Windjammer
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The cheapest kill of 1971 war has been well documented by Kaiser Tufail in his book on the India / Pakistan air wars and also in his Aeronaut blog. It showed how the ingenuity and fast thinking of a Pakistani radar operator caused panic at the IAF station Amritsar resulting in the loss of a Gnat fighter aircraft of the IAF.
http://kaiser-aeronaut.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/cheapest-kill.html
However it has now emerged that some years later in the period of Kargil hostilities, the IAF suffered a double mishap as it tried to respond to a PAF threat of air violation, however the second loss could have been avoided had the Indian air controller carried out the proper practice.
In August 1999, the India / Pakistan hostilities were at a peak, a PN Atlantique aircraft had been shot down by India and the tension on the borders was at knife edge. There were constant air patrols, each side was monitoring the other around the clock resulting in aircraft being constantly scrambled. One of these resulted in two IAF MiG-21s being scrambled from an airfield in Indian occupied Kashmir, in the heat of the moment, while baring down the runway, No 2 MiG got caught in the leaders slipstream and began losing control and it's pilot proceeded to eject, the Indian air controller watching in horror panicked and gave the call for eject without referring to No2, the MiG leader who was by this time airborne assumed that the call is for him so he also promptly proceed to eject.
Whether an air violation by the PAF materialised on that day or not but it certainly caused the IAF the loss of two aircraft.
http://kaiser-aeronaut.blogspot.co.uk/2008/11/cheapest-kill.html
However it has now emerged that some years later in the period of Kargil hostilities, the IAF suffered a double mishap as it tried to respond to a PAF threat of air violation, however the second loss could have been avoided had the Indian air controller carried out the proper practice.
In August 1999, the India / Pakistan hostilities were at a peak, a PN Atlantique aircraft had been shot down by India and the tension on the borders was at knife edge. There were constant air patrols, each side was monitoring the other around the clock resulting in aircraft being constantly scrambled. One of these resulted in two IAF MiG-21s being scrambled from an airfield in Indian occupied Kashmir, in the heat of the moment, while baring down the runway, No 2 MiG got caught in the leaders slipstream and began losing control and it's pilot proceeded to eject, the Indian air controller watching in horror panicked and gave the call for eject without referring to No2, the MiG leader who was by this time airborne assumed that the call is for him so he also promptly proceed to eject.
Whether an air violation by the PAF materialised on that day or not but it certainly caused the IAF the loss of two aircraft.
