# List of aerial victories during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965

The Indo-Pakistani air war of 1965 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred after the failure of Operation Gibraltar in Jammu and Kashmir on 1 September 1965. Pakistan Air Force under Operation Grand Slam and Indian Airforce under Operation Riddle engaged with each other with the last aerial combat taking place on 23 September 1965.
The sides claimed various numbers of kills and casualties. India claims to have lost 35–59 aircraft while Pakistan claims to have destroyed 110–113; neutral sources claim that India lost 60–75 aircraft. Pakistan claims to have lost 19 aircraft while India claims 43–73 kills; neutral sources say Pakistan lost 20 aircraft.

## Aerial victories

The following lists contains aerial victories credited to both Indian as well as Pakistani pilots.
| Flag of the Chief of Air Staff and Air Chief Marshal of the Indian Air Force | Air_Force_Ensign_of_India_(1950–2023) | Badge of the Pakistan Air Force | Air Force Ensign of Pakistan | Flag of air marshal Pakistan Air Force |
| Pilot | Pilot‘s Squadron | Country | Date | Fighter Type | Victim Pilot | Victim Pilot‘s Squadron | Victim Aircraft | Remarks |
| Sqn Ldr Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui | No. 5 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 1 Sep Air War over Chumb | F-86 | Flight Lieutenant (later Group Captain) Shrikrishna Vishnu Phatak (wingman) | No. 45 Squadron IAF | de Havilland Vampire | Phatak bailed out, Rafiqui awarded Sitara-e-Jurat |
| Sqn Ldr Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui | No. 5 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 1 Sep Air War over Chumb | F-86 | Squadron Leader Aspi Kekobad Bhagwagar (flight leader) | No. 45 Squadron IAF | de Havilland Vampire | Bhagwagar KIA |
| Flt Lt later Air Cmdr Imtiaz Bhatti | No. 15 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 1 Sep Air War over Chumb | F-86 | Flight Lieutenant Satish Bharadwaj (element wingman) | No. 45 Squadron IAF | de Havilland Vampire | Bharadwaj KIA |
| Flt Lt later Air Cmdr Imtiaz Bhatti | No. 15 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 1 Sep Air War over Chumb | F-86 | Flight Lieutenant Vijay Madhav Joshi (element leader) | No. 45 Squadron IAF | de Havilland Vampire | Joshi KIA Bhatti awarded Sitara-e-Jurat |
| Sqn Ldr later Wng CmdrTrevor Keelor | No. 23 Squadron IAF | India | 3 Sep Air War over Chicken's Neck (Pakistan) Akhnoor | Folland Gnat | Flt Lt later Air Cmdr Yousuf Ali Khan | No. 11 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Trevor awarded 1st Vir Chakra of war. Khan awarded Sitara-e-Jurat for surviving the dogfight against six Gnats and nursing the damaged Sabre back home. |
| Flt Lt later Grp Capt Virendera Singh Pathania | No. 23 Squadron IAF | India | 4 Sep Air War over Chicken's Neck (Pakistan) Akhnoor | Folland Gnat | Flt Lt N.M Butt | No. 15 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Butt bailed out, Pathania awarded the Vir Chakra. |
| Flt Lt later Air Chief Marshall Hakimullah Khan Durrani | No. 9 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 4 Sep Pasrur | Lockheed F-104 Starfighter | Sqn Ldr later Air Marshal Brij Pal Singh Sikand | No. 23 Squadron IAF | Folland Gnat | Starfighter forced the Gnat to land mistakenly at an abandoned airstrip. Durrani awarded Tamgha-e-Diffa and Sitara-e-Basalat |
| Sqn Ldr later Air Cmdr Muhammad Mahmood Alam / Syed Saad Akhtar Hatmi | No. 11 Squadron PAF / No. 18 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 6 Sep Taran Taran | F-86 | Sqn Ldr Peter Rawley | No. 7 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | Aborted Halwara base attack at Taran Taran, Rawley misjudged his turn at low levels during the engagement and went into the ground, KIA. Hatmi awarded the kill disputed by Alam. |
| Flg Offr later Air Marshal Adi Rustomji Ghandhi | No. 7 Squadron IAF | India | 6 Sep Halwara Air Force Station | Hawker Hunter | Sqn Ldr Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui | No. 5 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Vir Chakra awarded to Ghandhi for hitting Rafiqui and another plane. |
| Flt Lt Yunus Hussain | No. 5 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 6 Sep Halwara Air Force Station | F86 | Fg Offr later Air Marshal Adi Rustomji Ghandhi | No. 7 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | Ghandhi bailed out, Yunus's kill disputed by Cecil Chaudhry |
| Sqn Ldr Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui | No. 5 Squadron PAF | India | 6 Sep Halwara Air Force Station | F-86 | Flg Offr later Air Marshal Prakash Sadashivrao Pingale | No. 7 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | Pingale bailed out |
| Flt Off later Wng Cmdr Vinod Neb | No. 27 Squadron IAF | India | 6 Sep Halwara Air Force Station | Hawker Hunter | Flt Lt Yunus Hussain | No. 5 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Yunus posthumously awarded Sitara-e-Jurat, Neb awarded Vir Chakra |
| Flight Lieutenant later Air Marshal Dev Nath Rathore | No. 27 Squadron IAF | India | 6 Sep Halwara Air Force Station | Hawker Hunter | Sqn Ldr Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui | No. 5 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Rafiqui posthumously awarded Hilal-e-Jurat, Rathore awarded Vir Chakra. |
| Sqn Ldr Ajjamada B. Devaiah | No. 1 Squadron IAF | India | 7 Sep Sargodha Airfield Complex | Dassault Mystère IV | Flt Lt later Air Vice Marshal Amjad Hussain | No. 9 Squadron PAF | Lockheed F-104 Starfighter | Both planes crashed, Devaiah KIA awarded Mahavir Chakra 23 years after war. |
| Sqn Ldr later Air Cmdr Muhammad Mahmood Alam | No. 11 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 7 Sep Sargodha Airfield Complex | F-86 | Flt Lt later Wng Cmdr ‘Piloo’ Kacker | No. 27 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | Kill disputed, crashed due to ack, ack fuel loss, Kacker became POW |
| Flt Lt Anwar-ul-Haq Malik | No. 26 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 7 Sep Sargodha Airfield Complex | F-86 AAMs | Flt Lt U.Babul Guha | No. 1 Squadron IAF | Dassault Mystère IV | KIA |
| Sqn Ldr later Air Cmdr Muhammad Mahmood Alam | No. 11 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 7 Sep Sargodha Airfield Complex | F-86 | Sqn Ldr S C Bhagwat | No. 7 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | KIA Alam conferred Sitara-e-Jurat,Tamgha-e-Diffa, Sitara-e-Imtiaz |
| Sqn Ldr later Air Cmdr Muhammad Mahmood Alam | No. 11 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 7 Sep Sargodha Airfield Complex | F-86 | Fg Offr Jagdev Singh Brar | No. 7 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | Brar KIA |
| Flt LtAlfred Tyrone Cooke | No. 14 Squadron IAF | India | 7 Sep Kalaikunda Air Force Station | Hawker Hunter | Flying officer Afzal Khan | No. 14 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Khan KIA, Cooke awarded Vir Chakra |
| Fg Offr later Wing Commander Subodh Chandra Mamgain | No. 14 Squadron IAF | India | 7 Sep Kalaikunda Air Force Station | Hawker Hunter | Flight Lieutenant Tariq Habib (Leader) | No. 14 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Mamgain awarded Vir Chakra for one hit and one unconfirmed kill. |
| Flt Lt later Air Cmdr Yousuf Ali Khan | No. 11 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 13 Sep Katron, Sangroor | F-86 | Flt Lt later Wg Cmdr Arvind Kale | No. 2 Squadron IAF | Folland Gnat | Kale bailed out. |
| Flt Lt later Air Cmdr Imtiaz Bhatti | No. 15 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 13 Sep PAF Base Sargodha | F-86 | Sqn Ldr N K Malik | No. 2 Squadron IAF | Folland Gnat | Pilot nursed Gnat back to India but died next day, Bhatti awarded with hit |
| Sqn Ldr later Grp Capt Bharat Singh | No. 2 Squadron IAF | India | 14 Sep Khem Karan Sector | Folland Gnat | | Unidentified | F-86 | Indian Army confirmed wreckage and Singh awarded Vir Chakra, PAF pilot nursed hit plane safely to ground. |
| Flg Offr later Air Marshal Prakash Sadashivrao Pingale | No. 7 Squadron IAF | India | 16 Sep | Hawker Hunter | Fg Offr M Shaukat | No. 11 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Pingale awarded Vir Chakra |
| Sqn Ldr later Air Cmdr Muhammad Mahmood Alam | No. 11 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 16 Sep | F-86 | Flg Offr Farokh Dara Bunsha | No. 7 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | Bunsha KIA |
| Flt Lt later Wng CmdrAmar Jit Singh Sandhu | No. 23 Squadron IAF | India | 18 Sep Pathankot Air Force Station | Folland Gnat | Flt Lt later Air Cdr Syed Saad Akhtar Hatmi | No. 18 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Sandhu awarded Vir Chakra Hatmi bailed out and awarded Sitara-e-Jurat, flew the captured plane to Sargodha from Pasrur. |
| Flight Lieutenant later Grp Capt Saiful Azam Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) | No. 17 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 19 SepSargodha Airfield Complex | F-86 | Flight Lieutenant later Wg Cdr Maya Dev | No. 9 Squadron IAF | Folland Gnat | Dev bailed out and became POW, Azam awarded Sitara-e-Jurat |
| Flt Lt later Air Marshal Denzil Keelor | No. 9 Squadron IAF | India | 19 Sep Tezpur Air Force Station | Folland Gnat | Wng Cmdr Syed Mohammad Ahmed | No. 14 Squadron PAF | F-86 | Ahmad bailed out, Keelor awarded Vir Chakra Ahmed awarded Sitara-i-Basalat |
| Flt Lt later Group Captain Ajay Kumar Mazumdar | No. 2 Squadron IAF | India | 20 Sep Lahore | Folland Gnat | Flight Lieutenant Anwar-ul-Haq Malik | No. 26 Squadron PAF | F-86 | PAF pilot bailed out. Mazumdar awarded Vir Chakra |
| Squadron Leader later Air Chief Marshal Sharbat Ali Changezi | No. 26 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 20 Sep Lahore | F-86 | Squadron Leader S K Sharma | No. 7 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | Sharma bailed out Changezi awarded Tamgha-e-Basalat |
| Flight Lieutenant Syed Nazir Ahmed Jilani | No. 26 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 20 Sep Lahore | F-86 | Squadron Leader Deba Prasad Chatterjee | No. 7 Squadron IAF | Hawker Hunter | Chatterjee KIA Jilani awarded Tamgha-e-Basalat |
| Flt Lt later Air Chief Marshal Jamal Ahmad Khan Afridi | No. 9 Squadron PAF | Pakistan | 21 Sep Fazilka | Lockheed F-104 Starfighter Sidewinder AIM-9B | Flt Lt Manmohan Lowe Fg Offr Kewal Krishan Kapur | No. 5 Squadron IAF | English Electric Canberra | Lowe bailed out, Kapur KIA, Afridi awarded Sitara-e-Jurat |
| Indian Aircraft | Country of Origin |
| Aérospatiale Alouette III | France |
| Bréguet Br.1050 Alizé | France |
| Dassault Mystère IV | France |
| de Havilland Vampire | United Kingdom |
| English Electric Canberra | United Kingdom |
| Folland Gnat | United Kingdom |
| Hawker Hunter | United Kingdom |
| HAL HF-24 Marut | India |
| HAL Krishak | India |
| Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21FL | Soviet Union |
| Sukhoi Su-7BMK | Soviet Union |
| Pakistan Aircraft | Country of Origin |
| Canadair Sabre | Canada |
| Cessna O-1 Bird Dog | USA |
| Dassault Mirage III | France |
| Lockheed F-104 Starfighter | USA |
| North American F-86 Sabre | USA |
| Shenyang F6C | China |