HISTORY
The
F-86F40 depicted was flown by Squadron leader Mohammed Mahmood Alam with
11 IAF (Indian Air Force) Hunter kills. These numbers according to
my sources seem to be in conflict. According to Syed Shabbir Hussain’s, History
of the Pakistan Air Force 1947-1982. on September 6th
Alam shot down 2 IAF Hunters and damaged another 3. On September 7th
Alam shot down 4 more IAF Hunters making this a total of 6 and 3 damaged
IAF hunters. This would bring
his total to nine NOT eleven kills if you count the damaged Hunters.
The PAF performed well in this war but the exaggerated claims of
Alam and others seems to stain and otherwise admirable performance of
aerial skill. Alam can be
awarded with 4 confirmed kills from Indian sources.
Conversely the Indian Air Force claims were also exaggerated and
this further clouds the issue. Alam
did NOT however fly in the 1971 war that erupted six years later. The
total aerial kills can NOT be confirmed and accurately counted from either
side. Nevertheless Alam performed well and was accounted by both sides as
being an excellent fighter pilot in the F-86.
These
missions were flown over a series of sorties from
September 5-7th 1965
. This is a fascinating
low intensity conflict that showed some interesting aerial warfare over
the skies of Pakistan and India.
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MODEL
The
kits was the Fujimi F-86F40. I used the Cutting Edge
decals 72-025.
I also used the Eduard detail set and some scratchbuilt lights and
pitot tube. It is painted in Alclad Aluminum. The F-86 has
moderate weathering since this airframe saw a lot of action in the 1965
war.
I
decided to go with the Cutting Edge interpretation of Alam’s kills…even
though they are not confirmed. The
PAF flew both the F-86F40 and the shorter winged Sabre 6, which were
purchased from Germany. The Sabre served well for
the PAF through 1970-and early 1980’s.
I
suggest the following books for further reading on the subject:
Syed
Shabbir Hussain, History of the
Pakistan
Air Force 1947-1982. 1983.
This
is one of the only English language sources on the PAF (Pakistan Air Force) and
provides a nice survey of the PAF and its engagement in the series of
conflict with India. It is well written if a little on the nationalistic side of
Pakistan. The information is accurate and the narrative is an easy read, however
some of the aerial claims are NOT confirmed and can not be considered reliable.
The work does not provide either a bibliography or notes so documentation
can be considered subjective.
P.V.S.
Jagow Mohan & Samir Chopra. The India-Pakistan Air War of 1965,
Manohar 2006 (ISBN 81-7304-641-7)
This
is a well written pro-Indian interpretation of the 1965 air war. It is
well written account and seems to have some balance in relying aerial combat
kills. The work provide endnotes
and some documentation which offer some modicum of objectivity.
Steven
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