Bangladesh gifts India a restored Pakistani F-86 Sabre
Chief of Air Staff RKS Bhadauria, who is on a four-day visit to Bangladesh, gifted the BAF an Alouettee III helicopter used in the Liberation War by the brave Kilo Flight team.
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FollowIndia and Bangladesh are celebrating Swarnim Vijay Diwas to mark 50 years of India's victory over Pakistan and birth of Bangladesh. To mark the occasion, India and Bangladesh made a ceremonial exchange of vintage aircraft.
Chief of Air Staff RKS Bhadauria, who is on a four-day visit to Bangladesh, gifted the BAF an Alouettee III helicopter used in the Liberation War by the brave Kilo Flight team. His Bangladeshi counterpart Air Chief Marshal Masihuzzaman Serniabat gifted an F-86 Sabre.
The two aircraft will be placed in the Air Force Museums of respective countries.
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During the 1971 war, India and Pakistan had several rounds of dogfights between fighter jets of two neighbouring countries in the Dhaka region.
Pakistan's two squadrons, including 14 Chinese MiG-19 and 14 US-made F-86 Sabre aircraft were stationed in Dhaka but before the war broke out Pakistan President Yahya Khan ordered the MiGs to return to West Pakistan.
The Sabres were kept at Tejgaon airport in Dhaka. During the war, half of the Sabres were damaged. In the entire Indo-Pak war of 1971, the IAF took more than 2000 combat sorties.
The IAF dropped around 1250 bombs, fired 12,600 air to ground rockets and expended 1,35,000 cannon shells.
During the 1971 war, the Bangladesh Air Force was raised with three India-gifted aircraft, including Alouette III helicopter, Otter DHC-3, and DC-3 Dakota.
With these three jets, the Bangladesh Air Force carried out hit-and-run attacks on sensitive targets inside East Pakistan, causing extensive damage.
In the 1971 Indo-Pak war, F-86 Sabres were the mainstay of the Pakistan Air Force's (PAF) day-fighter operations and had the challenge of dealing with the threat from the Indian Air Force.
At the beginning of the war, Pakistan had 8 squadrons of F-86 Sabres that were tasked with the majority of operations. In East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), only one squadron was stationed to counter the numerical superiority of the IAF.
Indian Air Force's Folland Gnats shot down several F-86s in the battle of Boyra.
On November 22, 1971, four PAF Sabres entered Indian airspace in the eastern sector while providing support to the Pakistani ground units. The IAF Gnats intercepted the Sabres and shot down three over the skies of Jessore in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
Two PAF pilots who ejected over the Indian sky were captured and produced before a crowded press conference the next day.
After this war, Pakistan slowly phased out its F-86 Sabres and replaced them with Chinese F-6 (Soviet MiG-19 based) fighters.
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