1965
Pakistan-India War
During
the 1965 War, PAF was forced to rely on its small force of F-104A
Starfighters as high altitude interceptors and in its night
fighting role, using
the radar of its AN/ASG-14T1 fire-control system, in conjunction with Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
After
1 September, the F-104s were extremely active in Air Defence and
Air Superiority Operations, but of the 246 missions flown by F-104s
during hostilities, 42 were at night against the IAF Canberras. The
rudimentary fire-control radar met the Soviet high altitude bomber
threat of the Cold War era for which it was designed but it could
not illuminate small
targets against ground clutter. The standard high speed
intercept tactic employed by PAF’s F-104 pilots was to approach
their targets from
below, with a typical height differential of 2-3,000 feet,
against a target they wished to acquire at a range of 10-15
kilomenters. This
limitation was well known to the Canberra jet bomber pilots of IAF
who attacked targets in Pakistan during the 1965 war. They adopted
a standard hi-lo-hi
profile to minimize the threat of interception. During
most of their inbound and outbound flight over Pakistani territory
the IAF Canberras would stay below about 1000 feet during their approach
and exit phases. This
posed a difficult night intercept problem. The PAF’s
F-104s had in these circumstances to be used in an unconventional
low-altitude intercept profile that severely challenged the
capabilities of its airborne radar. To pick up the low flying bombers on
their scope the F-104
pilots had to get down to about 300-500 feet above the ground
to point their radars upward and clear of ground clutter at the
enemy bombers. The
problem was aggravated by the Canberra’s tail warning audio
alarm that would go off the moment an F-104 got to a near astern
position, and enable the bomber to take timely evasive action to shake
off its pursuer.
The
F-104s were highly dreaded by the Indian Air Force (IAF). On 3rd
September, 1965, even before the War began, an Indian Gnat surrendered to
an F-104 which forced it to land at the abandoned airfield of Pasrur (in
Pakistan). Its pilot Squadron Leader Brijpal Singh Sikand became a
POW.
On
6 September, two Starfighters were sent on dawn patrol from Sargodha. They were vectored by Sakesar Radar towards 4
IAF Mysteres engaged in
bomb and rocket attacks against a stationary passenger train
at Gakkhar railway station. One of the F-104 pilots was forced to
return to base with a
radio failure but the other pilot, Flight Lieutenant
Aftab Alam Khan dived his F-104 with full after burners, going
supersonically through the Mysteres formation which promptly scattered.
The Indian aircraft tried to escape at about 50 feet above the ground but they were no match for the Starfighter. Aftab
destroyed one Mysteres with his Sidewinder missile thus achieving one of
the world’s first air
victories by a mach 2 combat aircraft.
The
other F-104 pilot, Flight Lieutenant Amjad Khan, who had missed his chance
the previous day, made amends on 7 September. He was scrambled in an F-104 at about 05:15 hours and directed by Sakesar
radar towards an incoming
raid at Sargodha. He made visual contact with the IAF
Mysteres and headed towards them. By the time he caught up with
them, the Indian
aircraft were 6-8 miles away from Sargodha, flying at 150-200 feet on a
south-easterly heading towards India. As the Mysteres jettisoned their
drop tanks, Flight Lieutenant Amjad Hussain positioned
himself behind one of them and released a GAR-8 missile, which went
straight into the ground. The Mystere then began to dogfight with
the Starfighter, which
used its superior climb and acceleration to lift the
combat from ground level to about 7,000 feet to gain room for
manoeuvre. Hussain fired his cannons and was delighted to see the shell
hit the Mystere. The
Mystere pilot showed commendable courage in staying with the F-104, and despite being mortally wounded,
scored several cannon strikes on the Starfighter. Flight Lieutenant Amjad
Hussain managed to
eject safely and reached his Base. This was the first and
only Starfighter to be lost through enemy action in the 1965 war.
The Indian pilot Squadron Leader A.B. Devayya was
posthumously awarded the Maha
Vir Chakra in 1988, twenty three years after the war, when Indian
authorities learnt of the IAF pilot’s valour through an account
of the encounter
published in John Fricker’s book Battle for Pakistan,
published in 1978.
On
21 September, Squadron Leader Jamal A Khan, intercepted an Indian Air
Force Canberra at about 33,000 feet and shot it down with a
Sidewinder near Fazilka, inside Pakistani territory. The bomber’s pilot,
Flight Lieutenant
Manmohan Lowe ejected and was made POW while its navigator,
Flying Officer A K Kapor could not bail out and was killed in
action. The British
made Canberra, unlike its American counterpart the Martin
B-57, had no ejection seat for the navigator. This was the first
kill achieved by an
F-104 at night after a number of near misses due to
factors described earlier.
F-104s
were also used during 1965 for low level, daylight reconnaissance
missions over the IAF air bases. The speed of the Starfighter gave
the Indians no time to
react. The F-104s were also employed as escorts for
the slow Lockheed RT-33 reconnaissance fighters on photographic
missions deep into
Indian territory, the presence of Starfighters virtually
guaranteeing that no air opposition would be encountered. Six F-104
pilots received gallantry awards during the 1965 War.
