Telescopic Sight
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Flying Officer V.K. Neb and Flight Lieutenant D.N. Rathore of 27 Sqn ( IAF ) were on Combat Air Patrol (CAP) Station just south of Ludhiana town at 10,000 feet on Sept 6th, 1965.
Neb was still undergoing his operational training on the Hunter and had never fired the 30mm Adens on the Hunter. He had less than 10 hours flying time on this jet !
PAF Fighter Base — Sargodha. Pakistan. 1650 hours PST, 6 September
Pakistan Air Force’s ‘Jaanbaaz’ formation, comprising three Sabres of No. 5 Sqn led by the most well regarded PAF pilot, Sqn Ldr Sarfraz Rafiqui , flying the most important mission of his life — leading the PAF strike over the IAF base of Halwara.
Fate seemed to be favouring the Pakistanis. They had arrived undetected over Halwara and had caught the IAF CAP, their would-be tormentors, at a time when the Hunters were taking off at low speeds. Having eliminated the proximate CAP threat, Rafiqui turned his attention towards Halwara airfield some distance away. It lay open and exposed, bristling with aircraft, vehicles and other potential targets for the high power Browning ammunition. ‘Let’s plaster the airfield boys,’ Rafiqui ordered his formation as each one of them eased into a much rehearsed shallow gun dive attack, unmindful of the threatening ack-ack fire from the Indian anti-aircraft gunners.
The tip of PAF’s sword was slicing through IAF’s defences and at that moment, seemed indefatigably unstoppable. But for Rathore and young Neb !
At 600 yards, Rathore fired a short burst from his potent cannons. This burst caught Rafiqui on the left wing and his Sabre seemed to slow down rapidly in air. Rathore closed in further and fired his final 30 mm burst at 300 yards, mortally hitting Rafiqui’s Sabre. The Sabre banked sharply to the left and dived for the ground. Rafiqui had been fatally hit and did not eject from his doomed Sabre. Probably the best PAF pilot of 1965 war, Rafiqui died over the grain fields of Punjab, doing his best for Pakistan.
Meanwhile Neb, the rookie Hunter pilot was earning his spurs at an astonishing rate as he battled it out with two PAF Sabres. As Neb dived towards Yunus Hussain controlled by Rathore, Cecil Choudhary, who was trailing Hussain by a km, shouted to warn Hussain about Neb cutting inside his turn and ordered a defensive break for him to turn hard inside Neb’s turn, so as to mush the Hunter. Hussain panicked and pitched up to zoom towards the safety of the sky in order to escape the Hunter. This helped Neb further catch up with Hussain’s Sabre. With his speed overtake, Neb pitched up to lead his nose ahead of the Sabre.
The Sabre was hit and caught fire. Yunus Hussain did not survive this attack and went down with his Sabre in a trail of smoke. Cecil Choudhary frantically exited the combat and turned to escape towards Pakistan. After a hair-raising low-level flyback, he had just about landed back at Sargodha when his aircraft flamed out due to want of fuel on the taxiway.
( Cecil Chaudhary)
After collecting their personal effects found at the crash sites, both were buried with appropriate rituals. The remains of Rafiqui and Hussain’s Sabres are displayed at the IAF museum at Palam.
( Hussain's Sabre wreck )
Neb got another Sabre kill ( P.A.F. W/C S M Ahmed (14 sqn) / KIA ) each in the 1971 war. Celil Chaudhary retired as a Group Captain from the PAF, denied further promotion .
Neb was still undergoing his operational training on the Hunter and had never fired the 30mm Adens on the Hunter. He had less than 10 hours flying time on this jet !
PAF Fighter Base — Sargodha. Pakistan. 1650 hours PST, 6 September
Pakistan Air Force’s ‘Jaanbaaz’ formation, comprising three Sabres of No. 5 Sqn led by the most well regarded PAF pilot, Sqn Ldr Sarfraz Rafiqui , flying the most important mission of his life — leading the PAF strike over the IAF base of Halwara.
Fate seemed to be favouring the Pakistanis. They had arrived undetected over Halwara and had caught the IAF CAP, their would-be tormentors, at a time when the Hunters were taking off at low speeds. Having eliminated the proximate CAP threat, Rafiqui turned his attention towards Halwara airfield some distance away. It lay open and exposed, bristling with aircraft, vehicles and other potential targets for the high power Browning ammunition. ‘Let’s plaster the airfield boys,’ Rafiqui ordered his formation as each one of them eased into a much rehearsed shallow gun dive attack, unmindful of the threatening ack-ack fire from the Indian anti-aircraft gunners.
The tip of PAF’s sword was slicing through IAF’s defences and at that moment, seemed indefatigably unstoppable. But for Rathore and young Neb !
At 600 yards, Rathore fired a short burst from his potent cannons. This burst caught Rafiqui on the left wing and his Sabre seemed to slow down rapidly in air. Rathore closed in further and fired his final 30 mm burst at 300 yards, mortally hitting Rafiqui’s Sabre. The Sabre banked sharply to the left and dived for the ground. Rafiqui had been fatally hit and did not eject from his doomed Sabre. Probably the best PAF pilot of 1965 war, Rafiqui died over the grain fields of Punjab, doing his best for Pakistan.
Meanwhile Neb, the rookie Hunter pilot was earning his spurs at an astonishing rate as he battled it out with two PAF Sabres. As Neb dived towards Yunus Hussain controlled by Rathore, Cecil Choudhary, who was trailing Hussain by a km, shouted to warn Hussain about Neb cutting inside his turn and ordered a defensive break for him to turn hard inside Neb’s turn, so as to mush the Hunter. Hussain panicked and pitched up to zoom towards the safety of the sky in order to escape the Hunter. This helped Neb further catch up with Hussain’s Sabre. With his speed overtake, Neb pitched up to lead his nose ahead of the Sabre.
The Sabre was hit and caught fire. Yunus Hussain did not survive this attack and went down with his Sabre in a trail of smoke. Cecil Choudhary frantically exited the combat and turned to escape towards Pakistan. After a hair-raising low-level flyback, he had just about landed back at Sargodha when his aircraft flamed out due to want of fuel on the taxiway.
( Cecil Chaudhary)
After collecting their personal effects found at the crash sites, both were buried with appropriate rituals. The remains of Rafiqui and Hussain’s Sabres are displayed at the IAF museum at Palam.
( Hussain's Sabre wreck )
Neb got another Sabre kill ( P.A.F. W/C S M Ahmed (14 sqn) / KIA ) each in the 1971 war. Celil Chaudhary retired as a Group Captain from the PAF, denied further promotion .
