Air Cdre Rais Rafi served the PAF gallantly during the 65 and 71 wars

Remembered in the annals of history, Air Commodore Rais Rafi became the leader of the prestigious Number Eight Squadron in January, 1964 and held it for a period of over four years. This is one of the longest spells the squadron was commanded by any officer of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). Under the leadership of Squadron Commander Rafi the Number Eight prepared for and fought the 1965 Indo-Pak War gallantly.

Rafi flew his first operational night bombing mission on the night of September 6 as a deputy leader in the six-ship formation of B-57 bombers. The strike was aimed to attack Jamnagar airfield. Every aircraft planned to deliver a bomb load in two runs each. As it was the opening attack of the war, an element of surprise was expected during the raid. The formation flew at high level initially over the coastline of Karachi and while entering enemy territory it descended. The enemy was taken by complete surprise and the formation delivered the entire bomb load at Jamnagar with great precision.

After the attack, the formation landed safely at Mauripur, Rafi started to get ready for next bombing mission. The second mission was to be flown as individual aircraft against Jamnager the same night. The time to reach the target was the hourly hours of September 7. As Rafi approached the target at low level, he noticed the city was observing a complete black-out and there was no anti-aircraft fire. Locating the target in the pitch-dark night was a problem, so he descended down gradually and dropped two light flares to locate the airfield. He dove through the sheet of stratus clouds and made four bombing attacks on the airfield. It was a dead accurate drop and it created large craters on the airfield. Rafi flew two consecutive missions each night until September 9.

As the war in South started to cool down, the majority of the bomber force was shifted to Peshawar. Between September 10 and 14, Rafi flew numerous bombing missions. The most exciting mission of his career came on the night of September 20, when they were to conduct an attack on Ambala airfield, deep inside enemy territory. The aim was to attack this very important Indian Air Force (IAF) Station to keep the enemy defences locked at the rear Bases and to threaten their capital, Delhi. To achieve pinpoint accuracy with more devastation at the airfield, the three- ship formation chose to launch low level skip bombing attack. Rafi took up the challenge squarely, proving equal to the dangerous and demanding mission. He succeeded in delivering the precise blow to the enemy, deep inside their territory.

Participation in 1971 War

As soon as the war broke out in Dec 1971, Wing Commander Rafi was recalled for war operations from Risalpur. Rafi flew his first bombing mission on the night of 3 December 3, targeting Ambala once more. The mission till Ambala went as planned, but as he pulled up overhead the target to deliver bombs, the formation was bombarded with anti-aircraft fire. He managed to deliver four bombs on the tarmac in the first run, flying through the barrage of anti-aircraft guns. As he dove for second run, he realised that the new radar-controlled L-70 guns were firing the barrage in a controlled fashion and were following the flight path of aircraft. This jolted Rafi for a while, but keeping full faith and continued for the second run delivering four bombs on the centre of the runway, creating huge craters in it. He exited the area at tree top and landed back safely at Mianwali. He had a narrow escape that day. Until December 8, Rafi carried out a number of bombing missions. On 8 Dec 1971, he was sent to PAF Station Sargodha to perform staff duties. He remained deployed in Sargodha until the cease-fire on December 17 and returned to Risalpur after the war.