F-86s flown in pairs except one formation of foursome. One enemy aircraft was reported at 0850 hours by our MOUs, and immediately two F-86s were diverted to engage it. The F-86 went low over the area but no contact was established. At 1040 hours No. 230 Radar Squadron reported one enemy aircraft heading south of Srinagar. A pair of F-86 was diverted to cover the approach to the battle area but the track faded away after two and a half minutes; the track assignment was called off and CAP duties were resumed. No. 230 Radar Squadron reported another track of two enemy aircraft over the battle area at 1055 hours. A pair of F-86s on CAP, and one aircraft on local flying were directed to the battle area. The enemy track was 8000 and our aircraft were told to descend to establish contact, but at 1103 hours the track faded away, and no visual contact could be established; our fighters were then withdrawn from the area.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 10:57:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015