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Gujarat Beechcraft incident

19 Sept 1965 · 45 nautical miles southwest of Bhuj Gujarat, India.

India Beechcraft Model 18 · Shot down

From Ahmedabad, Gujarat to Mithapur

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Event

Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
Event fatalities
8 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
Unknown
Survivors
0
InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
Unknown
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Government

Beechcraft Model 18

Aircraft type
Beechcraft Model 18
Category
Airplane · from aircraft type
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
Unknown
Operator
India
Onboard fatalities
8
Route
From Ahmedabad, GujaratTo Mithapur

Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.

From the Wikipedia article

The Gujarat Beechcraft incident was an event during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. On 19 September that year an American-made F-86 Sabre jet fighter of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) shot down an Indian-registered civilian Beechcraft Model 18 twin-engine light aircraft. Balwantrai Mehta, who at the time was the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, was killed in the attack along with his wife, three members of his staff, a journalist and two crew members.

Qais Hussain, a PAF flying officer during the 1965 war, was the pilot who fired on the aircraft. In August 2011 he wrote to Farida Singh, the daughter of the deceased civilian pilot, via email, expressing his condolences.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Gujarat Beechcraft incident” (revision 1358521556, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article

Sources

Wikipedia article: Gujarat Beechcraft incident
Article
Gujarat Beechcraft incident
Revision
1358521556 · 2026-06-09 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q5616979
Licence
Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
Record
Wikipedia article "Gujarat Beechcraft incident" (page 32709339, revision 1358521556)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
none
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
Reviewed correction (2026-09-26): A civilian aircraft listed under India as operator carrying the chief minister of Gujarat and his staff: state VIP transport not flown by the air force. The article: "Balwantrai Mehta, who at the time was the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, was killed in the attack along with his wife, three members of his staff, a journalist and two crew members."
Fatalities
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
Ground fatalities
not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
Summary
Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
  • Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.