Yunus Hussain

Early life and education Khawaja Yunus Hussain was born on 1 June 1935 in Panipat, 18 years after the marriage of his father, Khawaja Yusuf Hussain, a businessman. The only child of his parents, he had a very modest upbringing due to the families weak financial position. The early days of his life were stories of hardships and struggle for acquiring the basic of amenities of life, in particular education.

Service years Pakistan Air Force

As tensions grew between Pakistan and India, the Royal Pakistan Air Force began asking for volunteers under slightly relaxed rules. Yunus once again applied and this time he was successful and joined the RPAF College in 1956.

1965 war and death

At 1715 hours, Squadron Leader Sarfaraz Ahmed Rafiqui led a formation of 3 F-86 Sabres with Yunus Hussain as his No. 2 and Cecil Chaudhry as No. 3. The formation took off from PAF Station Sargodha heading towards Halwara. On the way there, they met up with MM Alam's formation who was returning from an aborted raid on the Adampur Air Force Station of the Indian Air Force. Alam informed them about his encounter with four Indian Hawker Hunters over Tarn Taran.

Rafiqui's formation continued on and reached the Halwara base in the evening, where the remaining three Hawker Hunters were taxiing after landing. Just as Rafiqui was positioning himself for a strafing run, two IAF Hunters (flown by F/O P.S. Pingale and A. R. Gandhi) on Combat Air Patrol intercepted his formation. Cecil Chaudhry fled back to base leaving Rafiquis tail exposed and Yunus alone. Rafiqui quickly aborted his strafing run and engaged Pingale. He manoeuvered behind the Hunter and shot it down. Yunus shot A.R. Gandhi destroying his Hawker Hunter but Gandhi ejected and landed on the outskirts of Halwara. After this, Vinod Neb shot down Yunus when he mistakenly turned to the left directly into the firing range of Neb.

Sitara-e-Jurat The Sitara-e-Jurat citation reads: "Flt Lt Yunus fought in air battle over enemy territory aggressively, fearlessly and with great professional skill. On 6 Sep while attacking Halwara airfield, a large number of enemy aircraft intercepted his small formation. He fought them with exceptional gallantry exceeding all limits and in the process shot down two Hunters. Although his aircraft was hit, he refused to break off engagement in complete disregard to his personal safety. He became a symbol of courage and professional ability for the other pilots. For his valour, professional skill and devotion to duty; he is awarded SJ."

Awards and decorations

PAF GD(P) BadgeSitara-e-Jurat (Star of Courage)

POSTHUMOUSTamgha-e-Diffa (Defence Medal)

DIR-BAJAUR Clasp