List of aerial victories during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971

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The Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan and West Pakistan from 3 December 1971 to the Fall of Dacca (Dhaka) on 16 December 1971. The war saw intense use of aerial assets by both sides and proved to be instrumental in the Indian victory in East Pakistan (Bangladesh).

The following lists contains aerial victories credited to both Indian as well as Pakistani pilots.

Eastern sector (Bangladesh)[edit]

Probable or Unconfirmed kills are in italics text

Pilot Country Date Fighter Type Victim Pilot Victim Aircraft Remarks
Flt Lt M. A. Ganapathy India 22 Nov Folland Gnat Fg Offr Khail Ahmad Canadair Sabre Mk6 Fg Offr Ahmad POW
Fg Offr Donald Lazarus India 22 Nov Folland Gnat Flt. Lt. Pervaiz Mehdi Qureshi Canadair Sabre Mk6 Flt Lt Qureshi taken POW

[1]

Flt Lt Roy Andrew Massey India 22 Nov Folland Gnat Wg Cdr Afzal Chaudhry. Canadair Sabre Mk6 Chaudhary's Sabre was severely damaged and but claimed to have returned to base, however Massey's wingman claimed to have seen Chaudhary eject.
Wg Cdr Narinder Chatrath India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Wg Cdr SM Ahemd (KIA) Canadair Sabre Mk6 PAF pilot KIA[2][3]
Flt Lt Jayendra Sukrut Raj India 4th Dec MiG-21 Unidentified Pilot Canadair Sabre Mk6 Although not officially credited by PAF, a post-war survey by IAF found 7 F-86s of the original total 16 missing. Of these 6 were credited to indian pilots. The last unaccountale F86 was probably shot down by Sukurut Raj
Flt Lt Vinod Kumar Neb India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot Canadair Sabre Mk6 [4]
Fg Offr Harish Masand India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Flt Lt Saeed Afzal Canadair Sabre Mk6 Flt Lt Saeed Afzal KIA[3]
Wg Cdr Ramaswamy Sundaresan India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Fg Offr Sahibzada Sajjad Noor Canadair Sabre Mk6 [5]
Sqn Ldr Dilwar Hussain Pakistan 4th Dec Canadair Sabre Mk6 Flt Lt K.C Tremenhere Hawker Hunter Tremenhere taken POW [6][5]
Unidentified Pilot Pakistan 4th Dec Canadair Sabre Mk6 Sqn Ldr KD Mehra Hawker Hunter

Western sector[edit]

Probable Kills or Unconfirmed kills are in italics text;

Pilot Country Date Fighter Type Victim Pilot Victim Aircraft Remarks
Flt Lt Javed Latif Pakistan 4th Dec Shenyang F6C Flt Lt H V Singh Sukhoi Su7 Flt Lt H V Singh KIA[7][3]
Fg Off Qazi Javed Pakistan 4th Dec Shenyang F6C Fg Off V Chati Hawker Hunter Chati taken POW[8][9]
Fg Off S B Mirza Pakistan 4th Dec F-86F Flt Lt K P Muralidharan Hawker Hunter [10][11]
Flt Lt Mujahid Pakistan 4th Dec F-86F Fg Off Sudhir Tyagi Hawker Hunter Tyagi KIA[12][13]
Fg Off Naeem Atta Pakistan 4th Dec Dassault Mirage III Flt Lt L M Sasoon;

Flt Lt R M Advani

English Electric Canberra Both Indian Pilots KIA[14]
Wg Cdr C V Parker India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot F-86E
Wg Cdr C V Parker India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Flt Lt Nayyar Iqbal F-86E Pilot KIA. According to Pakistani accounts and sources, the aircraft suffered an accidental flameout[15]
Fg Off Sudhir Tyagi India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot F-86E/Mirage III [13]
Flt Lt C S Dhillon India 4th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot F86E
Wg Cdr Johnny Greene India 4th Dec Folland Gnat F.1 Unidentified Pilot Mirage III Intercepted and photographed. No claim.[16]
Sqn Ldr K K Bakshi India 05 Dec HAL HF24 Mk1 Unidentified Pilot F-86E Some historians claim the unidentified pakistani pilot was Fg Off Hamid Khawaja[17][18]
Unidentified Pilot Pakistan 05 Dec F-86 Unidentified Pilot(s) Alloutte III Alloutte pilots safely bailed out
Unidentified Pilot Pakistan 06 Dec F-86 Flt Lt V K Wahi Sukhoi Su7
Unidentified Pilot India 07 Dec Hawker Hunter Fg Off Hamid Khawaja F-86E Pilot crashed while chasing Hunter, acc. to the PAF.
Flt Lt Cecil Choudhary Pakistan 07 Dec F-86 Fg Off A R Gandhi Su-7 [11]
Fg Off Atiq Sufi Pakistan 07 Dec Shenyang F6C Sqn Ldr Jiwa Singh Sukhoi Su7
Wg Cdr M H Hashmi Pakistan 08 Dec F-86E Flt Lt R G Kadam Sukhoi Su7
Flt Lt R G Kadam India 08 Dec Sukhoi Su-7BMK Flt Lt A J Siddiqui Shenyang F-6 F/L AJ Siddqui is claimed by the PAF to have been shot while chasing Kadam's formation. The pilots of both sides were KIA.[3]
Unidentified pilot India 09

Dec

MiG-21FL Unidentified Pilot Mirage-IIIEP 2 K-13 AAMs were launched and a proximity hit recorded. Target disappeared from radar. Listed as 'Probable'
Sqn Ldr R N Bharadwaj India 10 Dec Hawker Hunter Sqn Ldr Aslam Chaudhry / KIA F-86E [19]
Wg Cdr Arif Iqbal Pakistan 10 Dec F-104A Lt Cdr Ashok Roy ;

Lt H S Sirohi

Bréguet Br.1050 Alizé The Alize belonged to the Indian Naval Air Arm
Flt. Lt. Bharat Bhushan Soni India 12th Dec MiG-21 Wg Cdr Mervyn L Middlecoat[3] F-104A Flt Lt Soni had spotted Middlecoat bail out and had rushed a rescue team from the nearest IAF station.[3] However the rescue team found no trace of Middlecoat. He had ejected over shark infested waters, it was highly unlikely that he survived.[20][21][22]
Sqn Ldr V Kapila India 12th Dec MiG-21FL Unidentified Pilot F-104A/F-86E F-104A mentioned in official records
Flt Lt S.S. Malhotra India 12

Dec

Su-7BMK Flt Lt Ejazuddin Shenyang F-6 Although initially PAF did not credit the kill but later accepted the loss of one F-6 over the general area of dogfight[23][21]
Sqn Ldr F J Mehta India 13th Dec Hawker Hunter Fg Off Nasim Nisar Ali Baig F-86 [3][23][24]
Flt Lt K S Suresh India 13th Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot F-86
Fg Off S B Mirza Pakistan 14 Dec F-86 Fg Off Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon Folland Gnat Fg Off Sekhon had single handedly faced a raid of up to 6 PAF Sabres. He was eventually shot down in the 4 to 1 dogfight that ensued. It was claimed that Sekhon shot down at least one Sabre and severely damaged another. However PAF denies these claims.
Sqn Ldr S Gauhar Pakistan 14

Dec

F-86 Capt P K Gaur HAL Krishak Observation Aircraft belonging to Indian Army[25]
Wg Cdr M N Singh

Sqn Ldr F J Mehta

(Shared)

India 15 Dec Hawker Hunter T.66

(Two-seater)

Unidentified Pilot F-86 Maneuver kill. Target flew into the ground.[4]
Flt Lt S B Shah India 16 Dec Mig-21FL Unidentified Pilot Shenyang F-6 F-6 Wreckage found by Indian Army
Virendera Singh Pathania India 16 Dec Folland Gnat Unidentified Pilot North American F-86 Sabre Unconfirmed Kill[26]
Flt Lt Maqsood Amir Pakistan 17 Dec F-86 Flt Lt Tejwant Singh Mig-21
Flt Lt A K Dutta India 17 Dec MiG-21FL Flt Lt Samad Ali Changezi F-104A [3][23]
Unidentified Pilot India 17 Dec Hawker Hunter Unidentified Pilot(s) 2x Cessna 0-1 Confirmed by PAF chronicler, John Fricker's, records[27]

List of aircraft mentioned[edit]

India[edit]

Aircraft Country of Origin
Aérospatiale Alouette III  France
Bréguet Br.1050 Alizé  France
English Electric Canberra  United Kingdom
Folland Gnat  United Kingdom
Hawker Hunter  United Kingdom
HAL HF-24 Marut  India
HAL Krishak  India
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21FL  Soviet Union
Sukhoi Su-7BMK  Soviet Union

Pakistan[edit]

Aircraft Country of Origin
Canadair Sabre  Canada
Cessna O-1 Bird Dog  USA
Dassault Mirage III  France
Lockheed F-104A  USA
North American F-86 Sabre  USA
Shenyang F6C  China

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Sources[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ "Service Record for Group Captain Donald Lazarus 10516 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  2. ^ "Service Record for Air Commodore Narinder Chatrath 3959 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-25.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Heroes". Pakistan Air Force Museum. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  4. ^ a b "Indian Combat Pilots". jaganpvs.tripod.com. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  5. ^ a b Jagan, PVS (2013). Eagles Over Bangladesh. HarperCollinsIN. pp. 147–149. ISBN 978-93-5136-163-3.
  6. ^ "Service Record for Group Captain Kenneth Charles Tremenheere 10482 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
  7. ^ "Service Record for Flight Lieutenant Harvinder Singh 9441 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  8. ^ Pillarisetti, Jagan. "Indian Air Losses of the 1971 War (Unofficial List)". www.bharat-rakshak.com. Archived from the original on 2017-11-15. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  9. ^ "Service Record for Wing Commander Vidyadhar Shankarrao Chati 10504 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  10. ^ "Service Record for Flying Officer Kotteiezath Puthiyavettil Muralidharan 10575 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  11. ^ a b "Pakistani Combat Pilots". jaganpvs.tripod.com. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  12. ^ "Service Record for Flying Officer Sudhir Tyagi 10871 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  13. ^ a b "Flying Officer Sudhir Tyagi VrC | Honourpoint". Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  14. ^ "Indian Air Force Aircraft Data [www.bharat-rakshak.com]". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  15. ^ "No. 17 Squadron (Archived)". PakDef.info. 26 December 2008. Archived from the original on 26 December 2008. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  16. ^ Harry, B. "IAF COMBAT KILLS - 1971 INDO-PAK AIR WAR" (PDF).
  17. ^ "Service Record for Air Commodore Krishen Kumar Bakshi 5012 F(P) at Bharat Rakshak.com". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  18. ^ "Indian Aviation: HAL HF-24 Marut, the first Indian Jet Fighter". Team-BHP.com. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
  19. ^ "Missing in Action". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  20. ^ "Vir Chakra (VrC), Awardee: Flt Lt Surinder Singh Malhotra, VrC @ TWDI". twdi.in. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  21. ^ a b Chattopadhyay, R. "Sukhoi-7 BMK - A whale of a fighter". www.bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  22. ^ "Wing Commander Mervyn L Middlecoat Shaheed | Lawrence College Ghora Gali". Retrieved 2021-05-01.
  23. ^ a b c Pillarisetti, Jagan. "Pakistani Air Losses of the 1971 War (Official List)". www.bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved 2021-05-06.
  24. ^ "CITATION OF PAF SHAHEEDS - 4". www.defencejournal.com. Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  25. ^ "Captain Pradip Kumar Gour MVC | Honourpoint". Retrieved 2021-05-30.
  26. ^ Greene, David. "Last dogfight over Srinagar 16 December 1971 No 18 Sqn 50yearsGnat". Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  27. ^ "Two PAA artillery -spotting and reconnaissance Cessna O -1s were blasted out of the sky during the 1971 war by the 30mm ADEN cannon of marauding Indian Hawker Hunters over the battlefield", John Fricker, Pakistan's Army Aviation, AIR INTERNATIONAL
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