1959 Canberra shootdown

The Canberra shootdown incident occurred on 10 April 1959, when an English Electric Canberra B(I)58 of the Indian Air Force was shot down by an F-86F Sabre of the Pakistan Air Force over Rawat, near Rawalpindi while performing an aerial reconnaissance mission. This incident is regarded as the first aerial kill of the Pakistan Air Force.

Incident

Because it was Eid al-Fitr most PAF personnel had been given the day off, with only a skeleton crew, mostly comprising unmarried officers and airmen, on duty. The Indian Canberra entered Pakistani airspace while on an aerial reconnaissance mission. Pakistani radar had detected that an intruder had flown in from Indian airspace, heading towards Gujrat, Pakistan. Repeated warnings were issued to the intruder to land at Gujrat, where it was spotted. Two F-86F Sabres flown by Flt. Lt. M. N. Butt and Flt. Lt. M. Yunis were scrambled from PAF Base Peshawar to intercept it. Flt. Lt. M. N. Butt attempted to bring down the Canberra by firing his machine guns, but the Canberra was flying at an altitude of more than 50000 ft, beyond the operational ceiling of the F-86F. When Yunis took over, the Canberra suddenly lost height while executing a turn over Rawalpindi. Yunis fired a burst from his guns which hit the Canberra at an altitude of 47500 ft and brought it down over Rawat. Both crew members of the IAF Canberra Sqn Ldr J.C. Sengupta, and Flt Lt S.N. Rampal ejected and were captured by Pakistani authorities. They were subsequently released and repatriated a day later after remaining in detention for some time.