Sherdils (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
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English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: Lion Hearts) is the

aerobatics Aerobatics is the practice of flying maneuvers involving aircraft attitudes that are not used in conventional passenger-carrying flights. The term is a portmanteau of "aerial" and "acrobatics". Aerobatics are performed in aeroplanes and glid ...

display team of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) & Royal Pakistan Air Scouts (RPAS). The Sherdils are based at the

Pakistan Air Force Academy The Pakistan Air Force Academy Asghar Khan ( ur, ) is an accredited three-year military academy which provides undergraduate education to officer candidates for the Pakistan Air Force. The eligible and selected candidates from all over Pakista ...

Risalpur Risalpur (Pashto/ ur, رسالپور) is a city in Nowshera District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on the Nowshera-Mardan Road. It is nearly 45 km from Peshawar and 18 km from Mardan and is located at 34°4'52N 71°58'21E. In a basin so ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and consist of nine Karakoram K-8P aircraft. Pilots of the Sherdils are not dedicated aerobatics pilots like other famous aerobatics teams. Sherdils draw their pilots from jet flying instructors at the PAF Academy's Advanced Jet Training Squadron. They have an additional role to prepare and conduct formation aerobatics at various national and international events apart from regularly training young pilots on advanced jet trainers.

History

Sherdils in formation flight over Islamabad

The team was officially formed on 17 August 1972 as a result of efforts by an academy instructor, Sqn Ldr Bahar-ul-haq. The team was formed on the lines of

Red Pelicans The Red Pelicans were one of a number of aerobatics display teams of the Royal Air Force before the Red Arrows were selected to represent the service in 1965. The Red Pelicans flew the BAC Jet Provost aircraft. History In 1958, the Central Fly ...

, the aerobatics team of RAF College, Cranwell where Bahar had been on an exchange tour. It was decided to put up a brief show on graduation parades as a demonstration of the professional skills of academy instructors. After several trials of candidate instructors, a team was formed under the command of 1965 War hero, Wg Cdr

Imtiaz Bhatti Air Commodore Imtiaz Bhatti (born 18 April 1933) in Gujrat, British India, is a cyclist and a former Air Force pilot of Pakistan. He was the Pakistan cycling champion during his student days at Punjab Agriculture College, Lyallpur (now Univer ...

. He was the Officer Commanding of the BFT wing at that time. Other formation members included Flt Lt Aamer Ali Sharieff, Flt Lt A Rahim Yusufzai and Flt Lt Niaz Nabi, the latter becoming a most durable master of the ‘slot’ position. The initial performances of the team were highly successful. The "Tweety birds" performed at air shows for foreign dignitaries, including heads of state and military officers. Initially, the team had no name. The personal call sign of the leaders also denoted the team; it flew as ‘Sherdils’ for the first time on 19 September 1974. Sherdils Aerobatics team was enhanced to 6 ship T-37 aircraft team in March, 2004 under the leadership of Wg Cdr Tariq Chaudhary, OC BFT Wing. The team was further increased to 9 ship for the first time on 2 October 2004 under the pioneer leadership of Wg Cdr Vaqar Ali Qureshi, OC No 1 BFT Squadron. This was a historical milestone for PAF as it brought international fame and respect among the community of nations. Despite the limited power of T-37 aircraft engines to handle such a big formation especially the outer wings was a daunting task. The problem was catered by anticipation and flawless professionalism by the instructors of Basic Flying Training Wing flying in the team. The pioneer 9 Ship Sherdils team members were Wg Cdr Vaqar (Ldr), Flt Lt Armughan (No 2), Flt Lt Nusrat (No 3), Sqn Ldr Tariq Azeem (No 4 slot/deputy ldr), Sqn Ldr Nasir (No 5), Sqn Ldr Sohail (No 6), Sqn Ldr Zahid (No 7), Flt Lt Hammad (No 8) and Sqn Ldr Tanveer (No 9). The only unfortunate accident which T-37 Sherdils team ever met in their illustrious performance was in October 1978 and lost one aircraft and its leader Flt Lt Alamdar. Other formation members at the time were Flt Lt Shahid Nisar (No 2 & Deputy Lead), Flt Lt Irfan Masum (No 3) and Flt Lt Tasneem (No 4 slot). The Sherdils transitioned to the newer and more modern Karakoram K-8P aircraft, jointly developed by Pakistan and China. A four-ship K-8P aircraft performed for the first time in November 2009 at PAF Academy Risalpur under the leadership of Squadron Leader Amir Misbah. Other team members were Squadron Leader Khalid Matin (Slot member), Squadron Leader Wajahat Syed (Left Wing) and Squadron Leader Nasir Zia (Right Wing). By the Springs of 2010, Sherdils increased from 4-ship to 7-ship and perform at the closing ceremony of Exercise High-Mark 2010 under the leadership of Wing Commander Syed Ali Zaidi. Soon it transformed into 9-ship team and performed at the Graduation ceremony in May 2010. In October 2010, led by Squadron Leader Khalid Matin, 9-Ship Sherdils performed at Graduation ceremony Risalpur again before leaving for its first ever International Participation at Zhuhai Air-Show, China from 16 to 21 November that year. Since then, Sherdils have performed at every Graduation Ceremony of PAF Academy Risalpur and regularly participates in various National and International events.

Formation style

With T-37s, the type of formation and sequence virtually remained the same since the team's inception – line astern to the diamond formation during a loop, then clover-leaf, steep turn, barrel roll and finally, the breath-taking bomb-burst. Attempts were made to increase the number of aircraft in the team, but engine thrust demands were excessive for the outer formation members to cope with. A four aircraft diamond has thus remained the basic formation of the ‘Sherdils’for almost three decades. In 2004, the number of aircraft in the main formation were increased to six initially, performing loops in delta formation, barrel roll and steep turn in double arrow-head formation. It was increased to Nine in October, 2004 with change in formation sequence and aerobatics. Most of the evasive manoeuvers for safety of formation members were developed during this time. The outclass skill, precision and smooth handling remained the hallmark of this formation throughout its history. Bangladesh Air Force K-8 (cropped)

In 2009, the team shifted onto the K-8P aircraft. At present, the team comprises nine aircraft, with six ship main-team. Rest three aircraft perform the initial run-in and break-off in a linear bomburst over the venue. Since early 2017, Sherdil team has enhanced its basic display sequence with addition of more thrilling maneuvers.

Paint scheme

Appreciating the important quality affecting display aircraft i.e., appearance, the T-37s were painted all red. However, maintenance of the red-painted aircraft without the costly polyurethane coating became a problem. The team reverted to the all-metal finish, with only the nose, wing tips and tail painted day-glow orange. In 1980, with the induction of six ex-

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

T-37s, which were polyurethane-coated all white, ‘Sherdils’ became a logical choice for a new titillating appearance. The dramatic ‘sunburst’ paint scheme was adopted, red rays on an all-white background. Later, the aircraft were again painted red, but with the rays in white, a scheme that is in vogue today. Coloured smoke has been used to enhance the aesthetic qualities of the formation; smoke trails give the impression of multicoloured ribbons twirling in the sky. Up until 2017 Sherdils' K-8P aircraft were painted in the overall white color scheme with red and blue stripes. The team publicly revealed its current color scheme at an airshow held on the country's 70th

Independence day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

celebrations held at

Islamabad Islamabad (; ur, , ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's ninth-most populous city, with a population of over 1.2 million people, and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital T ...

on 14 August; an all-white fuselage with green covering the entire

vertical stabiliser A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, sta ...

and continuing along the upper fuselage all the way to the nose, a crescent and star on the tail and the team's name written in typeface underneath.

References

External links

PAF s' Aerobatics Profile

PAF Sherdils Aerobatic Team
{{Pakistan Air Force squadrons Aerobatic teams Pakistan Air Force squadrons

History

Formation style

Paint scheme

See also

References

External links