User:Nimbus227/Sandbox
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At dawn on 6 September 1965, Flight Lieutenant Aftab Alam Khan in an F-104 claimed a Dassault Mystère IV destroyed over West Pakistan and another damaged, to mark the start of aerial combat in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. At that time it was claimed as the first combat kill by any Mach 2 aircraft, and the first missile kill for the Pakistan Air Force. Indian sources dispute this claim.[1] The PAF lost three F-104 Starfighters during the 1965 operations scoring two kills in return.[2]
The Starfighter is also believed to have been instrumental in intercepting an Indian Air Force Folland Gnat earlier, on 3 September 1965. F-104s were vectored to intercept the Gnat flying over Pakistan, returning to its home base. The F-104s, closing in at supersonic speed, caused the Gnat pilot to lower the undercarriage and land at a nearby disused Pakistani airfield to surrender. The Indian AF claims Squadron Leader Brij Pal Singh (who later rose to be an Air Marshal) made a navigation error that led him to land on the Pakistani airstrip. Singh was taken as a POW and later released.[2] The IAF Gnat is now displayed at the PAF Museum, Karachi.
In the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the F-104s were outfought and out-gunned by the IAF's fighters, and though Jordanian Starfighters were added to bolster the numbers, this did little to sway the air war in Pakistan's favor. It became the victim of the first supersonic dogfight in the subcontinent when an IAF MiG-21 shot down a Starfighter.[3] Up to four PAF Starfighters were shot down by IAF MiG-21s and another four were claimed by Indian ground fire;[4][5] and even Pakistan admitted three losses,[6] two to MiG-21s and one to anti-aircraft fire.[7][8]
[edit] Schemmp
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