RAF 🇬🇧 established landing ground in Mianwali in early 1920s for swift movement of army co-operation aircrafts from aircraft park in Lahore to frontier duties in Miranshah & Wana (North and South Waziristan agency) ... During WW2 in 1942, it was paved with cement runway and dispersal area but as 🇵🇰 came into being and operation Curzon led to withdrawal of regular units from tribal area, Mianwali was put on "back burner" for almost two decades. After 65 war, PAF established an operational command to fill gaps in infrastructure and oversee all bases from mauripur to peshawar alike. Wings of under construction Rafiqui (shorkot) were clipped as new FOB at Mianwali was initiated, contrary to original decision of operationalising an alternate base for Sargodha in Jhang district of punjab. Finally, in oct 1970 this new home of 🦅 was inaugurated by moving detachments of F-6 & Mirage 3. Real test came shortly when IAF Hunters attacked it on 4th dec 1971. Bogeys missed the 'Farmer' on ORP but Flg off. Qazi javed of No 25 sqn managed to shoot down Hunter of pathankot based No 27 sqn 🇮🇳 during egress in which fg off Vidhyadhar shankar chati was taken PoW near Khabaki lake of soon valley ! Mirage 3 of No 5 sqn flown by Flt Lt Naeem atta shotdown IAF Canbera (IF 916) during the same night with sidewinder near Nara village of khushab. Both crew members of Agra based jet bomber conversion unit (JBCU) Flt Lt Lloyd moses sasoon (pilot) and Ram metharam advani (navigator) perished on impact 😶 The very next day, lone hunter attacked Sakesar FPS-20 radar. Mirages were scrambled to intercept but significant damage was done to 📡 which took 3 days of emergency repair. Sqn Ldr Jal manekshaw mistry of No 20 sqn was killed in action. No. 7 sqn bandits with 10 B-57 bombers & OC wing commander muhammad yunis was also located at Mianwali. They struck srinagar, avantipur, amritsar, pathankot, halwara, adampur, sirsa and bikaner AFS with gusto but lost one bomber and its crew over amritsar. IAF Canberas bombed mianwali in return but killed rural folks instead of hitting the base. PAF C-130s were chipped in for a unique night time bombing 💣 of Jaisalmer deep into thar desert of Rajasthan ! That is how first combat experience of this new base ended. Seeing its potential, top brass quickly upgraded it to MOB status and inaugurated fighter conversion unit for training young pilots. Rafiqui was waiting to settle its score and became front line fighter base with newly inducted Mirage 5 in 1973 by deployment of No 9 sqn Griffins. That is how destiny shifted, one with FT-5, FT-6 trainers and another with real horses 🐎 ... rivalry continued well into later decades as "clipping of wings" was never forgiven !

Thunder Over Chamb ... 1st Sep 1965 On this day, PAF 🇵🇰 shotdown 4 indian airforce 🇮🇳 Vampire fighter jets over Chamb sector ! OC No.5 squardon Sarfaraz Rafiqui shotdown 2 jets as he flew from Sargodha with Flt. Lt imtiaz Bhatti of No.15 sqn, who got 1 kill and 1 shared with Pak Army AAA guns. Both pilots got Sitara e Jurat 🏅 IAF losses were 2 Vampires ach for No 45 sqn (which flies Tejas now) and No 220 sqn (which flies Su 30 MKI now) as they were on close air support mission from Pathankot AFS. 3 pilots killed in action and 1 ejected. Flt Lt Satish Bharwaj = KIA Sqn Ldr A K Baghwagar = KIA Flt Lt V M Joshi = KIA Flt Lt S V Phatak = bailed out As reported, later Marshal of the airforce Arjan Singh (air chief 🇮🇳 in 65 war) stated that "sending Vampires was the only decision of my career which I regret to this day" Vampires were immediately pulled back from the front line after this disaster but it curtailed overall strength of IAF !