THIS ARTICLE IS DEDICATED TO THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA: On this somber day we, as muslims and Pakistanis, share your grief. We will stand by you as we have in the past. May Allah’s blessing be on your country, and give you courage to pull together in this difficult time and move forward on the road to prosperity.
‘Shahbaz’ over Golan
Written by: M Kaisar Tufail
Post-haste summons for volunteers found an eager band of sixteen PAF fighter pilots on
their way to the Middle East, in the midst of the 1973 Ramadan war. After a gruelling
Peshawar-Karachi-Baghdad flight on a PAF Fokker, they were whisked off to Damascus in a
Syrian jet. Upon arrival, half the batch was told to stay back in Syria while the rest were
earmarked for Egypt. By the time the PAF batch reached Cairo, Egypt had agreed to a
cease-fire; it was therefore decided that they would continue as instructors. But in Syria it
was another story.
The batch in Syria was made up of pilots who were already serving there on deputation
(except one), but had been repatriated before the war. Now they were back in familiar
surroundings as well as familiar aircraft, the venerable MiG-21. They were posted to No 67
squadron, 'Alpha' Detachment (all PAF). Hasty 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 jamming as the PAF pilots discovered. The PAF formation using
the call-sign "Shahbaz" was formidable in size -- all of eight aircraft. Shahbaz soon came
to stand out as one that couldn't be messed with, in part because its tactics were
innovative and bold. Survival, however, in a jammed-radio environment was concern
number one. As a precaution, the Pakistanis decided to switch to Urdu 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.
While 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 26th April 1974, the siren blasted from the air-shafts of the underground
bunker. Backgammon boards were pushed aside and the "qehva" session was interrupted
as all eight 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 an altitude of 6 km.
The limited fuel of their early model MiG--21F 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 the southerly direction ie Israel. At this stage fuel was low
and an engagement was the least preferred option. Presented with a fait accompli, the
leader of the formation called a defensive turn into the bogeys. Just then heavy radio
jamming started, sounding somewhat similar to the "takka tak" at our meat joints, only
more shrill. While 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?
Flt Lt Sattar Alvi, now the rear-most in the formation, was still adjusting after the hard turn
when he caught sight of two Mirage-III-CJ zooming into them from far below. With 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. While Sattar worried about having to concentrate for precious seconds in aiming and
shooting, the lead Mirage started to turn around to get Sattar. Thinking that help was at
hand, the target Mirage decided to accelerate away. A 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 K13 heat-seeker sped off towards the tail of the escaping Mirage. Sattar
recollects that it wasn't as much an Israeli aircraft as a myth that seemed to explode in
front of him. (The letter 'J' in Mirage-IIICJ stood for 'Jewish', it may be noted.) 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. (word has it that the
Presidential Palace wasn't amused). His fuel tanks bone dry, Sattar made it to Dumayr on
the vapours that remained.
As 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.
The Syrians were overwhelmed when they learnt that the impunity and daring of the
Pakistani pilots had paid off. Sattar was declared a blood brother by the Syrians, for he
had shared in shedding the blood of a common enemy, they explained.
Sattar's 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
mission, escorted by Phantoms of No 1 Air Wing operating out of Ramat David Air base.
The 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.
The dogfight over Golan is testimony to the skills of all PAF pilots, insists Sattar, as he
thinks anyone could have got the kill had he been "Shahbaz-8" on that fateful day. Sattar
and his leader Sqn Ldr Arif Manzoor, were awarded two of Syria's highest decorations for
gallantry, the Wisaam Faris and Wisaam Shuja'at. The government of Pakistan awarded
them a Sitara-e-Jur'at each. Sattar, an epitome of a fighter pilot, befittingly went on to
command PAF's elite Combat Commanders' School and the premier PAF Base Rafiqui. He
retired recently as an Air Commodore.