Indo-Pakistani air war of 1965

Main article: Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Indo-Pakistani Aerial War of 1965
Part of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Date August – September 23, 1965 Location Indian subcontinent Result United Nations mandated ceasefire. No permanent territorial changes (See Tashkent Declaration).
Belligerents
India Indian Air Force	Pakistan Pakistan Air Force
Commanders and leaders
ACM Arjan Singh	AM Noor Khan AVM Eric Gordon Hall A.CDRE Władysław Turowicz Sqd. Ldr M.M. Alam
Casualties and losses
59 aircraft lost(Indian claim) 110 aircraft lost (Pakistani claim)	18 aircraft lost (Pakistani claim) 43 aircraft lost (Indian claim)

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 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. Both countries made contradictory claims regarding the number of losses that they suffered and the number of planes that they claimed to have shot down. Indian losses have been placed at between 59 and 110, while Pakistani losses were between 18 and 43.

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 Partition, 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.

All out War erupted between India and Pakistan, and during the vicious 17 day conflict PAF flew defensive CAPs over its own bases, offensive counter air missions against Indian airfields, and close - support and interdiction sorties, to which the Indians responded in kind. India retained much of its air force in the East, against the possibility of Chinese intervention, and as a result the air forces were quite evenly balanced in the West.

Main battle

The aerial phase of the war began on September 1, 1965, when the Indian Air Force's No. 45 Squadron responded to an urgent call for air strikes against the Pakistani Army, which had launched a counter attack known as Operation Grand Slam. In the process the IAF scrambled four IAF Vampire FB Mk 52s. These initial air strikes were temporarily successful in slowing the Pakistani advance, however, the PAF sent two F-86 Sabres armed with air to air missiles to the battlefield and in the ensuing dogfight, all of the four Vampires of Indian Air Force were outclassed by the Pakistani F-86 Sabres. One Vampire was shot down by ground fire and the other three were shot down by PAF F-86 Sabres Piloted by Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Rafiqui and Flight Lieutenant Imtiaz Bhatti of the No.15 Squadron of PAF. While both jet fighter aircraft had become obsolete by Western standards by this time, the F-86 had superior performance compared to the Vampire, which allowed two F-86s to overpower four Vampires. The Vampires were followed in quick succession by the more modern 1950s French Mysteres of Nos 3 and 31 Squadron from Pathankot.

File:PAFF-86s.jpg

PAF F-86 Sabres

During the conflict, the Pakistani F-86 Sabre Flying Ace, Muhammad Mahmood Alam shot down nine Indian aircraft as well as claiming two others as 'probable'. Five of Hawker Hunter aircraft were shot down in one minute with four being in first 30 seconds.

The appearance of the Sabres necessitated a move by the IAF to send the Folland Gnat fighters to the forward base of Pathankot.The move succeeded—within two days the IAF shot down one aircraft. This was claimed by Squadron Leader Trevor J. Keelor of No. 23 Squadron, who is credited with having shot down an F-86 Sabre on September 3, marking the first air combat victory to the IAF of the war and subsequently received the Vir Chakra.

On September 6, the Indian Army crossed the border at Lahore to relieve pressure off the Chamb Jaurian sector. On the evening of the same day, the PAF responded with attacks on Indian airfields at Pathankot and Halwara. The attack on Pathankot was successful and the IAF lost nearly 10 aircraft on the ground. The attack on Halwara was unsuccessful; two of the attacking raiders were shot down for the loss of two Indian Hunters. Both the Pakistani pilots were killed in the action. One of them was Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Rafiqui who had shot down two Vampires on September 1 while the other was Flight Lieutenant Yunus Ahmed. Before being shot down, Rafiqui shot down one of the Hunters. He was later posthumously awarded the Sitara-e-Jurat and the Hilal-i-Jurat. Both the Indian pilots, Pingle and Gandhi, survived as they ejected near their base.

On September 7, 1965 PAF also dropped 135 paracommandos on forward Indian bases but most were apprehended having been dropped at the wrong points. According to Chief of Army Staff General Musa Khan, about 135 commandos were airdropped at three Indian airfields(Halwara, Pathankot and Adampur). The daring attempt proved to be an "unmitigated disaster". Only 22 commandos returned to Pakistan as planned, 93 were taken prisoner (including one of the Commanders of the operations, Major Khalid Butt), and 20 were killed in encounters with the army, police or civilians. The reason for the failure of the commando mission is attributed to the failure to provide maps, proper briefings and adequate planning or preparation.

Also on September 7, the IAF mounted over 33 sorties against the heavily guarded PAF airfield complex at Sargodha. The IAF lost two Mysteres and three Hunters due to the defence mounted by the Pakistan Air Force's local squadrons. One of the crippled Mysteres got involved in a dogfight with an F-104 Starfighter and shot each other down, both the pilots ejected and the Indian was captured, made a POW and later returned after the war. The Indian pilot, Squadron Leader Ajjamada Boppaya Devayya, was later awarded the Maha Vir Chakra 23 years later after his feat was revealed by an author appointed by PAF to write their story on 1965 war.

September 7 also marked the day when the PAF attacked IAF airfields in the Eastern Sector. The raid on Kalaikunda was successful. Although one Indian pilot, Flight Lieutenant A T Cooke, engaged four Pakistani Sabres, shooting down one while flying at tree-top height and making another a write off in the process, the IAF suffered badly in the raid, losing a total of 10 aircraft in two raids.

The war lessened in intensity after September 8 and there were occasional clashes between the IAF and the PAF. Both air forces now changed their doctrine from air interdictions to ground attack and concentrated their efforts on knocking out soft skin targets and supply lines like wagons carrying ammunitions and armoured vehicles. During the conflict IAF Canberras raided a few of the Pakistani bases. On September 10, one Mystere was downed by anti-aircraft fire in Pakistan and the pilot was killed.

One PAF F-86 Sabre was downed by anti-aircraft fire on September 13 when it attacked Gurdaspur Railway Yard. The pilot ejected but was never found. An Indian Gnat was also shot down by PAF F-86 Sabre, although the pilot managed to eject safely. On September 14, Indian Canberras undertook the deepest penetration of Pakistani airspace of the war, attacking Pakistani bases around Peshawar and Kohat. Rather than bombing the Peshawer airstrip, however, IAF bombers mistook the mall road in Peshawer as the runway and dropped there bombs there by accident. The PAF admits that the IAF came very close to annihilating its entire B-57 bombers. On their return mission, the Canberras were intercepted by a Pakistani F-104, although they managed to evade the Starfighter and returned home safely. However, one Pakistani F-86 Sabre crashed, killing the pilot, while conducting an evasive maneuvere in an attempt to escape pursuit from Wing Commander Bharat Singh, as he tried to defend the Canberra bombers. Singh was later credited with an aerial victory for this incident. Later, one Pakistani B-57 was shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Adampur, although both of its crew managed to eject safely and remained POWs.

On September 15, the PAF employed a number of its C-130s transport aircraft as bombers. This innovation, however, proved unsuccessful. The following day, one Hunter and an F-86 Sabre were shot down over Halwara. The IAF pilot was killed in the encounter, although the Pakistani pilot ejected and spent the rest of the war as a POW. A Pakistani Cessna was also shot down that day, as well as an Auster observation aircraft. On September 18, one Sabre was shot down by a Gnat over Amritsar, the matter was reported by the Collector, who had witness the entire dogfight. The same day a Pakistani Sabre shot down a civilian Indian aircraft even after the civilian plane indicated its identity assuming it to be a reconnaissance mission. The aircraft had been carrying the then Gujarat Chief Minister Balwant Rai and his family. On September 19, one Gnat and two Sabres were downed over Chawinda. One of the Sabres that were shot down was credited to Squadron Leader Denzil Keelor, the brother of Trevor Keelor, who was credited with the first Indian aerial victory of the war. The following day, another two Hunters and an F-86 Sabre were lost over Kasur, Pakistan.

At one stage the IAF was operating 200 air missions simultaneously. IAF Folland Gnats of Nos 9 and 23 squadrons played a significant role in major air battles.

On September 21, IAF Canberras carried out a daring daylight strike into Pakistan at the radar complex in Badin. The raid proved to be successful. Under the command of Wing Commander Peter Wilson, six Canberras from No. 16 Squadron took off from Agra, over a 1,000 km from Bladin and proceeded towards the radar complex at low level. About 80 miles short of the target, one Canberra climbed to an altitude of 10,000 feet in order to act as a decoy before returning to base. The other five Canberras continued on towards the target. The flight then separated and four of the aircraft approached the target in two sections, each two minutes apart, at low level before climbing to 7,000 feet from where they carried out bombing runs, dropping approximately 10,000 lbs of explosives. Wilson then approached from the south at an altitude of just 30 feet firing a salvo of 68mm rockets at the radar dome.

On the same day a PAF F-104 intercepted a Canberra bomber on its way back from Sargodha and shot it down, while one Hunter pilot who was the son of Chief of the Indian Army was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, he ejected and was taken POW. The ceasefire was declared on the night of September 22, 1965.

Outcome

There are conflicting claims by either side on this issue. Pakistani sources suggest that Indian losses were in the range of 59–110 and Pakistani losses were around 18–43. Recent works have, however, attempted to move beyond the raw statistics of the number of losses each side incurred, arguing that in terms of aircraft lost to sorties flown, the Indian Air Force's attrition rate (1.5%) was lower than the Pakistani attrition rate (1.82%). Arguably this indicates that had the war continued, the PAF would have found it increasingly difficult to sustain operations at the same level. Nevertheless, a similar argument can be made about the IAF also, although it did have a significant size advantage that might have proved telling if the war had been prolonged.

Another factor which makes it difficult to determine the outcome of the 1965 air war is the issue of aircraft lost in the air in air-to-air combat or to ground fire as opposed to aircraft lost on the ground due to bombing. A large number of Indian aircraft losses occurred on the ground during the attacks on Kalaikkunda and Pathankot—up to 60 per cent by some accounts—while most of the Pakistani losses were in aerial combat.

Results of Air Combat: Some sources have claimed that India lost 24 aircraft in air-to-air combat and ground-to-air fire, while PAF lost 37 aircraft in air-to-air combat. Pakistan ended the war having depleted 17 percent of its front line strength, while India's losses amounted to less than 10 percent. Moreover, the loss rate had begun to even out, and it has been estimated that another three week's fighting would have seen the Pakistani losses rising to 33 percent and India's losses totalling 15 percent. Air superiority was not achieved, and were unable to prevent IAF fighter bombers and rece Canberras from flying daylight missions over Pakistan. Thus 1965 was indecisive without a clear victory for either side even though PAF lost more aircraft in air-to-air combat operations.

Learning the lessons

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Much of the lessons of the 1965 war lead India to refine tactics which proved decisive in the 1971 where the IAF achieved total air superiority over the PAF. Had the 1965 air war lasted a little longer, the weight of the Indian numbers alone, might have defeated the PAF, even though India had retained more than half of its forces in the East, against the threat of Chinese intervention. Had India committed its entire strength the war might have been very different. Alternatively, had India been prepared to allow the war to continue for longer, then its superior numbers would inevitably have proved telling. Finally Pakistanis failed to take account of the extent to which they had relied on two factors which the IAF could not take for granted - complete ground based defensive radar coverage and an adequate supply of air-to-air missiles. Much effort was expended in India to remedy these deficiencies before 1971.

With Soviet aid, India established a modern early warning radar system, including the recently introduced 'Fansong-E' low-level radar, linked with SA-2 'Guideline' surface-to-air missiles and a large number of AA guns. By December 1971 the IAF comprised a total of 36 squadrons (of which 10 were deployed in the Bengal sector) with some 650 combat aircraft.

Moreover, the 1965 war resulted in the USA imposing a 10 year arms embargo on both sides. This had no effect, on India, which had always looked to Britain, France and even Russia for arms, but was disastrous for Pakistan, which was forced to acquire 90 obsolete second hand Sabre via Iran, a mere 28 Mirage IIIs from France and 74 maintenance intensive Shenyang F-6s. It was unable to replace losses among its (already weak) force of B-57s, or to acquire a modern interceptor in realistic numbers.