pilots were credited with shooting down two de Havilland Vampires each and were awarded with Sitara-e-Jurrat for this mission. This dogfight was a major blow to the IAF since it had to recall all vampires from frontline service to reduce losses. Halwara Airstrike & subsequent death On 6 September 1965, in response to India's Invasion of Pakistan, the Pakistan Air Force launched an aggressive airstrike campaign on several Indian Air Force stations. Sarfaraz Rafiqui was tasked to lead a formation of three F-86 Sabres to strike the IAF's Halwara Air Base along with Flight Lieutenant Khawaja Younus Hussain as his number 2 and Flight Lieutenant Cecil Chaudhry as number 3. The formation took off from PAF Base Sargodha and headed towards Halwara. On the way, the formation met up with Squadron Leader MM Alam's formation which was returning from an aborted raid on the IAF's Adampur Air Force Station who informed them about their encounter with 4 Indian Hakwer Hunters over Tarn Taran (Alam had shot down one of them while the rest managed to escape). Nevertheless, Rafiqui's formation continued their flight and reached the Halwara base in the evening where the remaining 3 hunters from the earlier encounter with MM Alam's formation were taxiing back after landing. Just as Rafiqui was positioning himself for a strafing run, two IAF Hunters (flown by Flg Off P S Pingale and Flg Off A R Ghandhi) on a Combat Air Patrol intercepted his formation. Rafiqui quickly aborted his strafing run and engaged Pingale. He manoeuvred behind the enemy hunter and shot it down. Rafiqui then engaged Gandhi's Hunter scoring several hits on the enemy plane when suddenly his Sabre's 50 cal machine guns jammed. He then Radio'ed Cecil Chaudhry and said: Cecil, my guns have stopped firing, you have the lead. While Rafiqui was positioning himself as Cecil's Wingman, Gandhi managed to get behind Rafiqui but failed to score any hits on the Sabre due to his poor aim. Minutes later, Gandhi was shot down by Cecil as he came to Rafiqui's aid. Since the formation was low on fuel and daylight, along with Rafiqui's jammed guns, they decided to head back to base but were suddenly bounced by two more IAF hunters (flown by Flt Lt D N Rathore and Flg Off V K Neb). Rathore attacked Rafiqui while Neb engaged Younas. In the ensuing dogfight, both Rafiqui and Younas were