B-57 THE INTREPID BOMBER OF PAF

[Imran Khan]

and now? we don't have quality nor we have quantity .

 

[mingle]

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From The Cokpit of B-57 Bomber



Squadron Leader Najeeb A.Khan OC No 7th Squadron recalls his first bombing mission for Adampur air base at the outset of the Indo-Pak war of 1965.

Squadron Leader Najeeb A.Khan had brought a formation of 4 B-57s to Peshawar air base and on landing was informed of his first bombing mission. He was tasked to undertake the first night bombing mission, leading a formation of four B-57 bombers to Adampur on the night of 6th September 1965, one of the heavily defended air base of the Indian Air Force located near Jullundur.
Najeeb narrates: ”It was the first hot mission of my career. The time had come for which I had joined Air Force and had been trained day and night for over 13 years in the PAF. Myself, Flt. Lt.Bashar, Flt. Lt.Osman, Flt. Lt.Mazhar were the pilots of four B-57 bombers with Flt.Lt. Irfan, Flt. Lt. Rashid, Flt.Lt.Harney and Flt.Lt.Ghorey as the respective navigators. At the time of take-off from the Peshawar air base Flt.Lt. Osman was delayed a little. Flt Lt Bashar and I took off first and a couple of minutes later Osman and Mazhar joined us.”
“The formation flew at tree top level to evade enemy radar detection and As we settled down on course, Bashar s’ aircraft flying about a mile abreast began to fade from sight with the descending darkness. To keep contact I asked him to move closer to me as the visibility worsened. He moved closer but even at 600 ft away he could not maintain visual contact with me. For fear of losing him I had to take the risk of switching on the navigation lights and thus we plodded on towards the enemy territory.”
“As I crossed into India a mixed feeling of anxiety and excitement came over me. Pitch darkness had by then engulfed us making navigation a challenge to our professional skill. “ “In the midst of its hearing Osman s’ occasional call of “No contact” was disturbing There was also a vague anticipation of hazards associated with a hostile mission. However this seemingly overwhelming gloom was dispelled with the prospect of licking a treacherous enemy who did not believe in any ethics of war.. So forward we went, racing against time, try to prove ourselves worthy of the Nations s’ trust.”
“Soon we could see the grey ribbon of meandering River Beas. We were in the enemy territory; I switched off the navigation lights and settled down firmly on our course. The target was still some distance away.”
“We were flying low; and as we approached Adampur air base we pulled up. Pull-up in a low-level mission is crucial and decides the success or failure of an attack”.
“The whole air base was presenting a lovely sight. It was all lit up, 2 to 3 miles at 10 o’ clock from us. We had achieved complete surprise.”
“I rolled in for dive aiming at the beginning of the runway where I could see enemy aircraft parked invitingly. I pressed the bomb switch but nothing happened. No bomb released! I was up set and pulled out of the dive.”
“Flt Lt. Bashar followed me dropping his bombs right at the operational readiness platform (O.R.P.). Suddenly the lights at the air base went off and a heavy barrage of ack ack guns greeted us. The Indian got ready to give us a fight. Bashar s’ bombs had lit up fires and the whole air base could be seen as sunny day.”
“I veered for the second attack when Osman called out ; “Leader, suggest, you do not make another dive: the ack ack fire is very heavy.”
“Never mind, I could not bear the thought of having to go back with out delivering my cargo.”
“I re-positioned the switches to try the alternative method of bomb release and rolled into a dive pointing the sight slightly ahead of the blaze along the runway. Four bombs dropped. I rolled out and banked again for another run. The ack-ack was murderous now. The sky was lit up with shell bursts and tracers. Osman s’ B-57 was hit by a 40 mm shell and he left for home after delivering his bombs.”
“On the third run I made an attempt for the technical area of the air base. Two bombs found the fuel dump which caught fire sending flames high up into the sky. I had two more bombs left. I checked up fuel gauge; it was all right. I divided in to the fourth time and released my bombs over the dispersal area. Before leaving for home I got above the ack-ack range and had a good look to survey the carnage below. A few aircraft looking like Mysteres, were burning on the O.R.P. and the fuel dump was sending flames hundreds of feet in the air.”
“We headed home after successful completion of our first bombing mission. Osman landed safely; the shell had pierced through bomber port wing punching a neat hole and surprisingly causing no other damage or fire. This near miss did much to dispel our fear of ack-ack.”
“As we landed back the Peshawar air base was humming with intense air activities despite the black out. There was a continuous roar of incoming and outgoing aircraft. In the midst of that rush the devoted ground crew didn’t lose any time to re-arm and re-fuel our aircraft for our next mission for River Beas Bridge. They even managed to plug the hole in the wing of Flt. Lt. Osman s’ aircraft.”
“The news was soul stirring. For a moment I wondered if we fliers ever fully appreciated the devoted efforts of those working quietly behind the scene to keep us flying. “
“My hat off to those remarkable men. !”
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[/QUO
It was pleasure to met Air com R najeeb Ahmed khan at council journal Toronto .very nice gentalman talked a lot about PAF .His younger brother is ACM R Jamal Ahmed khan

 

[cmpk1]

Mehmood Ahmad Butt - the only PAF martyr, of 1965 war, who is buried in Lahore, yet, unfortunately, forgotten by PAF & Lahore base commander's, in fact most of them didn't even know that one of their pilot, from 65 war, is buried in Lahore.

There are many soldiers like him who have been forgotten, many have yet to receive their medals.

 

[MastanKhan]

@MastanKhan

A question in my mind, why PAF not induction any bomber aircraft. MAy be their doctrine went more defensive but they should understand that attack is a best form of defense.

i wonder why there is no replacement for this beauty came

Hi,

The replacement bombers are more of fighter bombers-----. Our current day strike aircraft can carry more load than some of the bombers of the old.

A5 Fantan was a bomber----but then we went away from a heavy strike aircraft---.

 

[war&peace]

Average payload of 50s dedicated bomber like B-57 was some 7,900 lb whereas average payload of F-16 was 17,000 lb. This tells you how technology has progressed in bounds in leaps.

Agreed. F-16 being first fighter to be controlled by a flight computer represented a leap from the traditional flight and airframe that has static stability. F-16 is dynamically unstable and can only be controlled by the computer that allows for higher level of manoeuvrability that makes it a formidable challenger in a dog fight and enables it to dodge SAMs more effectively using chaff and flare.

 

[alimobin memon]

Average payload of 50s dedicated bomber like B-57 was some 7,900 lb whereas average payload of F-16 was 17,000 lb. This tells you how technology has progressed in bounds in leaps.

I thought same as u but this is quite wrong perception. The Bomber planes from ww2 carried not more than 10000lb avg but this also means the range the bombers carry to deploy the payload to certain place is one big issue. Whilest f16 at full payload lets say exact 17000lb cannot go further as f16 with just 4 amraams and two side winders. F16 range varies with Payload. But bombers have the capability to carry max payload and complete the long range missions and comeback

 

[Maxpane]

Alas we dnt have bombers anymore

 

[Captain77W]

How many of the old PAF-B57s are still around either preserved or as Hulks ?

 

[Sine Nomine]

How many of the old PAF-B57s are still around either preserved or as Hulks ?

According to @tps77 there are few in,storage i have no idea about there Numbers.

 

[fitpOsitive]

Any body seen something standing in PAF museum Karachi?

 

[denel]

I still believe jh-7 will be a perfectly suited deep strike vehicle that perform this role and take over from Mirage.

 

[LeGenD]

Very nice article. Thanks for the share.

People on average are fixated with Tanks, Artillery and Dog fights in their discussions but few understand which weapon systems will have a profound impact on the battlefield.

In Current Warfare Age they are Sitting Ducks In Sky If you want to Send these bird they need proper fighter escorts till End , sams and other things come in Play ,
Just For Bombing Run You Need Complete Air Dominance In that Area , That what Gave them free hand in 65 War Air 2 Air PAF was leading and dominating the Sky was Almost Clear for them , Now Fighters are Not That heavies But they can Get the Job done of few birds in one sortie because modern Weapons are more sophisticated and compact and Way More Agile

About Russia and US one of the reason is They are So Far Away From Each other they need these Birds Because Fighters Cant Carry that much Fuel To Go Enemy and come back they need to Refuel 1 or 2 Times Depending on the Mission Distance While these Birds Can You Will See only these Birds in action When enemies area is clear of Sams , and Enemies birds , Or they are going for one trip

We cannot generalize about these matters in this manner.

B-52 is equipped with sophisticated sensors to illuminate enemy threats on the ground across vast distances and electronic countermeasures to spoof/jam enemy radar installations. Each can be armed with scores of long range cruise missiles to neutralize threats from safe distance.

Capabilities of B-2 are shrouded in secrecy in large part but its stealthy characteristics, sensors and electronic countermeasures are top notch per all accounts.

The sheer amount of firepower these aircraft can bring to bear in an operation is mind-boggling. A large fleet of these sophisticated bombers are sufficient to bomb a country back to stone age in few sorties on their own.

But of-course, force-multiplier helps.

 

[HAIDER]

Why now no more bomber type aircrafts in PAF inventory. USA,China,Russia etc still their Airforces have advance Bomber aircrafts in their use and now they are also equiping or converting them with leaser weapons.

Pakistan don't need or required bomber, because Pak arch enemy is next door. And all border region is heavily electronic fence. The moment Indian plane flew from there airport, PAF receive alert. Pak need interceptor and strike fighter.

 

[Tps43]

According to @tps77 there are few in,storage i have no idea about there Numbers.

Yes few examples are stored along with some spares though they are in limited numbers along with few F 104 .

 

[MastanKhan]

I still believe jh-7 will be a perfectly suited deep strike vehicle that perform this role and take over from Mirage.

Hi,

Paf actually got a couple of high altitude surveillance B57's from the USAF other than the regular bombers---with all the nice gadgets---.