Air Commodore Mukhtar Ahmad Dogar (15 May 1922 – 5 June 2004) was the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

bomber pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they ar ...

and aerial warfare specialist who was the first military person to receive the

Pakistani military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

award

Sitara-e-Jurat Sitara-e-Jurat (, Star of Courage) is the third highest military award of Pakistan. It was established in 1957 after Pakistan became a republic; however, it was instituted retrospectively back to 1947. It is awarded for Courage, gallantry or dist ...

.The Roar of JF-17 Thunder
Business Recorder (newspaper), Published 24 November 2009, Retrieved 6 October 2021 A

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

veteran, he is known for his participation in Indo-Pakistani War of 1947 most notably for the "Defenceless Dakota" incident in which he engaged with a couple of IAF

Hawker Tempest The Hawker Tempest is a British fighter aircraft that was primarily used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the Second World War. The Tempest, originally known as the ''Typhoon II'', was an improved derivative of the Hawker Typhoon, intended to ...

while performing transport operations but still managing to bring back his

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

. A founding father and former member of what is known now as

Special Service Wing The Pakistan Air Force Special Service Wing is a special operations forces who specialised in all aspects of air-to-ground communication, including air traffic control, fire support (including fixed and rotary wing close air support), and comman ...

, Dogar is known to be instrumental in the creation of a special forces unit for the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

called the Special Service Wing (SSW).Mukhtar Ahmad Dogar profile: Ghazi of 1948 War
Fearlesswarriors.pk website, Retrieved 6 October 2021

Early life and education

Mukhtar Ahmad Dogar was born in

Hoshiarpur Hoshiarpur () is a city and a Municipal corporations in India, municipal corporation in Hoshiarpur district in the Doaba region of the Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab. It was founded, according to tradition, during the early part of the ...

Punjab, British India Punjab was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 2 April 1849, and declared a province of British Rule, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British co ...

on 15 May 1922. He was the son of Hakim Ali Dogar. After basic education at his native town, Dogar gained a commission in

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, and was accepted into the Royal Air Force Academy in

Cranwell Cranwell is a village in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Cranwell and Byard's Leap and is situated approximately north-west from Sleaford and south-east from the city and county town o ...

. After he graduated from the Academy, he gained his

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in Aerospace studies.

Service with the Air Force

After his education, Dogar joined the

and participated in 1945 Burma Campaign as a Flying officer. After the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

of Pakistan, Flying officer Dogar opted Pakistan's nationality, and was inherited in No. 5 Squadron Falcons. After Indian forces entered kashmir during the kashmir unrest, Dogar was stationed at

Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory, and constituting the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region which has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

for air transport & supply services. On 4 November 1948, Dogar was piloting a DC-3C transporter in the valleys of

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

when he was intercepted by two Indian Air Force (IAF) Hawker Tempest fighters. The Indian pilots ordered him to surrender and land at Srinagar. Though unarmed and unable to retaliate, the undaunted pilot refused to surrender and after 30 minutes of constant evasive maneuvers, he managed to take his plane back to Pakistan. Though one of the occupants on the plane later died due to bullet wounds sustained from the strafing IAF Fighters.

Kashmir Valley operations

The

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

of Pakistan had given orders to

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

(PAF) to stay away from the conflict. Pakistan, faced with limited aircraft and the hazardous weather, issued specific orders to PAF to not be involved in the conflict while the ground operations were undertaken by the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

. In the early morning of 4 November 1948, Dogar, along with Flying Officer Jagjivan, took off to

Skardu , nickname = , motto = , image_skyline = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Gilgit Baltistan#Pakistan , pushpin_label_position ...

to drop the military load to Pakistan Army. While returning to base, the pilots had spotted the IAF's Hawker Tempests, in a covert operation. At first, Dogar believed it was the Pakistani aircraft, but the pilots had not received any early warning from the Air Force control base. Dogar continued tracking the IAF pilots. After 15 minutes, on the radio, the IAF Tempests pilots ordered Dogar and Jagjivan to go to the nearest Indian airfield but Dogar and Jagjivan gave no response to the order and continued flying to Risalpur Airbase. The order was repeated three times but the PAF pilots did not respond. Aggravated, the IAF pilots threatened to shoot down Dogar and Jagjivan if the orders weren't followed. The IAF pilots fired a free burst to show that they were armed. Dogar and Jagjivan tried to avoid to respond as they had been given orders by the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...

. The army personnel on the ground had requested the pilots to ease off. Flying Officer Alfred 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. At this time, one of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

(IAF) pilots broke off, gained a little height and came in to attack. He fired a full burst of 20 mm at the PAF pilots, fatally wounding Naik Mohammad Din and knocking Jagjivan unconscious with a profusely bleeding arm. The encounter had lasted twenty to twenty-five minutes. Flying Officer Dogar began to retaliate with evasive maneuvers.Dogar kept on evading the Indian planes until they gave up. Air Commodore Dogar and Air Commodore Alfred Jagjivan were awarded the Sitara-e-Jurat for his daring handling of the belligerent Indian Air Force fighters on 4 November 1948. His

(Star of Courage) award was the first for

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Dogar, as Air Commodore (

Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

, was serving as Air Commodore-in-Chief in PAF. Dogar had participated in

Operation Gibraltar Operation Gibraltar was the codename of a military operation planned and executed by the Pakistan Army in the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir in August 1965. The operation's strategy was to covertly cross the Line of Control (LoC) a ...

, and was instrumental in creating a special forces unit within the

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

(PAF). Dogar was first who established and founded "''Special Airwarfare Wing''" (now-known as

), where he had served there as first Air Commodore-in-Chief. He played an important role, and headed the SAW until his retirement in 1968.

Career highlights

Dogar served on various command and staff assignments during his career in PAF, which included OC Flying Wing Lahore in 1956, Deputy Director Plans at AHQ in 1957, Director Operations at Pakistan International Airline (PIA) in 1960. He also was the Officer Commanding Dacca Base from 1960 to 1963. He commanded PAF Base, Chaklala and Peshawar as well.

A rare honour

Dogar was the only PAF officer who had flown such a large variety of aircraft during his long and illustrious service. He had flown more than 35 fighter, transport, light communication and bomber aircraft. Dogar retired from service in 1968.

Death and legacy

Mukhtar Ahmad Dogar died on 5 June 2004 and was buried at his native town

Faisalabad Faisalabad (; Punjabi/ ur, , ; ), formerly known as Lyallpur ( Punjabi, Urdu: لائل پور), named after the founder of the city, but was renamed in 1977 in honour of late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia. It is the 3rd largest city of Pak ...

Punjab, Pakistan Punjab (; , ) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in central-eastern region of the country, Punjab is the second-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the largest province by population. It shares land borders with the ...

. His survivors included his wife and four children.

References

External links

Air Cdre Mukhtar Ahmad Dogar SJ , Ghazi of 1948 War
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dogar, Mukhtar Ahmad Members of the special forces units of Pakistan Pakistan Air Force officers Recipients of Sitara-e-Jurat Graduates of the Royal Air Force College Cranwell Pakistani flying aces 1922 births 2004 deaths People from Faisalabad