Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam SJ (Urdu: محمد محمود عالم; 6 July 1935 – 18 March 2013) was a Pakistani fighter pilot (Air Commodore) who was officially credited with having downed five Indian Air Force aircraft in 1 minute during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, all five aircraft are Hawker Hunter aircraft on one sortie on 7 September 1965. However, several experts including retired PAF Air Commodore Sajad S. Haider have discredited Alam’s claim regarding the sortie on 7 September 1965. He was a F-86 Sabre flying ace as per Pakistan Air Force records. He was awarded the Sitara-e-Jurat (“The star of courage”), the nation’s third highest military award and Bar for his actions during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
Early life
Alam was born on 6 July 1935 to a well-educated family of Calcutta, British India. Born and raised in Bengal, Alam was a fluent Bengali speaker, however his paternal line was of Bengali-speaking Bengali origin; having emigrated from Patna and settled in the Bengal province of British India for a long time. The family migrated from Calcutta to eastern Bengal which became East Pakistan, now Bangladesh following the formation of Pakistan in 1947. It was in East Pakistan, where Alam completed his secondary education, graduating from the Government High School in Dhaka in 1951. He joined the then RPAF (now PAF) in 1952, being commissioned on 2 October 1953. Alam’s brothers are M. Shahid Alam, an economist and a professor at Northeastern University, and M. Sajjad Alam, a particle physicist at SUNY Albany.
His family moved to Pakistan in around 1971, after the secession of East Pakistan. Being the eldest of his 11 siblings, Alam did not marry as he had to assume the responsibilities of the upbringing of his family. Some of his younger brothers became distinguished in various academic careers.
Service with the Pakistan Air Force
During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Alam scored an “ace in a day” on 7 September 1965, with a total of 5 kills. Over an 11 day period, he claimed 9 kills including 2 probables. His actions have placed him at the top of the hall of fame list at the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Museum in Karachi, and he is considered a national hero for Pakistan. During the war, he was posted at Sargodha. He was involved in various dogfights while flying his F-86 Sabre fighter, against the Hawker Hunter fighters then flown by the Indian Air Force.
According to the PAF, in a single sortie on 7 September 1965, Alam downed five aircraft with four in less than a minute, establishing a world record. Regarding the last 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.” In 1978, when Alam gave a speech at a Karachi university, he told that during the fight he saw a spiritual force coming from the sky.
An incomplete list of Alam’s claimed kills (all were Hawker Hunters) includes:
- 6 September 1965
- Squadron Leader Ajit Kumar Rawlley, No. 7 Sqn, KIA near Tarn Taran.
- 7 September 1965
- Squadron Leader Onkar Nath Kacker, No. 27 Sqn, POW
- Squadron Leader Suresh B Bhagwat, No. 7 Sqn, KIA, near Sangla Hill.
- Squadron Leader (Air Marshal retired) Dilip Shankar Jog, No. 27 Sqn, bullet hits on plane, near Sangla Hill.
- Flight Lieutenant (Air Marshal retired) Dev Nath Rathore, No. 27 Sqn, bullet hits on plane, near Sangla Hill.
- Flying Officer Jagdev Singh Brar, No. 7 Sqn, KIA, near Sangla Hill.
- 16 September 1965
- Flying Officer Farokh Dara Bunsha, No. 7 Sqn, KIA, near Amritsar.
Alam’s claim regarding the sortie on 7 September 1965 has been contested by the Indian Air Force, which has denied losing five Hawker Hunter aircraft on the said day, several experts including retired PAF Air Commodore Sajad S. Haider, have also discredited Alam’s claim regarding the sortie on 7 September 1965. Also, the fact that no verifiable gun camera footage of Alam’s kills was ever made public by the Pakistani authorities, further discredits Alam’s claim.
In 1967, Alam was appointed Squadron Commander of the first squadron of Dassault Mirage III fighters procured by the PAF. He retired as Air Commodore. He was removed from the staff college over his alleged excessive involvement with the Tableeghi Jamat missionary movement and focusing more on preaching religion instead of carrying out his core responsibilities. In 1982, Alam retired as an Air commodore and took up residence in Karachi.
Death
Alam was admitted to Pakistan Naval Station Shifa Hospital in Karachi where he died on 18 March 2013, aged 77. He was being treated for respiratory problems for 18 months. Alam’s funeral prayer was performed at the PAF Base Masroor, where he served some of the significant years of his career. Alam was buried at the Shuhuda (Martyrs) Graveyard, located at PAF Masroor Airbase. Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad, Air Chief Marshal (Ret.) Farooq Feroz Khan, Sindh corps commander Lt. Gen Ijaz Chaudhry, Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) Director-General Maj. Gen. Rizwan Akhter, Base Commander PAF Base Masroor Air Commodore Usaid ur Rehman, many war veterans of the 1965 war and Alam’s closest colleagues attended the funeral. One of the younger brothers of the deceased, Zubair Alam, was also present.
Memorials
M. M. Alam Road, a major road in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan is named in honour of the flying ace of Pakistan Air Force, Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam, running from Main Market to Gulberg. The road runs parallel to famous Main Boulevard thus providing an alternate route and is a commercial hub with many restaurants, fashion boutiques, shopping malls, beauty saloons and décor stores. M.M. Alam Road hosts a variety of flamboyant restaurants in modern Lahore. On 20 March 2014, on account of his first death anniversary, the PAF Airbase Mianwali was renamed after him as PAF Base M.M. Alam.