Flying Officer Mukhtar Ahmed Dogar

Flying Officer Mukhtar Ahmed Dogar,
His story:-
"I took off in the early morning of 4 November, 1948. Winding my way through the now familiar Indus valley, I para-dropped my load over a sandy bed near Skardu. Pleased with yet another successful mission, I had given the controls over to Flying Officer Jagjivan on the way back so that I could relax a little. We were somewhere over Chilas when we sighted 2 Tempests above us and I first took them for our own aircraft. In the drop area I had no visual warning from our army posts about the presence of enemy aircraft and our own Tempests did occasionally sneak over to cavort in the bracing neighborhood of Nanga Parbat. It was only when these fighters came close that I discovered their true identity and quickly took over the controls. The valley at Chilas is about 4 to 5 miles wide permitting easy manoeuvrings of an aircraft, and I weaved along in the direction of Risalpur. On the radio the Tempests ordered me to go to the nearest Indian airfield but I took no notice of this. The order was repeated three times but I did not respond. At this point the Indians threatened to shoot me down if I did not comply, and they fired a free burst to show that they were armed. I pressed on regardless, at full throttle, my main concern being to get to the narrow portion of the valley as quickly as possible. The Army personnel on board were feeling rather queasy by now with all my evasive manoeuvrings and, ignorant of the situation outside, requested me to ease off; they appeared to be under the impression that I was trying to impress them with my skill! Flying Officer Jagjivan and Naik Mohammad Din, however, stood watching from the open doorway of the aircraft, blissfully unaware of what was to come to them a minute later.

You'll Never Get Me!

At this time, one of the Indians broke off, gained a little height and came in to attack. He obviously meant business now and fired a full burst of 20mm at us, fatally wounding Naik Mohammad Din and knocking Jagjivan unconscious with a profusely bleeding arm. By now, I had got to the narrow neck of the valley and had asked Air Signaller Mohsin to stand up in the astrohatch and kick me every time he saw the fighters coming in for a kill. Thrice I was kicked and thrice, with quick half throttle, full flaps and left rudder I successfully eluded death. I had come down to deck level now, scraping almost along the river's surface but well out of the fighters' reach. A feeling of relative security sometimes inspires defiant talk and I found myself calling out to the Indians: if you haven't got me so far you will never get me! They seemed to agree and pushed off.

The encounter had lasted twenty to twenty five minutes. Earlier, when the Indian pilots had asked me to go to the nearest Indian airfield they had felt too sure of having air-arrested me. But for me it was a question not only of 'to be or not to be' but also one of Pakistan's prestige. Looking back I can only say that we were lucky, unarmed as we were, to reach home base at all."