Indo-Pakistani Air War Of 1965

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 saw the Indian and Pakistani Air Forces engaged in large-scale aerial combat against each other for the first time since the Partition of India in 1947. The war took place during the course of September 1965 and saw both air forces conduct defensive and offensive operations over Indian and Pakistani airspace. The aerial war saw both sides conducting thousands of sorties in a single month.Singh, Jasjit
"The 1965 India-Pakistan War: IAF's Ground Reality".
''The Sunday Tribune'', 6 May 2007. Both sides claimed victory in the air war; Pakistan claimed to have destroyed 104 enemy aircraft against its own losses of 19, while India claimed to have destroyed 73 enemy aircraft and lost 35 of its own. Despite the intense fighting, the conflict was effectively a stalemate.

Background

The war began in early August 1965 and initially the fighting was confined mainly to the ground. Later, however, as the war progressed, the war took on another dimension as the two sides began air operations against each other. Although the two forces had previously taken part in the First Kashmir War which had occurred shortly after the Partition of India in 1947, that engagement had been limited in scale compared to the 1965 conflict and the air operations that both sides had undertaken were limited and largely confined to interdiction and other strategic purposes such as re-supply and troop transport operations. Although there had been one incident where Indian fighter aircraft intercepted a Pakistani transport, there had been no significant air-to-air combat. During the 1965 conflict, however, the PAF flew a total 2,364 sorties while the IAF flew 3,937 sorties.

Main battle

The aerial phase of the war began on 1 September 1965 when the Indian Air Force (IAF) responded to an urgent call for air strikes against the Pakistani Army, which had launched an attack known as Operation Grand Slam. In response to an SOS from the Indian Army, IAF hastily launched 26 aeroplanes (12 de Havilland Vampires and 14 Dassault Mystère IVs) to blunt the Pakistan Army's offensive in Chhamb. The IAF's 45 Sqn was tasked to carry out Close air Support missions in support of Indian troops. The squadron had recently been moved from Pune to Pathankot, after a merger of No 220 Sqn into it, under the command of Sqn. Ldr. S.K. "Marshal" Dhar. Gp Capt Roshan Suri, the station commander painted a grim situation of Indian army's position at Akhnoor and the Pakistan Army armour's thrust at Chhamb on the river Tawi (near Jammu). Twenty eight aircraft (12 Vampires and 16 Mysteres) were tasked, with the first planes taking off at 1719 hours. These 26 planes flying in Finger-four formation strafed Pakistani positions and attacked Pakistani tanks and ground targets, though a lot of damage from "friendly fire" was also reported later on. When these Indian aircraft were sighted, Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled two F-86 Sabres, flown by S/L Sarfraz Rafiqui of No 5 Sqn and F/L Imtiaz Bhatti of No 15 Sqn to intercept. In the ensuing dogfight over Chhamb where S/L Sarfraz Rafiqui took on flight leader and wingman and F/L Imtiaz Bhatti went after element leader and element wingman India lost four aeroplanes, all 4 IAF Vampires, flown by Squadron Leader Aspi Kekobad Bhagwagar (flight leader), Flight Lieutenant Vijay Madhav Joshi (element leader), Flight Lieutenant Satish Bharadwaj (element wingman) and Flight Lieutenant (later Group Captain) Shrikrishna Vishnu Phatak (wingman) with both Pakistani pilots claiming two aircraft kills each.

This swift action forced the IAF to immediately withdraw about 130 Vampires, together with over 50 Ouragons, from front-line service. Though IAF's use of fixed-winged Vampires invited criticism, later on, eight of the 12 Vampires successfully completed their tasks, 14 Mysteres also returned unscathed and IAF claimed success in greatly reducing Pakistan Army's momentum.

On 2 September, both sides flew in support of their ground forces, however no major aerial engagement was observed.

The appearance of the Sabres necessitated a move by the IAF to send the Folland Gnat fighters to the forward base of Pathankot
. IAF used Mysteres flying at slow speed as bait to lure Sabres to attack where the waiting Gnats would take them on. Two Sabres were scrambled but one had to turn back without entering the fight when the pilot could not jettison the fuel tanks. The other one flown by Flt Lt Yusaf Ali Khan, spotted the IAF planes and tried positioning himself behind them before attacking. Just as he got his cross-hairs on them he felt thuds on his own jet, as he was surrounded in a cloud of Gnats repeatedly being attacked. A Lockheed F-104 Starfighter lurking in the area was pointed to the dog fight by base control along with scrambling another one from base. The first Starfighter crossed through the dog fight at supersonic speed. The Gnats after scoring a kill started egressing. IAF's Squadron Leader Trevor J. Keelor of No. 23 Squadron claimed to have shot down the F-86 Sabre on that day (3 September), claiming the first air combat victory for the IAF of the war and subsequently received the Vir Chakra and the title of 'Sabre Slayer'. However the sabre he 'shot down' was somehow flown in badly damaged condition and rough landed back at the base. The Sabre pilot, Flt Lt Yusaf Ali Khan, was given Sitara-e-Jurat for surviving dog fight alone (while his wingman was ordered to leave since he couldn't jettison his fuel tanks) with six Gnats and bringing the damaged Sabre back home. In the same incident, an IAF Gnat pilot was overheard warning others of the incoming Starfighter. Also, a Gnat piloted by Squadron Leader Brij Pal Singh Sikand, mistakingly landed at an abandoned airstrip in Pasrur, when he thought he had safely crossed the border. On realising his mistake, his subsequent takeoff attempt was aborted due to presence of a Pakistan army jeep on the runway. He was taken POW and later handed over to PAF. A Lockheed F-104 Starfighter flown by Flt Lt Hakimullah Khan chasing in at super sonic speed was also credited with forcing the Gnat down. This Gnat is displayed as a war trophy in the Pakistan Air Force Museum, Karachi. after it was flown from Pasrur by Sqn Ldr Saad Hatmi who flew the captured aircraft back to Sargodha, and later tested and evaluated its flight performance, was of the personal view that Gnat was no 'Sabre Slayer' when it came to dog fighting.

On 4 September, an F-86 Sabre was lost. The PAF claimed the cause to be friendly ground fire while the IAF claimed to have shot it down by Flight Lieutenant Pathania.

Rafiqui was shot down over Halwara on 6 September, while Bhatti ended the war with 34 combat missions to his credit, the maximum combat missions flown by any pilot during the war. According to official Pakistani sources during the conflict, the Pakistani F-86 Sabre Flying Ace, Muhammad Mahmood Alam allegedly shot down seven Indian aircraft including claims of two as 'probable'. According to PAF, during a sortie on 7 September 1965, five attacking IAF Hawker Hunter aircraft were shot down by Alam over Sargodha airbase

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