A new member:
I am interested in knowing what happened to PAF in 1971 war cz I have heard lot hue and cry of Indians and IAF mentioning a lot that they outclassed Pak Airforce in the war that continued for hardly two weeks. I think its unfair to assess strength of any airforce by limiting it to one region only (did PAF was actively involved in combat missions at East Pakistan border in 71... I think they were not in an ideal position especially because of circumstances which were created there).
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I am interested in knowing what happened to PAF in 1971 war cz I have heard lot hue and cry of Indians and IAF mentioning a lot that they outclassed Pak Airforce in the war that continued for hardly two weeks
that is true .....but PAF was not wiped from the skies
2 factors contributed to the apparent success of the indians
1) PAF only committed 1/3 of their combat strenght in the pre-emptive strikes
2) MiG-21 totally outclassed the F-104 in lowspeed turning engagements
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. I think its unfair to assess strength of any airforce by limiting it to one region only (did PAF was actively involved in combat missions at East Pakistan border in 71... I think they were not in an ideal position especially because of circumstances which were created there
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they had just one sq in east that too F-86 and most of these were destroyed by PAF itself to prevent capture
In the West PAF fared much better but the IAF had the added advantage of soviet tupelov "Moss" AWACS planes guiding their interceptors