Against All Odds: The Pakistan Air Force in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War (Asia@War)

For anyone wanting an introduction to the 1971 India-Pakistan War this is a great place to start. The book outlines the course of the war in sufficient detail for me, and the inclusion of often detailed narrative relating to specific dogfights or sorties adds a nice human touch. I have to say that this is nowadays only a fringe area of interest for me, but I found this book to be well written and an engaging read to the extent that it has rekindled my interest in the subject. It is crammed full of fantastic photographs of men and their machines taken largely during the war. There are also seven pages of original colour illustrations of the main aircraft that were deployed by both sides during the war. The eighth colour page is a great map showing the theatre of operations which I found really useful. There are other equally handy black and white maps dotted through the the book. The references and bibliography are as one might expect, extensive and include the personal recollections of many of the men who went to war in 1971. In terms of content, as well as the narrative covering the war, there is information on the Pakistan Airforce’s combat strength and their bases at the start of the war. There are tables detailing a variety of useful facts, such as a list of each Pakistan and Indian aircraft lost during the war, the fate of the pilots, and how the aircraft were lost. I also found it fascinating to learn about the diverse range of aircraft operated by both sides during the war, many of which (e.g. Hunters, Canberra’s, Mirages and F86 Sabres) will have hung from my ceiling in kit form at the time of the conflict . Overall I’d say this is a great book for anyone interested in ‘modern’ (almost 50 years ago) air combat. Who doesn’t like jets and didn’t ever want to be a fighter pilot?

Modern Pakistan and India clashed on many occasions, with 1971’s war of special importance, as it led to creation of Bangladesh as independent state. It was very bitter conflict, with both sides accusing each other of atrocities and presenting completely different depiction and outcome of the battles. In this volume retired officer of Pakistan Air Force (PAF), Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail present Pakistani point of view, based on both written sources and relation of soldiers fighting in the war. While book focuses on actions of PAF and its fight against Indian Air Force (IAF), readers can find here good introduction to the 1971’s war, explaining reasons behind the conflict. Of course air warfare was just addition to main events – clashes of land troops – which are also presented here, building larger picture of the war. Organisation of PAF and its equipment is described in much detail, showing wide range of planes used by Pakistan during the war. It was, due to circumstances, rather odd mix, with Chinese F-6’s, ex-Luftwaffe Sabres Mk-6, French Mirage III, odd F-104 and some Canberra bombers. Each squadron, its equipment, deployment and commander are presented in detailed table. There’s of course also some information about strength of IAF. Each phase of the war in the air is depicted based on both Pakistani and Indian sources, showing how often they contradicted each other. There are anti-airfield mission attempted by PAF at the start of the conflict, missions flown against logistic lines of Indian army and support provided to land forces. There’s even very interesting chapter describing naval operations and role of air force in it. Additional chapter focuses on token force of PAF in East Pakistan, with one squadron of Sabres doing all it could to face overwhelming odds. As author had full access to PAF’s archives, we can find such detailed information like number of sorties flown by each type of planes deployed by Pakistani during the war or all planes lost by both PAF and IAF, with circumstances on which they were destroyed. As with many other volumes from @War series, there’re plenty of colour plates, beautify drawn by Tom Cooper. In all 21 planes (plus few additional painting versions) of different machines used by both PAF and IAF. Additional plate shows map of both West and East Pakistan, helping to locating main airfields in the theatres of war. Text is accompanied by large number of black and white photos of the both sides of the conflict, with wide range of topics: alongside PAF’s and IAF’s planes we can find here also scenes from land fight, including tanks used by both armies. There are also some black and white maps, also drawn by Tom Cooper, focused on certain regions, battles or parts of campaign. It’s very interesting book, presenting detailed study of PAF’s actions during the war. There’re of course moments of visible bias that can be found in certain passages of the book, which – considering the person of the author – is not much of surprise and I’m sure readers can easily forgive moments where his emotions took over. I found this volume full of very useful information, with plenty of details about less known air forces and conflict. Definitely worth recommending to anyone interested in modern conflicts in Asia.

Having not much knowledge of this conflict, this book was a fantastic introduction to the conflict for me. There is a whole host of great black and white photos in the book also with eight colour pages including a full colour map covering the theatre of war. I found this excellently written book with a superb narrative style on this war. I would heartily recommend the book for the casual reader, wargamer or modeller.

Great Book

Although an important war in Asia the India-Pakistan 1971 War has been neglected in the west and hasn't been given as much publicity as it should have. This new book from Helion written by Air Commodore Kaiser Tufail, who served in the Pakistan Air Force, brings together detail on the air battles which took place in the war and other excellent detail regarding the conduct of the conflict. The book shows how the PAF stood up against the Indian Air Force, concentrating their efforts on the border of West Pakistan to assist the much weaker East Pakistan (later Bangla Desh) by pulling India towards them. Although outnumbered by India the PAF gave an excellent account of themselves and came out of the conflict still a viable force in order to support the ground offensives taking place. The book is lavishly illustrated with colour showing aircraft of both sides and there is an abundance of black and white photographs and maps which add to the overall excellent commentary by the author. This really is a great introductory book for anyone who would like to know more about the India-Pakistan War and is also excellent for anyone who has an ongoing interest.

Just a note of caution - this is the Helion version of the hardbound book of the same title . That said the book is still good though it presents - predictably - the view that the PAF gave more than it got , with charts of attrition rates, missions, etc . Keeping all the chest thumping aside , it is still a good book as it gives a view on the other side of the hill.

Overall A Good And Unbiased Narrative Of The Indo Pak Air War of 1971.I Have Been A Book Reader All My Life But This Is the First Time A Book Of This Size, Almost The Size Of A Magazine.

Boek verbogen en kaft met krassen.