8-Pass Charlie

[Slayer786]

Has anyone read the book 'Battle for Pakistan', by John Fricker. It gives a detail account of the war of 1965 and the important part PAF played.

 

[shanixee]

nope they were out of service in late80s dear they have no role in modern war .

I know my friend..and i am also not sure...i have a gut feeling that for certain role few are still not completely retire although we never see them flying

 

[khanboy007]

8-Pass Charlie

8-Pass Charlie was the codename of an unknown Pakistan Air Force B-57 bomber ace who raided the Adampur airbase of the Indian Air Force in Indian Punjab a number of times during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 notably starting the series of raids on the base by a solo raid.

He was named "8-Pass Charlie" by his impressed Indian adversaries at the Adampur base as he used to make eight passes, one for each bomb, on selected targets with improving efficiency instead of safely dropping all his bomb load and exiting. He is also known to have expertise in disguising his attack run by confusing anti-aircraft gunners by cutting throttles before entering a dive.
During the war, the bomber wing of the PAF was attacking the concentration of airfields in north India. In order to avoid enemy fighter-bombers, the B-57s operated from several different airbases, taking off and returning to different bases to hop and avoid being attacked. The B-57 bombers would arrive over their targets in a stream at intervals of about 15 minutes, which led to achieving a major disruption of the overall IAF effort.

The name was assigned to this unknown pilot by his impressed Indian adversaries at the Adampur base, and appears to be derived from his daring routine of making eight passes in bombing runs during every air raid over the alerted airbase to bomb selected targets with each 500 lb bomb in the moonlight, "and tried to carry out an effective attack each time", instead of dropping his entire bomb-load of 4,000 lbs during the first pass which would have allowed a safer exit for the aggressor aircraft over initial defences.
One of the known kills of 8-Pass Charlie is one of the Indian Air Force MiG 21s on Operational Readiness Platform (ORP) which were about to take off when he the executed the first raid on the Adampur base at 2200 hours with his lone B-57 on 6 September, 1965.
In addition to his routine of making eight passes over Adampur, the unknown pilot also seemed to have had a second routine of conducting his raids thirty minutes after moonrise.

Paddy Earle, an IAF fighter pilot, paid tribute to the unknown ace by saying:

I have the utmost respect for the Pakistani Canberra bloke who loved to ruin the equanimity of our dreary lives! 8-Pass Charlie was an ace, but he had this nasty habit of turning up about 30 min. after moonrise, just as we were downing our first drink! Seriously, he was a cool dude and a professional of the highest order. To disguise the direction of his run, he used to cut throttles before entering a dive and by the time the ack-ack opened up he was beneath the umbrella of fire. After dropping his load he'd apply full throttle and climb out above the umbrella.
Quote taken from PVS Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra's The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965 (Manohar Books, 2005)

I always loved the b-57's thanks for sharing

i always wish that the b-57's could be revived i still find them too epic to abandon

 

[TOPGUN]

Thanks Imran for such a outstanding story of bravery from our ace "8 Pass Charlie" my outmost respect and salute to this gentlemen ...loved this read

 

[Indischer]

Was there no concerted effort to determine the identity of the pilot? Surely, it would be such a pity if he was not aware of the kind of respect he had earned from his enemies.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

8-Pass Charlie

8-Pass Charlie was the codename of an unknown Pakistan Air Force B-57 bomber ace who raided the Adampur airbase of the Indian Air Force in Indian Punjab a number of times during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 notably starting the series of raids on the base by a solo raid.

He was named "8-Pass Charlie" by his impressed Indian adversaries at the Adampur base as he used to make eight passes, one for each bomb, on selected targets with improving efficiency instead of safely dropping all his bomb load and exiting. He is also known to have expertise in disguising his attack run by confusing anti-aircraft gunners by cutting throttles before entering a dive.
During the war, the bomber wing of the PAF was attacking the concentration of airfields in north India. In order to avoid enemy fighter-bombers, the B-57s operated from several different airbases, taking off and returning to different bases to hop and avoid being attacked. The B-57 bombers would arrive over their targets in a stream at intervals of about 15 minutes, which led to achieving a major disruption of the overall IAF effort.

The name was assigned to this unknown pilot by his impressed Indian adversaries at the Adampur base, and appears to be derived from his daring routine of making eight passes in bombing runs during every air raid over the alerted airbase to bomb selected targets with each 500 lb bomb in the moonlight, "and tried to carry out an effective attack each time", instead of dropping his entire bomb-load of 4,000 lbs during the first pass which would have allowed a safer exit for the aggressor aircraft over initial defences.
One of the known kills of 8-Pass Charlie is one of the Indian Air Force MiG 21s on Operational Readiness Platform (ORP) which were about to take off when he the executed the first raid on the Adampur base at 2200 hours with his lone B-57 on 6 September, 1965.
In addition to his routine of making eight passes over Adampur, the unknown pilot also seemed to have had a second routine of conducting his raids thirty minutes after moonrise.

Paddy Earle, an IAF fighter pilot, paid tribute to the unknown ace by saying:

I have the utmost respect for the Pakistani Canberra bloke who loved to ruin the equanimity of our dreary lives! 8-Pass Charlie was an ace, but he had this nasty habit of turning up about 30 min. after moonrise, just as we were downing our first drink! Seriously, he was a cool dude and a professional of the highest order. To disguise the direction of his run, he used to cut throttles before entering a dive and by the time the ack-ack opened up he was beneath the umbrella of fire. After dropping his load he'd apply full throttle and climb out above the umbrella.
Quote taken from PVS Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra's The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965 (Manohar Books, 2005)

I think it was Chistie that Christine fellow and pilot of Canberra.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

Was there no concerted effort to determine the identity of the pilot? Surely, it would be such a pity if he was not aware of the kind of respect he had earned from his enemies.

In simple words we aint credit hungry like some.

For us Doing our Duty is far more important then being remembered as a Hero.

 

[karan.1970]

In simple words we aint credit hungry like some.

For us Doing our Duty is far more important then being remembered as a Hero.

Kind of difficult to believe after hearing all the tom tom about the fake account of Alam's 5 kills in a minute

 

[Indischer]

In simple words we aint credit hungry like some.

For us Doing our Duty is far more important then being remembered as a Hero.

Seems more like credit was not given where it was due.

 

[Umair Nawaz]

Kind of difficult to believe after hearing all the tom tom about the fake account of Alam's 5 kills in a minute

LOL. Just like yr fake accounts of battle of longiwala, Kargil etc etc.

Seems more like credit was not given where it was due.

For us Doing our Duty is far more important then being remembered as a Hero.

This is what matters in the end. Yr Country and National Duty comes first.

 

[PakShaheen79]

Zabardast

... Why our media can not make dramas and movies on heroes like these?

 

[Rank]

whata story and Today Airforce

"Khoootay - farig - charlie" sitting in duck positions....

 

[RAMPAGE]

@Imran Khan

I'm genuinely surprised that you people didn't know it before.

 

[fatman17]

1. Squadron Leader Najeeb A.Khan OC No 7th Squadron (Pilot) Sitara-e-Jurat (SJ)

5. Flt.Lt.Altaf Sheikh (Pilot) Sitara-e-Jurat (SJ)



Source: http://www.defence.pk/forums/pakist...-force-news-discussions-69.html#ixzz2eq6hozWo

could be one of these two. they bombed adampur with regularity.

 

[The_Sidewinder]

8-Pass Charlie

8-Pass Charlie was the codename of an unknown Pakistan Air Force B-57 bomber ace who raided the Adampur airbase of the Indian Air Force in Indian Punjab a number of times during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 notably starting the series of raids on the base by a solo raid.

He was named "8-Pass Charlie" by his impressed Indian adversaries at the Adampur base as he used to make eight passes, one for each bomb, on selected targets with improving efficiency instead of safely dropping all his bomb load and exiting. He is also known to have expertise in disguising his attack run by confusing anti-aircraft gunners by cutting throttles before entering a dive.
During the war, the bomber wing of the PAF was attacking the concentration of airfields in north India. In order to avoid enemy fighter-bombers, the B-57s operated from several different airbases, taking off and returning to different bases to hop and avoid being attacked. The B-57 bombers would arrive over their targets in a stream at intervals of about 15 minutes, which led to achieving a major disruption of the overall IAF effort.

The name was assigned to this unknown pilot by his impressed Indian adversaries at the Adampur base, and appears to be derived from his daring routine of making eight passes in bombing runs during every air raid over the alerted airbase to bomb selected targets with each 500 lb bomb in the moonlight, "and tried to carry out an effective attack each time", instead of dropping his entire bomb-load of 4,000 lbs during the first pass which would have allowed a safer exit for the aggressor aircraft over initial defences.
One of the known kills of 8-Pass Charlie is one of the Indian Air Force MiG 21s on Operational Readiness Platform (ORP) which were about to take off when he the executed the first raid on the Adampur base at 2200 hours with his lone B-57 on 6 September, 1965.
In addition to his routine of making eight passes over Adampur, the unknown pilot also seemed to have had a second routine of conducting his raids thirty minutes after moonrise.

Paddy Earle, an IAF fighter pilot, paid tribute to the unknown ace by saying:

I have the utmost respect for the Pakistani Canberra bloke who loved to ruin the equanimity of our dreary lives! 8-Pass Charlie was an ace, but he had this nasty habit of turning up about 30 min. after moonrise, just as we were downing our first drink! Seriously, he was a cool dude and a professional of the highest order. To disguise the direction of his run, he used to cut throttles before entering a dive and by the time the ack-ack opened up he was beneath the umbrella of fire. After dropping his load he'd apply full throttle and climb out above the umbrella.
Quote taken from PVS Jagan Mohan and Samir Chopra's The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965 (Manohar Books, 2005)

8-pass charlie. Will remember the name. I salute you brave soul.