The Last Flying Ace

There was the redoubtable M.M. Alam. They called him ‘Peanut Alam’ (due to his small body frame), who was to show what actual giants are made of as he sliced into the enemy formations, dishing out not only physical destruction, but psychological as well. -Former PAF pilot MALIK AYAZ HUSSAIN TIWANA

He was born July 6, 1935 in Calcutta, British India later East Pakistan and hailed from a Bihari background.

Neither India nor Pakistan was satisfied with their borders, and intermittent conflict continued between the two countries, resulting in the development of indigenous armies, navies, and air arms by both. Given the long-term colonial presence of Great Britain, both the PAF and the Indian Air Force (IAF) were profoundly influenced by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in regard to training, uniforms and military behavior. Pilots of both countries were often sent to Britain to polish their flying skills and keep up with the latest aviation developments.

In case of the Pakistanis, there was an additional social legacy left behind by the British. As their proficiency and confidence grew, PAF personnel came to affect the cocky demeanor of their British mentors, to the extent that they regarded themselves as members of a social elite, not bound by the same rules as the average citizen. The most visible manifestation of that attitude was drinking in PAF units. Ignoring the Quran's commandment against the consumption of alcohol beverages, PAF personnel enthusiastically emulated the RAF practice of having a bar in the officers' at each air base

Upon qualifying as a PAF pilot, Alam became caught up in the social practices of his brother officers and later admitted to getting drunk on numerous occasions. Another RAF custom adapted by the PAF was the use of nicknames for various pilots, and Alam's short stature earned him the sobriquet "Peanut".

Alam embraced the RAF tradition of professionalism with equal enthusiasm. His own gunnery scores - an average of 70 percent - were the highest in PAF, and by September 1965 he had accumulated 1,400 hours in the North American F-86F Sabre alone. To this he added experience in other aircraft, both at home and abroad, among them the Hawker Hunter, a type that became the mainstay of the IAF.

MM Alam is known for his actions during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 when he was posted at Sargodha. During this war he was involved in various dogfights.

Left - This wreck of a Hunter that was shot down ny M M Alam in Pakistan shows the serial number of the aircraft as BA-330. The pilot is not known.

On the fatefull day of 7 September 1965, PAF F-86E 54026 was flown by Sqn.Ldr. M.M. Alam. He claimed 9 Hunters of the Indian Air Force downed in air-to-air combat, 5 of them in less than a minute, as follows:

• September 6, 1965, One Hawker Hunter: Squadron Leader Ajit Kumar Rawlley, No 7 Squadron, Killed in action, near Tarn Taran.
• September 7, 1965, Three Hawker Hunters (in one mission): Squadron Leader Onkar Nath Kacker, No 27 Sqn, POW, Squadron Leader Suresh B Bhagwat and Flying Officer Jagdev Singh Brar, No 7 Squadron, KIA, near Sangla Hill.
• September 16, 1965, One Hawker Hunter: Flying Officer Farokh Dara Bunsha, No 7 Squadron, KIA, near Amritsar.

Left to right - Sqn Ldr Ajit Kumar Rawlley, Fg Offr Jagdev Singh Brar and Sqn Ldr Satish B Bhagwat

(Top) British Hawker Hunter of the Iraqi Airforce, (Bottom) American F-86 Sabre of the Pakistan Airforce

The Indian sources attribute Alam with only four of these kills, attributing one of the "kills" claimed by PAF, Sqn Ldr Onkar Nath Kacker's aircraft loss, to booster failure.



Pictured here with his F-86 Sabre shortly after the 1965 war and the kill markings of Indian Air Force fighters he shot down. The plane is shown with 9 kill markings for confirmed and several "damaged" Indian aircraft.

Sqn. Ldr. Muhammad Mahmood Alam is the last pilot to date to achieve "Ace in a Day" status last achieved in WW II.

Pakistani propaganda made a great deal of Sqn.Ldr. Alam's claims for that day, reporting he shot down no less but five IAF Hunters within less than a minute, and a total of seven Indian fighters on the same day. A closer investigation of available evidence proved that Alam never claimed as many kills himself, as well as that kills credited to him by Pakistani officials were actually scored by several pilots over the course of the whole day.

What is unanimously agreed by sources is that he shot 3 planes in one minute and at least 1 after that. A total of 4/5 in a single sortie. This is still a world record.

Alam commanded the No. 11 Squadron until April 1966. In November 1967, he was promoted to wing commander, given command of the No. 5 Squadron and charged with overseeing the introduction of the newly imported Dassault Mirage IIIEP into that unit.


An amusing BBC interview of PAF pilots during the 1965 war

At about that time, however, Alam began to have problems as a result of professional jealousies and personal resentment among fellow PAF officers. For one thing, there were some accusations that while Alam was a virtuoso pilot, his leadership qualities at the senior officer level left something to be desired. As Pakistan's first ace, much was expected of him after the war, and his more limited administrative abilities may have suffered further under the pressure of such expectations.

Alam was also reappraising his lifestyle, reaching the conclusion that the abandonment of traditional Islamic values by the PAF constituted a betrayal of the people it served. The most obvious symbol of that compromise of values was the consumption of alcohol. Alam not only quit drinking but also began trying to persuade his colleagues to banish alcohol from the officers' mess. Inevitably, Alam's growing zeal rubbed many PAF officers - a good many of whom were his superiors - the wrong way.

In 1969, Alam attended the Staff College, but was removed from the course in 1970 under the absurd pretext that he could not read and write. In May, he was relieved of his command of No.5 Squadron - which was given to Wing Commander Hakimullah Khan - and played no active role in the Indo-Pakistan War of December 1971. Alam was given command of No. 26 Squadron in January 1972 but lost it just two months later. His final position was chief of flight safety, but he continued to meddle in PAF policy.

Also in 1971, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto came to power as the Prime Minister of Pakistan and commenced a series of social reforms. Among other things, Bhutto championed an end of elitism of the military and a return of consistent Islamic values. As one consequence of his efforts, by 1976 the PAF had gone officially "dry."

Alam took a leave of absence and slipped over the border into Afghanistan in 1979. It is believed that Alam advised the Mujahiddin guerrilas in their operations against the Soviet-backed Afghan government. After his return to Pakistan, he would say nothing about his activities, save that they had been inspired by his lone decision to aid the Afghans in a jihad (holy war) against the Soviet atheists.

When Alam retired on May 12, 1982, he had attained the rank of air commodore - the PAF equivalent of a brigadier general. When General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq took power, promising a return of traditional values, Alam welcomed the change. But he soon became disillusioned with Zia's regime, as well.

After that, Alam took up a life of austerity, living in a sparsely furnished apartment in Karachi with little more then a pile of books. As for the once-dashing ace of 1965, while Alam did appear with his fellow war veterans on Pakistani television as late as 1994, his comments on his war time service were disappointingly sparse. That had been another, earlier Mohammad Alam, he said - the new Alam was a different man, more concerned with spiritual integrity than with reliving old dogfights.

At a time when most military heroes are the subject of unqualified adulation, Pakistanis are not entirely sure what to make of Mohammad Alam. Although still looked upon askance by most senior officials of his old service, he continues to command the admiration of most junior officers and men of the PAF. Even those who did not share his religious views respect his integrity, as an "Islamic man for all seasons." It may be noted, too, that in recent years most of his older critics have retired and his younger admirers have become the PAF senior officers of today.

As for the question of separating the man from the myth, even his former Indian adversaries have acknowledged that when their actual losses are separated from the more nebulous claims, Alam's aerial achievements hold up on their own merits. In the final analysis then - and contrary, perhaps, to his own wishes - Alam's record assures his place as one of the great aces of the jet age.


He is a recipient of the Pakistani military decoration, the Sitara-e-Jurrat ("The star of courage"). One of the roads of Gulberg in Lahore is named after him as M. M. Alam road.
He never married. His brother M. Shahid Alam is an Economist and a professor at Northeastern University, Boston and his other brother, M. Sajjad Alam is a particle physicist at SUNY Albany and is responsible for discovering over a dozen particles.

References:
http://babriet.tripod.com/articles/art_mmalam2.htm
http://www.yespakistan.com/memorialday/Rebirth%20of%20MMAlam.asp
http://www.pakdef.info/pakmilitary/airforce/war/heros2.html
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/History/1965War/Chapter5.html
http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/index.html
http://www.warbirdsofindia.com/Crashes/crpage.php?qacid=AL&qafdb=IAF&fmdate=01&fmmonth=09&fmyear=1965&todate=23&tomonth=09&toyear=1965
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Mahmood_Alam
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_aces#Ace_in_a_day