Green Patriots

The very first Blue on Blue incident in
 "Subcontinent"
First friendly fire causality region of subcontinent.

 Achievement is held by none other than indian airforce during the 1971 indo-Pak war.

During 1971 war, Pakistan air force operated Dassault Mirage IIIR for photo reconnaissance  missions. Mirages conducted regular photo reconnaissance missions in Ferozpur area to update ground commanders about indian reinforcement efforts aimed at vacating the incursion.

An important mission involved reconnaissance of crossing points over Gang Canal for a careful scrutiny of obstacles across the waterway that could possibly impede the movement of II Corps of indian army.

Two pilots who played a sterling role in the photo reconnaissance operations were Sqn Ldr Farooq Umar and Flt Lt Najib Akhtar. Of the 30 photo reconnaissance  sorties(besides 15 escorts)flown by No 5. Squadron "Falcon" before and during the war, 22 were considered successful.

In Shakargarh Sector,a few night reconnaissance missions were attempted with partial success.
In one such mission on the night of 11 December ,an IAF mig-2Fishbed tried to intercept a Mirage flown by Sqn Ldr Farooq umar.

But instead of getting a frag on enemy aircraft ,the Mig-21 ended up shooting down one of its own Mig-21s flown by Flt Lt A B Dhavle, which was patrolling in vicinity.
 Four-odd Bomb Damage Assessment missions were also flown following the initial strikes on runways.

#Gm