AIRCRAFT LOSSES IN PAKISTAN -1971 WAR
(PAF, Army Aviation, and Civilian aircraft Casualties)
- by P V S Jagan Mohan

Given below is the official list of aircraft losses in Pakistan to all causes, Combat, Non-Combat, Accidents, etc. The Indian Air Force and Army had claimed a total of 94 Aircraft as destroyed, against which less than half which are attributable to direct Indian Action are acknowledged. There were 51 airframe losses in Pakistan, roughly 80 % are from the Pakistan Air Force, the remaining being from the Pakistan Army, the Pakistan International Airlines and some other aircraft belonging to Neutral Countries. An Unusual Cause is the "self destruction to prevent capture by Indian Forces" of Eleven Sabres and Two T-33 Trainers in the Eastern Sector. However. Five of the Sabres were recovered and flown again by the Bangladesh Air Force.

  East West Total
PAF Aircraft Lost in the Air Combat 5 5 10
PAF Aircraft Lost to AA Fire 0 7 7
PAF Aircraft Lost in Accidents 0 4 4
PAF Aircraft Dest in IAF Attacks 0 8 8
PAF Aircraft Destroyed by self . 13 0 13
TOTAL PAF aircraft 18 24 42
Non PAF Aircraft lost in IAF Raids 4 2 6
Non PAF Aircraft. 1 2 3
TOTAL aircraft (All) 23 28 51
 
Pakistan Air Force 42
Pakistan Army Aviation 2
Pakistan International Airlines 2
Other Bodies(Civ : 3, RCAF :1, USAF :1) 5
TOTAL 51

 

Aircraft Type Lost East West Total
F-86 Sabre 16 12 28
F-104 Starfighter 0 3 3
MiG-19 (F-6) 0 4 4
T-33 2 0 2
B-57 Canberra 0 5 5
Miscellaneous 5 4 9
TOTAL 23 28 51

 

LISTING OF AIRCRAFT LOST DETAILS SECTOR WISE:

Eastern Sector

PAF a/c lost in the Air : 5

 No Unit Pilot Name Remarks

22-Nov-71

F-86 Sabre

1

14 Sqn.

F/L Parvez Mehdi Qureshi(PW)

SD by Gnat F/L M A Ganapathy.

22-Nov-71

F-86 Sabre

1

14 Sqn.

F/O Khalil Ahmed(PW)

SD by Gnat F/O D Lazarus

04-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

14 Sqn.

W/C S M Ahmed (KIA)

SD by Hunter , Pt ejected, but Killed

04-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

14 Sqn.

F/L Saeed Afzal Khan (KIA)

SD by Hunter , Pt ejected, but Killed

04-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

14 Sqn.

F/O Sajjad Noor

SD by Hunter , Pt ejected  rescued
.

Non PAF Aircraft destroyed/Lost : 5

04-Dec-71

DHC 3 Twin Otter

1

PIA

Dest by MiG-21s

05-Dec-71

Pilatus PC 3

3

 Civilian

Dest by MiG-21s

Undated

Allouette III

1

Army

Crashed - NCR
.

Destroyed by Pakistani Forces before Surrender : 13

16-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

11

14 Sqn.

Damaged by self before surrender

16-Dec-71

T-33

2

14 Sqn.

Damaged by self before surrender
.

TOTAL LOSSES     23
.
Western Sector

PAF a/c lost in the Air :16

 No

Sqn

Name

Remarks

04-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

 17 Sqn.

F/L Nayyar Iqbal (KIA)

Flame out after TO from Shorkot

05-Dec-71

B-57 Canberra

1

 7 Sqn.

S/L Khusro(KIA),
S/L Peter Chisty(KIA)

FTR Jamnagar,SD by AAA

05-Dec-71

B-57 Canberra

1

 7 Sqn.

S/L Ishfaq Hameed(KIA),
F/L Zulfiqar Ahmed(KIA)

FTR Bhuj,SD by AAA

05-Dec-71

B-57 Canberra

1

 7 Sqn.

F/L Javed Iqbal(KIA),
F/L G M Malik (KIA)

FTR Amritsar, SD by AAA

06-Dec-71

F-104 Starfighter

1

 9 Sqn.

S/L Amjad Hussain (PW)

SD by AAA over Amritsar

07-Dec-71

MiG-19 (F-6)

1

 11 Sqn.

F/L Wajid Ali Khan (PW)

SD Marala, LMG Fire

07-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

 15 Sqn.

F/O Hamid Khawaja

Flame out during chase . Ejected

07-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

 18 Sqn.

S/L Cecil Choudhry

Own AAA near Chamb

08-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

 26 Sqn.

F/L Fazal Elahi (KIA)

SD by AAA over Chamb

08-Dec-71

MiG-19 (F-6)

1

 23 Sqn.

F/O Afzal Jamal Siddiqui (KIA)

Flew through debris of Su-7, Accident

10-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

 26 Sqn.

S/L Aslam Choudhry (KIA)

SD by Hunter  S/L R N Bharadwaj

12-Dec-71

F-104 Starfighter

1

 9 Sqn.

W/C M H Middlecoat (KIA)

SD by MiG-21 Jamnagar, Flt Lt B B Soni

12-Dec-71

MiG-19 (F-6)

1

 23 Sqn.

F/L Ejazuddin

SD by Su-7, Flt Lt S S Malhotra

13-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

 19 Sqn.

F/O N N A Baig (KIA)

SD by Hunter, Talhar by S/L F J Mehta

17-Dec-71

F-104 Starfighter

1

 9 Sqn.

F/L Samad Ali Changezi (KIA)

SD by MiG-21 Naya Chor, F/LA K Dutta

17-Dec-71

MiG-19 (F-6)

1

 25 Sqn.

F/O Shahid Raza (KIA)

SD at Shakargarh, AAA

.

PAF Aircraft Destroyed on the Ground by the IAF : 8

04-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

1

 .

Dest at Murid Airfield

06-Dec-71

B-57 Canberra

1

 .

Dest at Masroor Airfield

08-Dec-71

F-86 Sabre

5

 .

Dest at Murid Airfield

08-Dec-71

B-57 Canberra

1

 .

Dest at Mianwali Airfield
.

Non PAF Aircraft lost to various causes :  4

05-Dec-71

DHC 3 Twin Otter

1

RCAF

Chaklala, Destroyed by Hunters

05-Dec-71

Beech Queen Air

1

USAF

Chaklala, Destroyed by Hunters

08-Dec-71

Allouette III

1

Army

Lost in an Accident, NCR

10-Dec-71

Fokker F-27

1

PIA

Lost over the Arabian Sea hunting for misslle boats.
.

TOTAL LOSSES     28

Legend:

KIA : Killed in Action
FTR : Failed to Return
AAA : Anti Aircraft Artillery
NCR : Non Combat Related
Pt   : Pilot
SD  : Shot Down
 PIA : Pakistan International Airlines.
RCAF :Royal Canadian Airforce
USAF: United States Air Force.
Civ : Civilian
LMG : Light Machine Gun


Notes:

1. F/L A J Siddiqui flew through the debris of a destroyed Sukhoi-7 flown by Flt Lt R G Kadam (KIA)

Acknowledgements:

Special Thanks to  VP, Tomas Polak of Czechoslavakia .

Bibliography:

P C Lal, My Years with the IAF, Lancer Publications 1986.
Fricker John,Postmortem of an Air War, Air Enthusiast, May 1972.
Pushpindar Singh, Journal of an Air War, Air Enthusiast, Apr 1972.
No. 20 Sqn War Diary, Lightning Strikes , Unpublished.
Fazal Muqueem Khan, Pakistan's Crisis in Leadership, 1972.
Siddiq Salik, Witness to Surrender,Vikas, 1977.
Pushpindar Singh, Ravi Rikhye et.al, Fiza Ya :Psyche of the PAF. SAS 1990.

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