[🇵🇰-Airforce] PAF F-104

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Starfighter pilots preparing to go on a High Altitude Storm Climb sortie.

 

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Group photo of No. 9 Composite Squadron taken in 1966 with F-104 and F-6 in the background.

L to R, Sitting: Flt Lt Ghulam Omar Abbasi, Flt Lt Farooq Umar, Wg Cdr M L Middlecoat (Sqn Cdr), Sqn Ldr Hakimullah Hussain, Flt Lt Ishaq, Flt Lt Aftab Alam
L to R, Standing: Flt Lt Amanullah, Flg Off Salim Sandal, Flg Off Arif Manzoor, Flt Lt Rashid Bhatti, Flg Off Mushtaq, Flt Lt Abbas Mirza.

Picture Copyright: AVM (retd.) Avm Farooq Umar

 

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Early 1970's

 

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Aircraft tail number 56-875 was modified to carry the SLARD / RALOR (near the war perhaps due to maintenance related issues the equipment was removed from 56-875 and installed on 56-804).

 

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F-104A on the runway. Notice the weapon pylon under the wing.

Picture Copyright: Air Cdre (retd.) Rashid Bhatti

 

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PAF F-104 Starfighter

delivery	PAF serial	fate	remarks
June 20, 1961	56-802	November 13, 1963	crashed: the aircraft 'pitched up', and went into a spin. F/O Asghar Shah ejected safely at high speed and received major bruises. The aircraft was replaced under the MAP (Military Assistance Program) program; other reports (pilots) mention November 9, 1963.
June 21, 1961	56-803	September 3, 1964	crashed: ground contact during a low pull-out while practicing ground Strafing. F/L Tariq Masood died in the accident. The aircraft was replaced under the MAP (Military Assistance Program) program.
June 19, 1961	56-804	December 5, 1971	shot down by AAA fire in Amritsar area, S/L Amjad Hussain ejected, but was captured (POW) shot down by Hav Ramaswamy, 27 AD Rgt. S/L Amjad Hussain was shot down by AAA over Amritsar while attacking a radar installation. He is the only pilot who was shot down in both 65 and 71 wars. 804 was modified with SLARD (Short-range Low Altitude Radar Detection and RALOR (Radar Locator) claim: Indian Folland Gnat F.1 shot down December 4, 1971 by S/L Amanullah Khan in 56-804 over Amritsar Radar.
June 21, 1961	56-805	July 10, 1968	written off: lost on ground July 10, 1968 due to fire while on ground. Pilot S/L Arif Iqbal survived.
June 19, 1961	56-807	April 15, 1968	crashed: lost April 15, 1968 due to an inflight fire. F/L Ghulam Abbasi died in the accident
June 18, 1961	56-868	September 17, 1965	crashed F/L Ghulam Abbasi crashed due to disorientation of the pilot while landing in low visibility (sandstorm) undershooting the runway at Peshawar, aircraft exploded, pilot was thrown clear and slightly hurt; F/L Ghulam Abbasi survived the accident claim: September 6, 1965 Mystere IV-A claim AIM-9 kill overhead the Rahwali airfield where a low powered radar was located, shot down by F/L Aftab Alam Khan
June 20, 1961	56-874	preserved	preserved at PAF Sargodha AB (now PAF Base Mushaf), May 2017 noted on display outside the Combat Commanders School at Sargodha; March 2019 noted. claim: Canberra B-58 AIM-9B kill during night intercept on September 21, 1965; shot down by W/C Jamal A. Khan claim: HF-24 "Marut" strafing on ground at Utterlai AB December 11, 1971 (HF: "Hindustan Fighter") by S/L Amanullah Khan 32°3'13.12"N 72°40'0.61"E
June 18, 1961	56-875	preserved	preserved on pole PAF HQ Chaklala, Islamabad-Chaklala, December 2013 last noted. 33°36'49.95"N 73° 5'11.08"E 875 was modified with SLARD (Short-range Low Altitude Radar Detection and RALOR (Radar Locator)
June 18, 1961	56-877	September 7, 1965	crashed over Sargodha AB, F/L Amjad Hussain shot down a Mystere VI A, flown by S/L A B Devayya, the Starfighter was hit by the debris of the exploding Mystere and was uncontrollable, F/L Amjad Hussain Khan ejected safely (see remark below). claim: Indian Gnat forced to land at Pasrur AB September 3, 1965 (F/O Abbas Mirza)
June 18, 1961	56-879	preserved	display on pole at PAF Base Masroor, Karachi-Mauripur; March 2020 last noted (Google). claim: Indian Su-7 Fitter shot down December 4, 1971 by S/L Bhatti in 56-879 over Amritsar 24°52'51.67"N 66°57'24.86"E
May 1, 1964	56-773	December 13, 1971	shot down Pilot W/C M L Middlecoat died after the ejection, shot down by F/L Bharat B. Soni in a MiG-21FL over Gulf of Kutch after attack on Jamnagar AB, pilot ejected but was not found (KIA); other reports mention December 12, 1971 A formation of two F-104’s was tasked on 13th December to strike IAF airfield at Jamnagar. Wg Cdr Mervin L Middlecoat was to lead this mission with Sqn Ldr Tariq Habib as his No.2. The formation ingressed for the strike at low level, with the Starfighters configured with wingtip tanks and two Sidewinders under the wings. Close to the target the formation pulled-up to 2-3000 feet with target offset to their right by 2-3 miles in order to line up for their strafing runs. For some reason Middlecoat who was leading the strike banked to the left while target was on the right. Habib gave him a call to correct this. Repositioning for the strafing run resulted in formation spending another minute or two near the target area. After repositioning the formation was again going in for a strafing run, Middlecoat gave Habib a call saying that a missile has been fired at him. Habib cleared his six but did not see anything. Moments later while exiting and over the Gulf of Kutch, Habib got a call from Middlecoat saying that he has been hit and is ejecting. Habib inquired if he could make it to overland but he replied the negative. Habib saw Middlecoat ejecting and the Starfighter going into the water while inverted. At that moment Habib noticed a MiG-21 to his right. As he pulled up to convert behind the MiG-21 his auto-pitch control malfunctioned and the aircraft nose started oscillating. After disengaging the APC Habib safely exited from the area.Later from various published Indian accounts it transpired that two IAF MiG-21’s had intercepted the Starfighters while they were lining up for the strafing run. The lead MiG-21 had fired an Atoll missile at Middlecoat’s F-104 which missed, but was able to close-in for a gun kill. Wg Cdr M L Middlecoat was declared MIA. (by Usman Shabbir & Yawar A Mazhar)
March 1, 1965	56-798	preserved	preserved inside Pakistan Air Force Museum at Faisal AB, Karachi April 2011 noted; June 2022 last noted 24°52'20.19"N 67°5'45.93"E
June 21, 1961	57-1309	preserved	preserved at PAF Academy, PAF Risalpur AB June 22, 2021 last noted 34°3'47.59"N 71°59'1.67"E
June 21, 1961	57-1312	preserved	preserved with false code "57-1309" in the open in the Pakistan AF Museum at Faisal AB, Karachi January 15, 2004 first noted (after Karachi-Sharea Faisal, Drigh Road) February 8, 2012 noted; June 2023 last noted. 24°52'17.01"N 67°5'48.75"E

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History:
The F-104 Starfighters remained in service with Pakistan Air Force for twelve years and flew 11.690 hours.
During the 1965 Pakistan-India War, the F-104s flew a total of 246 hours and 45 minutes while during the 1971 war,
the F-104s flew only a total of 103 hours and 45 minutes.

Of the fourteen aircraft, two were officially lost in the 1965 War.

Due to the poor economic situation and Western arms embargos, the condition of the PAF F-104-fleet by the early 1970s was so poor, that most of the aircraft were non-operational and the sole unit that flew the type, No.9 Squadron, was provided with old F-86Fs to keep pilot hours up. The situation improved significantly in March 1971, when the USA channeled a shipment of spares to Pakistan, enabling the PAF to make the remaining five F-104A and two F-104B operational again.

No 9 Squadron moved to Masroor AB from Sargodha AB on December 6, 1971 with a total of 7 F-104s (5 F-104A, 2 F-104B).
Commanding Officer was W/C Arif Iqbal.
Another two (plus a RJAF F-104A) were lost to Indian AAA fire and MiGs respectively in the 1971 conflict.
Today six of the original fourteen are known to be preserved at various locations in Pakistan.

Only three of the aircraft has a combat history as far as we know.

• 56-0874 preserved at Peshawar had a Canberra night kill in the 1965 war and strafed a HF-24 on the ground at Uttarlai in the 1971 operations.
• 56-0879 preserved at Masroor shot down a Indian Su-7 Fitter on December 4, 1971 over Amritsar.
• 56-0804 shot down a Indian Folland Gnat F.1 on December 4, 1971 over Amritsar.

At PAF's request, all its F-104As were refitted with the M61 20 mm Gatling gun, whereas its counterparts in the USAF had been divested of their guns on the assumption that all post-Korea air combat would occur at high speeds where only the wing tip-mounted Sidewinder missiles would be effective.
The PAF's foresight was amply rewarded in actual combat and the USAF too reverted to having machine guns as mandatory equipment on all its fighters in due course. The newer GE J-79-11A engine was also installed on the aircraft. The F-104A was able to carry AIM-9B Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on the wing tips and later (1971) as well on the underwing pylons. This made the Pakistan F-104s somewhat unique:
They had the gun and being the lightest of the F-104 series with a more advanced J-79 engine enjoyed the best thrust-to-weight ratio.
A retractable hook was fitted beneath the rear fuselage to engage emergency runway arrestor wires.

The US Government imposed an embargo on arms sales to both India and Pakistan as soon as the 1965 war began.
No consideration was given to the fact that India, a long-time ally of the Soviet Union, hardly used any American military equipment
and the sanctions exclusively degraded the combat potential of only the Pakistani Armed Forces.

The PAF fleet of F-104 was particularly hard hit by the arms embargoes. Eventually it became impossible to maintain a reasonable in-commission rate on the F-104s and the PAF decided to phase it out of service in late 1972. This ended the era of Pakistan Air Force's first Mach 2 combat aircraft.

Today six of the original fourteen are known to be preserved at various locations in Pakistan.

916 Starfighter

 

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