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List of aerial victories during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971

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PAF Sabre being shot down in combat by an IAF Gnat in September 1965

The Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan and West Pakistan from 3 December 1971 to the Fall of Dacca (Dhaka) on 16 December 1971. The war saw intense use of aerial assets by both sides and proved to be instrumental in the Indian victory in East Pakistan (Bangladesh).

The following lists contains aerial victories credited to both Indian as well as Pakistani pilots.

North American F-86 Sabre of No 19 Squadron PAF

List of Notations Used

Abbreviation Full form
IAF Indian Air Force
PAF Pakistan Air Force
Fg Offer Flying Officer
Flt Lt Flying Lieutenant
Wg Cdr Wing Commander
Gp Capt Group Captain

Eastern sector (Bangladesh)

Probable or Unconfirmed kills are in italics text

Pilot Pilot's Squadron Country Date Fighter Type Victim Pilot Victim Aircraft Remarks
Flt Lt M. A. Ganapathy No. 22 Squadron IAF India 22 Nov Battle of Boyra Folland Gnat Fg Offr Khail Ahmad Canadair Sabre Mk6 Fg Offr Ahmad POW, Ganapathy awarded Vir Chakra
Fg Offr Donald Lazarus No. 22 Squadron IAF India 22 Nov Folland Gnat Flt. Lt. Pervaiz Mehdi Qureshi Canadair Sabre Mk6 Flt Lt Qureshi taken POW, Lazarus awarded Vir Chakra

Flt Lt Roy Andrew Massey No. 22 Squadron IAF India 22 Nov Folland Gnat Wg Cdr Afzal Chaudhry Canadair Sabre Mk6 Chaudhary awarded Sitara-e-Jurat, his Sabre was severely damaged, but PAF claims that he returned to base, however Massey's wingman saw Chaudhary bail out. Massey awarded Vir Chakra
Wg Cdr Narinder Chatrath No. 17 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Wg Cdr Muhammed Ahmed Canadair Sabre Mk6 Ahmed posthumously awarded Sitara-i-Juraat (
Flt Lt Jayendra Sukrut Raj No. 4 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec MiG-21 Unidentified Pilot Canadair Sabre Mk6 The last unaccountable F86 was probably shot down by Sukurut Raj
Flt Lt Vinod Kumar Neb No. 17 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Flt Lt Saeed Afzal Khan Canadair Sabre Mk6
Fg Offr Harish Masand No. 37 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Flt Lt Saeed Afzal Canadair Sabre Mk6 Flt Lt Saeed Afzal bailed out KIA Masand awarded Vir Chakra
Wg Cdr Ramaswamy Sundaresan No. 14 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Fg Offr Sahibzada Sajjad Noor Canadair Sabre Mk6 Sundersan awarded Vir Chakra
Sqn Ldr Dilwar Hussain Pakistan No. 14 Squadron PAF Pakistan 4th Dec Canadair Sabre Mk6 Flt Lt Kenneth Charles Tremenheere Hawker Hunter Tremenhere taken POW
Flt Lt Saeed Afzal Khan No. 14 Squadron PAF Pakistan 4th Dec Canadair Sabre Mk6 Sqn Ldr Kanwal Deep Mehra Hawker Hunter Khan awarded Sitara-i-Juraat; bailed out but MIA, Mehra bailed out.

Western sector

Probable Kills or Unconfirmed kills are in italics text;

Pilot Pilot's Squadron Country Date Fighter Type Victim Pilot Victim Aircraft Remarks
Flt Lt Javed Latif No. 23 Squadron PAF Pakistan 4th Dec Shenyang F6C Flt Lt Harvinder Singh Sukhoi Su7 Singh KIA Latif awarded Tamgha-e-Jurat
Fg Off Qazi Javed No. 25 Squadron PAF Pakistan 4th Dec Shenyang F6C Fg Off Vidyadhar Shankarrao Chati Hawker Hunter Kill at PAF Base Murid. Chati taken POW
Fg Off Salim Beg Mirza No. 26 Squadron PAF Pakistan 4th Dec F-86F Flt Lt Kotteiezath Puthiyavettil Muralidharan Hawker Hunter Murlidharan KIA
Flt Lt Mujahid Salik No. 15 Squadron PAF Pakistan 4th Dec F-86F Fg Off Sudhir Tyagi Hawker Hunter Tyagi posthumously awarded Vir Chakra
Fg Off Naeem Atta No. 5 Squadron PAF Pakistan 4th Dec Dassault Mirage III Flt Lt L Moses Sasoon;

Flt Lt Ram Metharam Advani

English Electric Canberra Sasoon and Advani KIA
Wng Cdr Cecil Vivian Parker No. 20 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot F-86E
Wng Cdr Cecil Vivian Parker No. 20 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Flt Lt Nayyar Iqbal F-86E Iqbal KIA. According to Pakistani accounts and sources, the aircraft suffered an accidental flameout Parker awarded Maha Vir Chakra
Fg Off Sudhir Tyagi No. 27 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot F-86E/Mirage III Tyagi awarded Vir Chakra Kill at PAF Base Murid.
Flt Lt Charan Singh Dhillon No. 108 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot F86E Dhillon awarded Vayu Sena Medal
Wg Cdr Johnny Greene No. 2 Squadron IAF India 4th Dec Folland Gnat F.1 Unidentified Pilot Dassault Mirage III/Lockheed F-104 Starfighter Intercepted and photographed while chasing a F-104 Starfighter over Ferozepur and prevented it from damaging the radar installations
Sqn Ldr Krishen Kumar Bakshi No. 220 Squadron IAF India 05 Dec HAL HF24 Mk1 Unidentified Pilot F-86E Bakshi awarded Vir Chakra, aviation historians claim the unidentified Pakistani pilot was Fg Off Hamid KhawajaNaya Chor, Sindh and Dhoran, Kumbhalgarh, area.
Fg Off Safdar Pakistan 05 Dec Dassault Mirage III Sqn Ldr Jal Maniksha Mistry Hawker Hunter 56A Mistry posthumously awarded Vir Chakra. Sakesar area.
Flt Lt Shahid Raza No. 25 Squadron PAF Pakistan 05 Dec Shenyang F6C Fg Off Kishan Lakhimal Malkani Hawker Hunter Malkani posthumously awarded Vir Chakra
Wing Cdr Saad A Hatmi No. 25 Squadron PAF Pakistan 05 Dec Shenyang F6C Flt Lt Gurmit Singh Rai Hawker Hunter Rai bailed out Sakesar area.
Unidentified Pilot Pakistan 05 Dec F-86 Unidentified Pilot(s) Alloutte III Alloutte pilots safely bailed out
Flight Lieutenant Salimuddin No. 5 Squadron PAF Pakistan 06 Dec Dassault Mirage III Flt Lt Vijay Kumar Wahi Sukhoi Su-7 Wahi posthumously awarded Vir Chakra Jammu Sector
Unidentified Pilot India 07 Dec Hawker Hunter Fg Off Hamid Khawaja F-86E Pilot crashed while chasing Hunter, acc. to the PAF.
Flt Lt Cecil Choudhary Pakistan 07 Dec F-86 Fg Off Adhi Rustamji Gandhi Sukhoi Su-7
Fg Off Atiq Sufi No. 11 Squadron PAF Pakistan 07 Dec Samba Shenyang F6C Sqn Ldr Jiwa Singh Sukhoi Su-7 Singh KIA
Wg Cdr M H Hashmi No. 23 Squadron PAF Pakistan 08 Dec F-86E Flt Lt Ramesh Gulabrao Kadam Sukhoi Su-7 BMK Kadam KIA PAF Risalewala.
Flt Lt Ramesh Gulabrao Kadam TACDE India 08 Dec PAF Sukhoi Su-7 BMK Flt Lt A J Siddiqui Shenyang F6C F/L A J Siddqui is claimed by the PAF to have been shot while chasing Kadam's formation. The pilots of both sides were KIA.
Unidentified pilot India 09

Dec

MiG-21FL Unidentified Pilot Dassault Mirage III EP 2 K-13 AAMs were launched and a proximity hit recorded. Target disappeared from radar. Listed as 'Probable'
Sqn Ldr Ravinder Nath Bhardwaj No. 20 Squadron IAF India 10 Dec Hawker Hunter Sqn Ldr Aslam Chaudhry / KIA F-86E Chaudhry posthumously awarded Sitara-i-Jurat Bhardwaj awarded Maha Vir Chakra
Wg Cdr Arif Iqbal No. 9 Squadron PAF Pakistan 10 Dec F-104A Lt Cdr Ashok Roy (Pt)

Lt H S Sirohi (Obs) Acmn O Vijayan (TG)

Bréguet Br.1050 Alizé Roy, Sirohi and Vijayan KIA
Wg Cdr Bhukhari Pakistan 11 Dec F-86 Flt Lt Krishna Kumar Mohan Sukhoi Su-7 Mohan KIA Shakargarh (Location)
Flt. Lt.Bharat Bhushan Soni No. 47 Squadron IAF India 12th Dec MiG-21 Wg Cdr Mervyn L Middlecoat Lockheed F-104A Starfighter Flt Lt Soni awarded Vir Chakra had spotted Middlecoat bail out and had rushed a rescue team from the nearest IAF station. However the rescue team found no trace of Middlecoat. He had ejected over shark infested waters, it was highly unlikely that he survived. Middlecoat posthumously awarded Sitara-e-Jurat
Sqn Ldr Viney Kapila India 12th Dec MiG-21FL Unidentified Pilot F-104A/F-86E F-104A mentioned in official records, Kapila awarded Vir Chakra
Flt Lt Surinder Singh Malhotra India 12

Dec

Sukhoi Su-7 BMK Flt Lt Ejazuddin Shenyang F6C Although initially PAF did not credit the kill but later accepted the loss of one F-6 over the general area of dogfight Malhotra awarded Vir Chakra
Sqn Ldr Farokh Jehangir Mehta India 13th Dec Hawker Hunter Fg Off Nasim Nisar Ali Baig F-86 Beg awarded Tamgha-i-Jurat Mehta awrded Vir Chakra
Flt Lt Kukke Sreekantasastry Suresh India 13th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot F-86 Suresh awarded Vir Chakra
Flt Lt Salim Baig Mirza No. 26 Squadron PAF Pakistan 14 Dec F-86 Fg Off Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon Folland Gnat Sekhon awarded Param Vir Chakra posthumously in 6:1 fight Mirza awarded Sitara-e-Jurat
Sqn Ldr S Gauhar Pakistan 14 Dec F-86 Capt P K Gaur HAL Krishak Observation Aircraft belonging to Indian Army
Wg Cdr M N Singh

Sqn Ldr F J Mehta

(Shared)

No. 122 Squadron IAF India 15 Dec Hawker Hunter T.66

(Two-seater)

Unidentified Pilot F-86 Maneuver kill. Target flew into the ground.
Flt Lt Samar Bikram Shah India 16 Dec Mig-21FL Unidentified Pilot Shenyang F6C F-6 Wreckage found by Indian Army
Flt Lt Virendera Singh Pathania No. 18 Squadron IAF India 16 Dec Folland Gnat Unidentified Pilot North American F-86 Sabre Unconfirmed Kill
Flt Lt Maqsood Amir Pakistan 17 Dec F-86 Flt Lt Tejwant Singh Mig-21 Singh bailed out became POW Amir awarded Tamgha-i-Jurat
Flt Lt Niraj Kukreja No. 29 Squadron IAF India 17 Dec MiG-21FL Flt Lt Samad Ali Changezi F-104A Changezi posthumously awarded Sitara-e-Jurat, Kukeraja awarded Vir Chakra
Unidentified Pilot India 17 Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot(s) 2x Cessna 0-1 Confirmed by PAF chronicler, John Fricker's, records

List of aircraft mentioned

India

Aircraft Country of Origin
Aérospatiale Alouette III  France
Bréguet 1050 Alizé  France
English Electric Canberra  United Kingdom
Folland Gnat  United Kingdom
Hawker Hunter  United Kingdom
HAL HF-24 Marut  India
HAL Krishak  India
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21FL  Soviet Union
Sukhoi Su-7BMK  Soviet Union

Pakistan

Aircraft Country of Origin
Canadair Sabre  Canada
Cessna O-1 Bird Dog  USA
Dassault Mirage III  France
Lockheed F-104A Starfighter  USA
North American F-86 Sabre  USA
Shenyang F6  China

See also

References

Sources

Citations

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