Four Sabres under Masud

The Falcons were formed in 1956 with four North American F-86 Sabres under Wg Cdr Zafar “Mitty” Masud, the air force’s best-known display pilot, and grew to seven and then nine aircraft over the next two years. In December 1957 the Commander-in-Chief, Air Marshal Asghar Khan, asked for the team to be enlarged to 16 Sabres for the state visit of King Mohammad Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, giving Masud a little under four weeks of flying days to prepare.

Sixteen Sabres over Mauripur

On 2 February 1958 Masud led 16 Sabres through a formation loop over PAF Base Mauripur (now Masroor) at Karachi, before about 30,000 spectators including the leaders of both countries. It was a world record for the number of aircraft looped in formation until No. 111 Squadron’s Black Arrows looped 22 Hunters at Farnborough that September. Many of the sixteen pilots later fought in the 1965 war with India, and several rose to lead the air force. The core team went on flying displays with four to nine Sabres; it is reported to have been disbanded in 1966.