8 F-86Fs of No 19 Squadron led
by Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider struck Pathankot airfield. With
carefully positioned dives and selecting each individual aircraft
in their protected pens for their strafing attacks, the strike
elements completed a textbook operation against Pathankot. Wing
Commander M G Tawab, flying one of the two Sabers as tried escort
overhead, counted 14 wrecks burning on the airfield. Among the
aircraft destroyed on the ground were nearly all of the IAF's
Soviet-supplied Mig-21s till then received, none of which was
seen again during the War. Tied escorts consisted of Wing Commander
M G Tawab (later Air Marshal and air Chief of Bangladesh Air Force)
and Flight Lieutenant Arshsad Sami while the strike elements were
led by Squadron Leader Sajjad Haider with Flight Lieutenant M
Akbar, Mazhar Abbas, Dilawar Hussain, Ghani Akbar and Flyng Officer
Arshad Chaudhary, Khalid Latif and Abbas Khattak (later CAS, PAF)
in his formation. |
