Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui was a fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force who is known for his gallant actions in two of the aerial dogfights during Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, and is a recipient of both the Hilal-e-Jurat (Crescent of Courage) and the Sitara-e-Jurat (Star of Courage) military awards from the Government of Pakistan. Early life Sarfraz Ahmed Rafiqui was born in Rajshahi (then British Raj, present Bangladesh) on 18 July 1935. He had three brothers and a sister. He started his education at St. Anthony High School, Lahore, matriculating from Government High School, Multan in 1948. With the transfer of his father to Karachi, he joined D. J. Sindh Government Science College. Military career Inspired by his elder brother "Ijaz Rafique", Sarfaraz joined the Royal Pakistan Air Force's 13th GDP course and graduated from Risalpur Academy in 1953. In 1962, he was appointed as the Officer Commanding of the No. 14 Squadron which was based in Tejgaon Airport at East Pakistan (Present day Bangladesh). In 1963, he was posted at PAF Base Sargodha to lead the PAF's No. 5 Squadron which he would command till his martyrdom. 1965 War Air Battle over Chammb On the evening of 1 September 1965, Indian Air Force intervened at Chhamb Sector by sending 26 aircraft (12 de Havilland Vampires and 14 Mystere IVs) to slow down the Pakistan Army's XII Division's offensive against Akhnoor in response to an SOS from the Indian Army. The IAF's 45 Squadron was ordered to provide Close Air Support to Indian forces in the area. These 26 planes flying in finger-four formation strafed Pakistani positions and attacked Pakistani tanks and ground targets, however when these Indian planes were sighted, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) scrambled two F-86 Sabres, flown by S/L Sarfraz Rafiqui of No 5 Sqn and F/L Imtiaz Bhatti of No 15 Sqn from Sargodha to intercept them. Though heavily outnumbered, the two pilots engaged the Indians and in the ensuing dogfight over Chhamb, both pilots shot down two de Havilland Vampire each. Rafiqui had took on flight leader and wingman while Bhatti had went after element leader and element wingman. India acknowledged losing four aeroplanes, all 4 IAF Vampires, flown by Squadron Leader Aspi Kekobad Bhagwagar (flight leader), Flight Lieutenant Vijay Madhav Joshi (element leader), Flight Lieutenant Satish Bharadwaj (element wingman) and Flight Lieutenant (later Group Captain) Shrikrishna Vishnu Phatak (wingman). Both PAF