Strike Fighters 2 Screenshots

[comrad 680]

[Lazarus1177 164]

                                  Starfighter and the Surrendering Gnat

                                                      3rd December 1965

 

The loss of four Vampires on the opening day of the 1965 War was a major blow to the morale of the IAF and, it was felt in all quarters that something had to be done urgently. A grudge fight was, therefore, planned and the nimble Gnat was chosen as the most suitable fighter.A detachment of eight Gnats from Ambala-based No 23 Squadron was flown to Pathankot and Sqn Ldr William Greene was deputed to lead it. Greene had done his Fighter Leader's Course from UK and was busy imparting his air combat skills to the Squadron pilots when the war broke out. The more senior Flight Commander, Sqn Ldr Brij Pal Singh Sikand held no grudge in ceding command of the detachment to Greene, in view of the latter's experience. 

 

Greene was told at Pathankot that the Patrolling PAF Jets HAD to be shot down at any cost.Hence a clever plan was devised in which 4 Mystere jets would lure the Sabres in who would then be jumped by a flight of 8 Gnats.However.such a plan required strict radio discipline and a skilled formation flying from each pilot.

 

As expected on the morning of 3rd December,PAF Patrols were detected over Akhnur.This particular patrol consisted of a pair of the Venerable Sabre and A single Starfighter of the No.9 Squadron.

 

 

The Sabre pair included Flt Lt Yusuf Ali Khan and Flg Off Abdul Khaliq of No 11 Squadron. The single starfighter was flown by No 9 Squadron's Flg Off Abbas Mirza, whose schoolboy looks belied his proficiency at handling the aerodynamic wonder that was the F-104 Starfighter. 

 

 

The Sabres and the Lone StarFighter broke off to patrol their respective areas.

 

The Sabres were warned of four Bogeys approaching their position.

 

Outnumbered two to one, Yusuf decided to go for them anyway and asked for intercept instructions. Before he could pick contact with the reported bogeys up in the sky, his eyes caught a glimpse of four Gnats zooming from below. Yusuf immediately ordered jettisoning of drop tanks but one of his wingman's tanks did not go.

While fiddling with the switches to sort the problem, Abdul Khaliq lost sight of his Leader and, in effect ended up being a liability. Yusuf, therefore, instructed him to head for home and impulsively(or boldly) decided to handle the dangerous situation all by lonesome.

 

Yusuf in the meantime descended on the Gnat Formation of 4 which he had just spotted and put the nose of his Sabre behind one of the Gnats with relative ease.A strong growl in the headset indicated a good lock on.

Just before the fire button could be pressed,the Sabre fuselage was rattled with a few loud thuds.Looking back,Yusuf Spotted Two Gnats,Guns blazing at his back.Flts Lt.Keelor and Krishnaswamy had Sandwiched the Sabre between themselves and the Gnat which was being targeted.

The Sabre took some damage,the left elevator being blown off.Yet Yusuf Managed to continue dogfighting,though a bit shakily.Hearing about the situation on Radio,Abdul Khaliq,Yusuf's wingman who earlier had been ordered to Return to Base decided to rejoin his valiant leader's side and turned back towards the Air Battle.Miraculously,both the Sabres joined up perfectly and continued fighting the Gnats,each helping the other.

Flt Lt. Farooq Haider who had been the radio controller for this engagement at the Sakesar Radar directed Mirza's Lone Starfighter towards the Battle.

 

It is a well known fact that the Indian Pilots were terrified of the Starfighter!

 

The Starfighter now made it's presence known which was followed by the Indian Aircraft going helter skelter upon sighting it.Infact,A frantic radio message was heard in the local Punjabi Dialect:

                                                      "Pajh oye 104 eeee!!!"

 

This may be translated to: "Run!It's a 104!!". The Very tone of this callout shows the Sudden Desperation and Anxiety which the Indian Pilots must have gone through upon sighting the Fearsome and marvellous Starfighter.How under-confident they must have felt at missing this glorious opportunity to corner two of the enemy against 6 of their own!Mirza Chased away the frightened Gnats towards the Indian Border and repeated this act a few times.

Then,a very strange turn of events was to take place.A Lone Gnat had completely turned around from the direction of his fleeing comrades and flew back towards Pakistan.

Mirza's Starfighter which by now had gone Supersonic began to turn back.In the mean time,another Starfighter had been Scrambled by Sakesar Radar piloted by Flt Lt.Hakimullah(Famously Commanded the 5th Sqn Mirages in 1971) which approached the intruding bogey.The Radar Relayed the Information that the 'Gnat' had reduced it's speed to a landing level.Hakimullah at first could not spot the unknown bogey and commenced another orbit upon which, he was stunned by the Distant Sight of a Gnat flying at altitude with the landing gear out.

Since this was a recognised sign of surrender,the Starfighter commenced another orbit upon which,contact was made with a Gnat taxing down the disused Pasrur Airstrip Near Sialkot!

In a very famous oil painting hanging in a PAF Officer's mess,this scene has been depicted.

 

Indian Version

The Indian's believed that Flt Lt. Keelor had shotdown the Sabre and was hence credited with this 'kill'.Greene's formation was in a celebratory mood and after recovering were waiting for their fellow Sqn Ldr Sikand, to land and join them in a hearty Beer Celebration.However,as the time dragged on and Sikand was nowhere to be found,they were increasingly forced to deal with the fact that their original Sqn Leader may have fallen Pray to the Cornered PAF pilots.

 

In Reality,through apt airman-ship,Yusuf had managed to recover his stricken Sabre at Sargodha.Due to no Hydraulic Break pressure,the Sabre went into the arrestor Barrier and was recovered without Further Damage.Embarrasingly,The same pilot who had panicked at the Sight of the F-104 and Called out the warning was the same pilot who had been forced to land inside enemy territory:Sqn Leader Sikand!!!

 

Yusuf lived upto the citation for gallantry when he shot down a Gnat flown by Flt Lt A N Kale near Ferozepur on 13th Sep.

 

Further Investigation found out that Sikand's Gnat had developed major problems especially with fuel and Radios.Such was his badluck that even the compass gave out.Sikand hence decided that he'd rather land the jet safely than be shotdown by the prowling F-104s.The landing gear was hence dropped in advance to signify surrender.This action worked as the Gnat was able to successfully land.After landing,Sikand was greeted by members of the Pakistan Army's 7th Division.

Sikand was repatriated back to India after the War.His Gnat was taken to Peshawar by Flt. Lt. Saad Hatmi of the PAF ( who had previous experience on Gnats during a stint in UK) and was extensively flown by the PAF,which came to the conclusion that the Gnat was NO Sabre-Slayer and all Sabre losses could be attributed to the Numerical Superiority of the IAF. 

The Gnat IE 1083 currently resides peacefully at the PAF Musem in Karachi:

 

 

*Events as described in Air Cdre Kaiser Tufail's book, Great Air Battles of Pakistan Air Force, published by Ferozsons (Pvt) Ltd, 2005. 

 

Edited July 9, 2015 by Lazarus1177

[Peugeot205 2,745]

[jeanba 1,920]

Flagons at dawn, operation red storm 1986

 

[jeanba 1,920]

Special thank's to Ravenclaw and Crusader !

 

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,557]

Small story to tell

 

 

 

[+Major Bloodnok 465]

CAG VF-84 "Jolly Rogers", Uss Independence Westpac 65-66

 

[+ghostrider883 526]

Sabre Slayer!!!!!

 

 

 

The Su-7's only air to air kill.

In the 71 war, Flt Lt S.S. "Mad Mally" Malhotra of No.32 Squadron engaged on a photo recce mission over Mianwali sighted two PAF F-6s on CAP who reversed towards his Su-7. Instead of aborting his mission, Malhotra turned into the F-6s and fired his cannon as the first aircraft slid into his gun sight and then scooted away towards home base.

 

 

No. 28 Squadron, The First Supersonics - A  composite squadron of MiG-21F-13s and MiG-21PFs, who were the IAF's first MiG-21 squadron and the first IAF Squadron to go Supersonic in level flight.

 

 

Edited July 10, 2015 by ghostrider883

[jeanba 1,920]

I love the "war" between Ghostrider and Lazarus :)

 

Image :

 

(another view of ravenclaw's work of art)

Edited July 10, 2015 by jeanba

[+ghostrider883 526]

I love the "war" between Ghostrider and Lazarus :)

 

 

Its all in good Spirit   . Besides, it  just a game. I'll  continue shooting down PAF & he'll continue shooting down IAF  

Bomber time with Dels C-130J-30

 

 

 

 

Something I tried, but not happy with the result

[jeanba 1,920]

This private war is authorized as long as you do not destroy Mirages, Alize, Ouragans and Mysteres  

 

Compulsory image : Tornado at the dawn of a storm :

[comrad 680]

[Lazarus1177 164]

I love the "war" between Ghostrider and Lazarus :)

 

Not really a "WAR"!!!It's just a game after all   .I consider it friendly competition or "Historical Jousting"!!!  And it encourages more modding  .

 

IAF Mig-21Bis ,No.26 Sqn 

[KJakker 901]

[+ghostrider883 526]

This private war is authorized as long as you do not destroy Mirages, Alize, Ouragans and Mysteres  

 

 

Oui monsieur   

 

 

Not really a "WAR"!!!It's just a game after all   .I consider it friendly competition or "Historical Jousting"!!!  And it encourages more modding  .

 

IAF Mig-21Bis ,No.26 Sqn 

 

 

 

 

Nice work, specially one the that camo 26 Sqdn skin  . Hope you release it. 

 

The serials numbers belong to the MiG-21FLs though. MiG-21bis have/had C2XXX series serial numbers.

Try this : http://combatace.com/topic/53226-iaf-mig-21bis-vikram/

 

and an alternate data.ini for Indianised MiG-21bis : http://combatace.com/topic/72314-mig-21bis-type-75-indian-af-skin-pack/

[Lazarus1177 164]

 

Nice work, specially one the that camo 26 Sqdn skin  . Hope you release it. 

 

The serials numbers belong to the MiG-21FLs though. MiG-21bis have/had C2XXX series serial numbers.

Try this : http://combatace.com/topic/53226-iaf-mig-21bis-vikram/

 

and an alternate data.ini for Indianised MiG-21bis : http://combatace.com/topic/72314-mig-21bis-type-75-indian-af-skin-pack/

Corrected the skins.Since your'e the Mig Scholar here at CA,I decided to hardwire the skins to use your decals from the Paulopanz IAF Mig-21bis pack.Will upload soon.

 

Cheers.

[+Kulbit80 1,399]

10 Gruppo from Trapani-Birgi airbase in Sicily

 

 

 

[Eole 1,032]

October 1962 Cuba Crisis Caribbean Sea : VF-41 Black Aces F4H-1 Phantom II 's (WIP) took off from CVA-62 USS Independence deck to cover air recon operations

 

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2015 by Eole

[+76.IAP-Blackbird 3,557]

Visiting a friend, .. downtown

 

[+ghostrider883 526]

Corrected the skins.Since your'e the Mig Scholar here at CA,I decided to hardwire the skins to use your decals from the Paulopanz IAF Mig-21bis pack.Will upload soon.

 

 

A slight correction is needed.  Here's the real aircraft. The camo pattern below the cockpit should have a inconsistent wavy pattern instead of a straight line

 

 

The Navy's fastest & highest flying turboprop in the world

[+yakarov79 11,089]

RVAH-6 over Vietnam.

[Peugeot205 2,745]

[+ghostrider883 526]

Warriors

 

 

[+Nyghtfall 2,154]

USMC VMA-142 Flying Gators in their Bicentennial Aniversary scheme in 1976

 

[Wrench 9,848]

Planes, Trains and Automobiles