Historical events of PAF

“A country without a strong Air Force is at the mercy of any aggressor. Pakistan must build up her Air Force as quickly as possible. It must be an efficient Air Force, second to none”.

Columnist Sqn Ldr Muhammad Rashid goes over some noteworthy events in the history of the Air Force.

This sagacious and timeless advice by the Father of the Nation, the Quaid-e-Azam, has been the guiding principle for those who have built the Pakistan Air Force through the years. The PAF of today is the living tribute to the people of vision who made a humble but determined start in 1947 and those who have guided its growth and destiny in the subsequent period.
An effective Air Force cannot be built overnight. Today, by the Grace of Allah Almighty, Pakistan Air Force has completed 55 years of existence. From its early days in 1947, when it started its independent journey with a handful of worn-out aeroplanes, a skeleton crew of operators and a work force of 2,000 people, the PAF has come a long way. All along these 55 years, this small band of pioneers and their equally committed successors have displayed a rare degree of resourcefulness, improvisation and perseverance. These dedicated men of conviction faced boldly the constant shortage of men and material, defied all odds and chartered a course for their service, which transformed it into a powerful 20th century air force.
During the course of these 55 years, PAF’s mettle was tested in four full-fledged war operations and many periods of protracted tension. The PAF invariably responded with maturity and confidence and fighting against monstrous odds, acquitted itself creditably in every eventuality. However, it will be worthwhile to take into account these tests of time a little more in detail so as to assess that today, as we reach the hallmark of our 55th anniversary, where do we stand and are we leading in the right direction?
It all started in August, 1947. Amongst the millions of migrants heading to Pakistan, was a select band of men, who belonged to the RPAF. These pioneers numbering about 2,000 officers and men in all, had little time for leisure, for the very act of achieving an independent homeland had also conferred upon them an enemy who for times to come, would remain committed to undoing their cherished achievement.
The RPAF’s first combat test came during these Kashmir operations of 1947-48. In December, 1947 when the first confrontation took place, the RPAF was particularly handicapped and our land forces were left to fight without air support. What could not, however, be ignored was the S.O.S calls for supplies for the besieged population of Gilgit and the Azad Kashmir forces, struggling against Indian aggression. With a fleet of only two Dakota aircraft, with no experience of supply dropping and unarmed unescorted, the RPAF pilots embarked on the mercy missions shuttling daily from dawn to dusk. No fighter escort could be provided as Pakistan did not want, nor could afford, an open conflict with India; its main concern was consolidation of independence. Zigzagging its way between the lofty hills, groping through occasional rain and winter fog, dodging a cumulus here and a nimbus there, our lonely missionary Dakota, delivered the goods to our freedom fighters.
During the 12 months of the emergency operations, the PAF did not lose a single aircraft, flew some 437 sorties and dropped 500 tons of life-saving supplies.
The first aerial kill for the PAF came on 10th April, 1959. “An Eid Day”, when PAF F-86 shot down an IAF Canberra while it was on a photo reconnaissance mission high over the Rawalpindi area.
Thus came the 1965 Indo-Pak war. A war, which proved for the times to come, the truth of Churchill’s vision. He said:
“For good or ill, air power is today the supreme expression of military power; and fleets and armies, however necessary and important, must accept a subordinate rank”.
Same was the case in the 1965 war, in which the PAF played a pivotal role. The 1965 war did not come from the back door, although the timings chosen by the Indians were unexpected for our leadership. From early part of the year, as event suggest, we gradually kept moving towards a large scale showdown between the two countries. The PAF had anticipated the war almost six months earlier and was fully prepared for it, when it finally broke out on the 6th of September, 1965.
This 22 day conflict represented the zenith for the Pakistan Air Force and was unquestionably the “HIGH POINT” of the PAF’s 55 years history. It brought into focus the fundamental character of this small air force, when faced for the first time, in a full scale confrontation, against its enemy number one, the Indian Air Force. In the face of an opponent, four times its size, the PAF came out of the duel with flying colours.
This 22 day conflict was not, perhaps, a classic example of the employment of air power. It was, however, an air battle in which a small but determined and well- trained air force, despite many lapses and handicaps, achieved spectacular results.
The PAF started with the 4 love score against the Vampire on the 1st September. And then within the first 36 hours it gave such stunning blows to the Indian Air Force, from which it was psychologically unable to recover, for the remainder of the war.
There were several factors which enabled the PAF to produce this overall remarkable performance. There was the meticulous war planning and operational exercises master minded over several years. There was the personal selection of the best men by Air Marshal Asghar Khan, to command the combat wings and squadrons. Then, there was the fact that the Saberjet, which was the PAF’s main weapon system, was one of the most versatile and combat tested fighter bombers of the time. Being the only type of that category in the PAF’s inventory, the pilots were able to fly it extensively and had learnt to exploit it to its limits.
There were all these reasons and explanations — and yet all of them were contributory. Because the trump card in the PAF’s deadly hand was the unparalleled professionalism and daring deeds of its combat leaders. It was this group of commanders who set the furious pace during the war. They blasted the enemy’s aeroplanes out of the skies and shattered them on the ground; they pounded their airfields and installations and demolished his radars; they smashed his tanks and guns on the battlefield and blew up his trains on their tracks. With their Sabres and Starfighters, their B-57s and C-130s, with any weapon that came to hand, even with Harvard’s and T-33s, they wrought such havoc in the enemy’s ranks that he had no stomach left for fight.
The 1965 war with India resulted in tacit success for the PAF but had a disastrous sequel for the small, doughty force. The United States embargoed arms supplies to both sides, lasting for ten years. This had no effect on India which had equipment from a wide variety of sources and which merely turned to the Soviet Union for more. But for Pakistan, standardized on American equipment, this was catastrophic. On the other hand, the IAF continued its expansion and modernization plan and thus became the fifth largest air force in the world after the USA, the USSR, France and China; in terms of quality of equipment, it was perhaps number 4, having an edge over China. Indians had also improvements in their training and combat tactics.
It was in such a situation that India launched its military offensive in 1971. The PAF had successfully accomplished the first difficult phase of its task i.e., repelling a four times larger force’s assault against itself, while providing substantial support to Pak Army’s defensive formations.
After the separation of East Pakistan, the very statehood of Pakistan was to be attacked by the Indians. By inflicting heavy losses on the IAF and yet preserving itself and maintaining its lethal power, the PAF served as a deterrent to the enemy designs. The gallant air warriors had done it again; this time against very heavy odd.
A decade later, God Almighty provided the PAF with yet another opportunity, to prove its mettle. In 1980, the PAF was called upon to participate in the undeclared war on our western front. The experience was unique for a number of reasons, secondly the PAF was pitched against a super power, and lastly, it was a long drawn war experience.
PAF was called in to provide air defence against the increasing Afghan air raids over Pakistan. Without a resolute response, the air raids would have increased in intensity and raged over a much wider area. The nature of the air raids was punitive as well as threatening to escalate and widen the conflict. This war brought the PAF in contact with Russo-Afghan aircraft and combat followed. It was evident that the Soviet backed Kabul Government and even at times the Soviet pilots would have to be engaged directly in air combat. This was a very delicate situation where even a slightest error on our part could easily widen the conflict, and as a result Pakistan could become the target of massive Soviet retaliatory strikes.
PAF was caught in a nut cracker; on the East, we faced India and on the West, Soviet Union was consolidating its gains in Afghanistan.
The task given to PAF was to stop air violations by the Russo-Afghan aircraft so that loss of life and property was minimized. The Russo-Afghan air raids were aimed specifically against Mujahideen taking refuge inside Pakistan against enemy air violations. Did the Soviet violations over Pakistan stop entirely? The answer is obviously “No”, but these were not without cost and therefore, the element of deterrence was built in.
In this PAF’s longest military campaign from 1st January, 1980 to 15th February, 1989, PAF emerged victorious in the overall mission assigned to it. PAF achieved the objective without suffering the loss of even a single aircraft to the enemy; on the contrary, PAF pilots achieved 8 kills on Russo-Afghan aircraft. In terms of number of sorties, man-hours and flying hours, PAF has highly creditable statistics. The brunt of the conflict was absorbed by both the pilots and the Air Defence Controllers, hand in hand.
The PAF personnel emerged as the “UNSUNG HEROES” of the longest undeclared war. History will always remember the role of PAF and laud its silent services towards the defence of the motherland.
In 55 years the PAF’s transformation had taken it from Tempests to F-16s, from MoUs to Doppler radars, from laborious hand scribing of air defence data to fully automated real time displays, from WW II ack ack to sophisticated SAMs, from a single small Air Headquarters to three autonomous air commands — the myriad facets of transformation could go on endlessly.
Today, as we complete our 55 years of independence at the turn of the century and look back into the past, we can proudly say that the PAF has come a long way since its inspection in 1947. It had been tutored in its infancy by the illustrious RAF; it had shown the road to professional excellence by the USAF; it had fought wars against an enemy who outnumbered it four to one and always acquitted itself with singular courage and honour. And it had emerged victorious out of decade long undeclared war against a superpower.
Today, we can say with justifiable pride, that we are in a position to meet any challenge that may come our way in the future. But, it must be clearly understood that in this day and age of fast changing technological environment, the struggle ahead may be even harder than that faced by our predecessors. We also have to see, what lies ahead for the PAF in the next fifty years. Considering the current trend of events in South Asia, the calling will be equally tough, if not tougher. India, even more resolute with an impending economic growth and a more zealous fundamentalism of Hindu chauvinists, will continue to harbour her militants towards Pakistan. Though the uprising in Kashmir has reached a stage where India cannot deny the right of freedom to the Kashmiris, she will certainly use her new found economic strength to better her military potential and influence the course of history, much against the common trend. It is in this emerging scenario, that the calling on the PAF will be even more demanding. To meet this challenge, the PAF has embarked upon the route to equip herself with the necessary equipment as well as manpower. We continue to build on the tradition of excellence, the foundation of faith and devotion and on the ultimate tradition of sacrifice. We in the PAF, know it all too well. We shall continue to be the PRIDE OF OUR NATION; whether these 55 years, the next or the next to next. Inshallah!