History of The Indian Air Force - Second Kashmir War 1965

Second Kashmir War 1965

Main article: Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 See also: Aerial warfare in 1965 India Pakistan War

Three years after the Sino-Indian conflict, India went to war with Pakistan again over Kashmir. Learning from the experiences of the Sino-Indian war, India decided to use its air force extensively during the war. This was the first time the IAF actively engaged an enemy air force. However, instead of providing close air support to the Indian Army, the IAF carried out independent raid missions against Pakistani Air Force (PAF) bases. These bases were situated deep inside the Pakistani territory, making IAF fighters vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire. conflict.

On September 1, 1965, the IAF fighters intervened in an on-going battle between Indian and Pakistani forces in Chhamb. However, it was inadequate in close air support role. Initially, IAF had sent the obsolete Vampires and later Mystères to stop Pakistani advance. But after incidents of friendly fire, they were not called again for close air support. Two days later, IAF Folland Gnat fighters shot down a PAF F-86 Sabre over Chhamb area. The Gnats were effective against the F-86 and earned the nickname Sabre Slayer. According to one Western source, the Gnats accounted for at least 6 Sabre kills.

During the course of the conflict, the PAF enjoyed qualitative superiority over the IAF because most of the jets in IAF's fleet were of World War II-vintage. Despite this, the IAF was able to prevent the PAF from gaining air superiority over conflict zones. By the time the conflict had ended, Pakistan claimed to have shot down 113 IAF aircraft while the Indians claimed that 73 PAF aircraft were downed. More than 60% of IAF's air combat losses took place during the disastrous battles over Kalaikunda and Pathankot. However, the IAF lost most of its aircraft on ground and the attrition rate (losses per 100 sorties) of the IAF stood at 1.49 while PAF's attrition rate was 2.16, because the IAF has larger number of aircraft with higher number of take off and landing sorties.