Hi, IAF had obsolete planes like Vampires, Toofanis and Mysteres in 1965, no Mig-21s and Mig-23s (even USSR did not have Mig-23s then!!). India never used Mig-19s. India also had a training aircraft from RAF called Gnat which was deemed useless by RAF. We had Hunters though. India paid for all these aircraft. PAF had an airforce of 280 all of which paid by NATO, CEATO & Americans. They had top of line Sabres which were called Mig-killers by Americans. They had F-104s which were best in world then. Actually, USAF promised India 36 F-104s which never came. IAF used their obsolete aircraft to great success. Gnat became renowned as Sabre-killer. Even old Myseteres went up against F-104s and came back triumphant. In some cases, even IAF did not know of their feats. Fl Lt. Subbayya winning the medal for 1965 war posthumously in 1987.
PAF always maintained they lost few planes. After the war, PAf invited Air Chief Marshall Arjan Singh to inspect PAF losses. Of course what they failed to mention that Iran just loaned them 90 Sabres to make up the losses. regards Pranshu B Saxena
