Before going to talk about MM Alam firstly, we deeply describe the war of 1965 which was the fight between Pakistan and Indian armies. Moreover, this was the first war between India and Pakistan when these two armies got face to face for the first time. The Pakistani army first time attacked India for the freedom of Kashmir and Jammu.
This war started from April 1965 to September 1965, in which Pakistan faced a big loss against India. According to news, India won 1,920 sqkm of territory and Pakistan won 540 sqkm. 2,862 Indian soldiers were killed during the war and Pakistan lost 5,800 soldiers. India lost 97 tanks and 450 Pakistani tanks were destroyed or captured. In this war, both countries lost hostilities after the ended United Nations.
War of 1965
On 5 August 1965, the Pakistani army crossed the line of control and attacked India for the freedom of Kashmir and the various areas within Kashmir. Pakistani army attacked with a heavy number of soldiers approximately between 26,000 to 33,000. The actual reason for this war was the freedom of Kashmir, which was part of Pakistan but India refused to give. During the war initially, India got some success such as the artillery for a long time, occupying three main mountainous positions. At the end of August, both countries progress in some places, Pakistan progress in Tithwal, Uri, and Poonch, and India captured the Haji Pir pass, 8 km into Pakistan administrated Kashmir.
Moreover, the Pakistani army introduced a counterattack, which was called operation grand Islam, this operation started for the capture by the Visual town of Akhnoor in Jammu on 1 September 1965. After this war, Pakistan got some success and some losses, Pakistan faced some troubles and wanted to progress in any case.
Little dragon MM Alam
Muhammad Mehmood Alam was also known as the little dragon. Alam was born on 6 July 1935 in a well-educated family of Calcutta, British India. He was born and raised in Bengal and his language fluent was Bengali. Furthermore, his birth language was Urdu and he spoke Bihari because he was migrated from Patna and settled in Bengal, which is the province of British India and there he lived for a long time.
His family immigrated to Calcutta to East Bengal which became East Pakistan after the battle of 1947. MM Alam completed his early education in East Pakistan and graduated from high school in Dhaka in 1951.
Services for the Pakistan Air Force
In 1960, he joined the Pakistan air force. During the 1965 war, which was between Pakistan and India he was posted at Sargodha and he was a part of a dogfight while flying his F-86 sabre fighters, the Hawker Hunter was thrown out by the Indian Air Force against fighters.
According to the Pakistan air force, he has downed the five aircraft within a minute and the first four within 30 seconds and created a world record. Regarding the first four, Alam stated: “Before we had completed more than of about 270 degrees of the turn, at around 12 degrees per second, all four Hunters had been shot down.” After these attacks, Pakistan became the world’s largest atomic country. Once, the Karachi University invited him for giving a speech at the university function and he told that: “During the fight, I saw a spiritual force coming from the sky”.
Moreover, after the hawker hunter fighting process by the Pakistan air force, the chief of the Pakistan army appointed the Alam to squadron commander, the MM Alam was the first squadron commander of Dassault Mirage III. After lots of work and paid memorable services Pakistan air force decided to retire its core responsibilities so, in 1982 Alam was retired.
Memorials
M. Alam Road, a major road in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan named in honour of the flying ace of Pakistan Air Force, Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam, running from Main Market to Gulberg.
Death
The Pakistan air force legend died on 18 March 2013 in Karachi at the age of 77. He was admitted to Pakistan naval station Shifa hospital in Karachi and faced some health issues. His funeral was performed by the Pakistan air force base Masroor, where he served some of the memorable years of his carrier life. Alam was buried at the shahada (martyrs) graveyard, located at PAF Masroor Airbase.