Air Commodore Muhammad Ali
\nAs the Ramadan war broke out between archrivals Syria and Israel in December 1973, post-haste requests for volunteers found an eager band of sixteen PAF fighter pilots on their way to the Middle East. After a gruelling Peshawar-Karachi-Baghdad-H3 flight on a PAF Fokker and C-130, they were whisked off to Damascus by road in Syrian cars at night. Upon arrival, half the batch was told to stay back in Syria while the rest were earmarked for Egypt.
\nBy the time the PAF batch reached Cairo, Egypt had agreed to a cease-fire; it was therefore decided that they would continue as instructors. However, in Syria it was another story. The batch in Syria was made up of pilots who had already served there on deputation except him.
\nFlt Lt Sattar Alvi was among the ones who stayed back at Syria. Now they were back in familiar surroundings as well as familiar aircraft, the venerable MiG-21. They were posted to No 67 Squadron, \u2018Alpha\u2019 Detachment (all PAF).
\nHasty checkouts were immediately followed by serious business of Air Defence Alert scrambles and Combat Air Patrols from the Air Base at Dumayr. Syria had not agreed to a ceasefire, since Israeli operations in Golan were continuing at a threatening pace. Israeli Air Force missions included interdiction under top cover, well supported by intense radio and radar jamming as the PAF pilots discovered.
\nThe PAF formation using the call-sign \u201cShahbaz\u201d was formidable in size — all of eight aircraft. Shahbaz soon came to stand out as one that couldn\u2019t be messed with, in part because of its innovative and bold tactics. Survival, however, was concern number one in a jammed-radio and radar environment.
\nAs a precaution, the Pakistanis decided to switch to a mixture of Urdu and other languages for fear of being monitored in English. Suspicions were confirmed during one patrol, when healthy Punjabi invectives hurled on radio got them wondering if Mossad had recruited a few Khalsas for the job! After several months of sporadic activity, it seemed that hostilities were petering out.
\nWhile the Shahbaz patrols over Lebanon and Syria had diminished in frequency, routine training sorties started to register a rise. Under these conditions it was a surprise when on the afternoon of 19 Apr 1974, the siren blasted from the air-shafts of the underground bunker.
\nBackgammon boards were pushed aside and the \u201cqehva\u201d session was interrupted as Sattar Alvi with his seven pilots rushed to their MiGs; they were airborne within minutes. From Dumayr to Beirut, then along the Mediterranean coast till Sidon, and a final leg eastwards, skirting Damascus and back to base — this was the usual patrol, flown at high altitude.
\nThe limited fuel of their early model MiG-21 F-13 permitted just a 30 minutes sortie; this was almost over when ground radar blurted out on the radio that two bogeys (unidentified aircraft) were approaching from Israel.
\nAt this stage fuel was low and an engagement was the least preferred option. Presented with a fait accompli, the leader of the formation called defensive turn into the bogeys. Just then heavy radio and radar jamming started, sounding somewhat similar to the \u201ctakkatak\u201d at our meat joints, only very shrill.
\nWhile the formation was gathering itself after the turn, two Israeli F-4E Phantoms sped past almost head-on, seemingly unwilling to engage. Was it a bait? Thought Flt Lt Sattar Alvi. He as in the rear-most position of the formation and was still adjusting after the hard turn when he caught sight of two Mirage-III-CJ zooming into them from behind and below.
\nWith no way of warning the formation of the impending disaster, he instinctively decided to handle them alone. Peeling away from his formation, he turned hard into the Mirages so that one of them overshot. Against the other, he did a steep reversal dropping his speed literally to zero. (it takes some guts to let eight tons of metal hang up in unfriendly air!) The result was that within a few seconds the second Mirage filled his gun-sight, the Star of David and all.
\nWhile Sattar was worried about having to concentrate for precious seconds in aiming and shooting, the lead Mirage started to turn around to get him. Thinking that help was at hand, the target Mirage decided to accelerate away.
\nThe quick-witted Sattar reckoned that a missile shot would be just right for the range his target had opened up to. A pip of a button later, a 13 heat-seeker sped off towards the tail of the escaping Mirage.
\nMoments later the Israeli Mirage was history. He was tempted to watch the flaming metal rain down, but with the other Mirage lurking around and fuel down to a few hundred litres, he decided to exit. Diving down with careless abandon, he allowed a couple of sonic bangs over Damascus. His fuel tanks bone dry, Sattar made it to Dumayr on the vapours that remained.
\nAs the other formation members started to trickle in, the leader, Sqn Ldr Arif Manzoor anxiously called out for Sattar to check if he was safe. All had thought that Sattar, a bit of a maverick that he was, had landed himself in trouble. Shouts of joy went up on the radio, however, when they learnt that he had been busy shooting down a Mirage.
\nThe Syrians were overwhelmed when they learnt that the impunity and daring of the Pakistani pilots had paid off. Sattar\u2019s victim, Captain M Lutz of No 5 Air Wing based at Hatzor, ejected out of his disintegrating aircraft. It has been learnt that the Mirages were on a reconnaissance (recce) mission, escorted by Phantoms of No 1 Air Wing operating out of Ramat David Air Base.
\nThe Phantoms were to trap any interceptors while the Mirages carried out the recce. Timely warning by the radar controller (also from the PAF) had turned the tables on the escorts, allowing Sattar to sort out the Mirages.
\nThe dogfight over Golan is testimony to the skills of all PAF pilots. Sattar and his leader Sqn Ldr Arif Manzoor, were awarded two of Syria\u2019s highest decorations for gallantry, the Wisaam Faris and Wisaam Shuja\u2019at. The government of Pakistan awarded them a Sitara-e-Jurat each.
\nCitation of Gallantry Award: \u201cFlt Lt Abdus Sattar was flying as No 8 in the formation of eight aircraft on an offensive CAP mission against Israeli Air Force on the afternoon of 19 Apr 1974. He sighted a pair of Mirages zooming up fast from behind the attack formation.
\nSimultaneously the enemy jammed the radio so he could not warn the rest of formation, which continued ahead. He decided to single-handedly engage the enemy, thus preventing the attack on the main formation. In spite the advantage of surprise, position, speed and number held by enemy, he in a cool and calculating manner fought on.
\nHe capitalised on the first mistake, by the enemy and employing his superior skills shot one down. The other finding the situation getting dangerous, abandoned his attack and exited to safer areas. It was planned to be a great status symbol for Israeli Air Force to shoot down any PAF pilot. In spite of heavy odds Flt Lt Sattar accomplished a rare feat. For his personal skill and gallantry, in the face of overwhelming odds, in the best traditions of the PAF, Flt Lt Sattar is awarded with Sitara-e-Jurat\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Air Commodore Muhammad Ali As the Ramadan war broke out between archrivals Syria and Israel in December 1973, post-haste requests for volunteers found an eager band of sixteen PAF fighter pilots on their way to the Middle East. After a gruelling Peshawar-Karachi-Baghdad-H3 flight on a PAF Fokker and C-130, they were whisked off to Damascus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20343","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"yoast_head":"\n