Muhammad Mahmood Alam - Service With The Pakistan Air Force - Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Alam is well known for his actions during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 when he was posted at Sargodha. During this war he was involved in various dogfights while flying his F-86 Sabre fighter. Pakistani sources claim that he downed nine Indian fighters in air-to-air combat, including six Hawker Hunter fighters. In one mission on 7 September 1965, Alam downed five Indian aircraft in less than a minute, the first four within 30 seconds, establishing a world record. Alam's confirmed kills are as follows:

• 6 September 1965, 1× Hawker Hunter
  • Squadron Leader Ajit Kumar Rawlley, No. 7 Sqn, KIA near Tarn Taran.
• 7 September 1965, 5× Hawker Hunters
  • Squadron Leader Onkar Nath Kacker, No. 27 Sqn, POW
  • Squadron Leader A B Devayya, No. 7 Sqn
  • Squadron Leader Suresh B Bhagwat, No. 7 Sqn
  • Flight Lieutenant B Guha, No. 7 Sqn
  • Flying Officer Jagdev Singh Brar, No. 7 Sqn, KIA, near Sangla Hill.
• September 16, 1965, 1× Hawker Hunter
  • Flying Officer Farokh Dara Bunsha, No. 7 Sqn, KIA, near Amritsar.

The Pakistan Air Force figures have been disputed by Indian sources which claim Alam made four kills, attributing one of the losses of Sqn Ldr Onkar Nath Kacker's aircraft to booster failure or some other cause including the possibility of ground fire. They also claim that gun camera footage of Alam's kills is yet to be made public and therefore some of the kills cannot be confirmed.

In 1967, Alam was transferred as the Squadron Commander of the first squadron of Dassault Mirage III fighters procured by the PAF. He was removed from staff college based on a false pretext in May 1969. In 1972, he commanded No. 26 Squadron for two months.