Writer: Major Aamir Cheema, Retired

The history of the first ever Mi-24 defections to Pakistan, during the Soviet occupation
of Afghanistan

The Russian invasion and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, was then seen as the final act of the Great Game, and it ended with the disintegration of the USSR. Soviet airpower, especially helicopters such as the Mi-24 Hind, had a special mystique among NATO countries. Soviet rotary war machines were an enigma in terms of their capabilities, design, flying controls and performance in mountainous areas. During this occupation, a few Afghan pilots defected with their flying machines, to Pakistan.

Defection of Mi-24 HIND – Miran Shah to Qasim Base (The Army Aviation Base at Dhamial, Rawalpindi)

On the afternoon of 13 July 1985 at 1120 hours, two Hinds landed at the tarmac of Miran Shah (North Waziristan). These helicopters flew nap of the earth, avoiding any hostile ground fire, and they just popped up close to Saidgi. Before anyone could react, they were overhead the Tochi Scouts Fort, and after briefly hovering, they both landed, fully armed. Higher authorities decided to immediately fly these helicopters away, whose identity was not known. These were taken as Mi-8 Helicopters, and needed to move from Miran Shah for the fear that sooner or later, they would be attacked and strafed; Miran Shah airfield had no cover whatsoever, nor any anti aircraft protection.

Army Aviation was directed to undertake the mission. Major Iftikhar, TJ (Tamgha e Jurrat), was flying in the circuit of Qasim Base when he got a call to make a full stop landing, and immediately report to the base commander. He was told that two Mi-8 helicopters of Afghan Air Force had landed at Miran Shah. After some time Major Iftikhar along with Major Khalid Nawaz, Major Tariq Choudhry and Captain Shahnawaz Badr, landed at Miran Shah airfield in a UH-1H helicopter. The two helicopters
were camouflaged under saroot (a kind of tall wild growing grass). When this were removed, the army pilots were completely surprised. They had never seen these helicopters before. They were not Mi-8s, but the renowned Mi-24 Hind, fully loaded with rockets, missiles and guns. There were Afghan pilots as well on board. Local commanders wanted these helicopters to leave quickly, due to the threat of a Russian air attack. Major Iftikhar narrates; “The scary part was the tandem seat arrangement. The good point was that cyclic, rudder, pedals and flying  instruments were similar to Mi-8. We did not trust the Afghan pilots and neither had we the time to undergo any kind of conversion training on these Mi-24s. I thus decided to fly them”. Meanwhile Major Tariq got one Mi-24 started by the Afghan pilot, then taxied for some time, and later hovered it, before switching it off. He announced that he was ready to fly. One combat air patrol (CAP) of PAF Mirages was scrambled from Mianwali Air Base, to provide cover to these helicopters. 

In Mi-24 (tail No.28) the crew consisted of Major Iftikhar and Major Khalid Nawaz, and the other helicopter (tail No. 12) had Major Tariq and Captain Badr. The Afghan pilots were told to sit in the cargo compartment, but they refused when they saw Pakistani pilots getting ready to fly these machines without any conversion, they were made to sit at gunpoint. Major Iftikhar further narrates; “Cyclic had a lot of buttons and I was unaware of any of them, thus I flew without any trimmers. We were maintaining 1000 feet above ground level. After take-off a strange female voice came on the radio transmission. I asked Major Tariq about this and he also confirmed this. We thought that Russians were searching for us. The Russian female voice, in fact, was a recorder which announced certain checks and procedures. After 25 minutes of flying, I got a call from Major Tariq that fuel was dripping in his cockpit, and the rest of the engine instruments were in green limits. There was no landing site available. We kept on flying on five minutes basis, thus we flew one hour
before we came out of the mountain ranges, left of Kalabagh. We landed across the River Indus
in an open field. Major Tariq’s cockpit had half an inch of fuel inside. We left that helicopter there, and took off in the other helicopter for Mianwali, which was another 30 minutes flying”.

Major Tariq, flying the other Mi-24, narrates, “I was flying it like a Mi-8. I kept the gauges, especially the RPM, within green limits. The Mirages were overhead. Around midway, the Afghan pilot announced on inter communication about benzi dripping, I did not pay any heed. After some time the Afghan pilot panicked and announced ‘Benzi boom, boom’. On a suitable site I landed”.

Next day Afghan engineers, pilots and Major Tariq Choudhry went to the forced landed helicopter where a guard was placed, and brought it to Mianwali. The same day these two MI-24s landed at Dhamial, after one hour and ten minutes of flying. There was a big reception waiting for them.

It was a historic event. The first time that Mi-24s had landed in a non-communist country. Most importantly the Pakistan Army Aviation pilots had shown their prowess to the world. They had successfully flown these state of-the-art helicopters, without any conversion or training, relying upon their instincts. All four pilots belonged to 4 Aviation Squadron (Gallants). These two helicopters were secured in a hangar and on 17 July 1985, the President General Zia-ul-Haq visited the hangar. There was a stream of visitors, American, British and Chinese, even the Russian ambassador requested to see the new machines. Later the Americans helped in unloading the rounds from the gun, and accidentally one round was fired. The next flight of these defected helicopters took place on 19 August 1985, when Major Iftikhar and Major Khalid flew them for thirty minutes. A check
list of these helicopters was made with the help of the defected pilots. On 7 November 1985,
one Mi-24 was successfully flown to Chaklala Garrison (in Rawalpindi), by Colonel Razzaq
and Major Iftikhar, with Colonel Yousaf as flight engineer. This was despite suffering a hydraulic
emergency. This helicopter was later flown out in a C-5 Galaxy. The other Mi-24 was flown by
Major Tariq Choudhry to Murid Base on 18th January 1986. This helicopter remained there for another seven years before its next flight.

Another Pair Lands at Chitral

On 4 October 1987 another pair of Mi-24 (tail number 63 and 64) landed at Zivergul, near Chitral. This pair was on a routine Mujahideen hunting mission, and lost its way. This pair belonged to the Spetsnatz unit of the Russian Army, and the crew was also Russian. After landing as per their drill, they waited for the rescue, and when it was late, they started destroying the helicopters. One shepherd was watching all this. He walked many miles and told the Chitral Scouts about these helicopters, who reached the spot. The Russians initially offered combat, but soon raised the white flag.

Qasim Base was task to retrieve these helicopters. A team headed by Colonel Razzaq visited the site in a Puma helicopter. The initial plan envisaged a sling lift of the Mi-24. However due to height and load factor, it was rejected. On 7th October 1987, a ground team reached there. Pakistan Television made a movie of this, which was shown all over the world, the same night. 

Major Malang Bukhari was the ground team member and a flight engineer of Mi-8 with almost two decades of experience. He narrates, “It was extremely cold at night, there was constant danger of a Russian rescue team as well. At times Russian jets and Mi-24s were seen prowling in their own area. We started looking at the helicopter and realised that it would be unwise to start it. The Russians had already fired many rounds in the cockpit, and secondly one could not over-rule the possibility
of some explosive devices for self-destruction. We started dismantling the helicopters, so they could be slung with a Puma. The location of the forced landing was such that a Puma could not hover there, moreover the threat of the flying Russian Mi-24s dictated that the fuselage should be taken by ground, to a safe place”. On 14 October 1987, a British team also arrived for assistance. This operation lasted till 21 December 1987, when all parts were removed from the site. All this was done in freezing cold.

Mi-17 – March 1990

In March 1990, Afghan Defence Minister Mr. Shah Nawaz Tanay, along with other high officials and their families, defected from Afghanistan and landed at PAF Base, Peshawar, in one new Mi-17 helicopter. The helicopter was impounded by the PAF, who hid it in an available concrete hangar. For the next two years, the helicopter could not fly. In August 1992 it was offered to Pakistan Army Aviation. Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Ashraf Waraich, then commanding officer Gallants (4 squdran). He was a very experienced instructor with over 4000 hours flying experience on Mi-8, by that time. He narrates, ‘I organised a maintenance team from within the attached LAD (light aid detachment – a maintenance team), in consultation with commander of the Aviation Engineering Group, comprising all necessary trades, to complete 100 hours inspection/service at Peshawar. Major Khalid Saleem as co-pilot, and Subedar Major Mir Hussain as flight engineer, were included in the team.

On arrival at PAF Base Peshawar, the team inspected the Mi-17 helicopter whose tyres were deflated, and there were bird nests present in the engine intakes. The helicopter was aired up and towed out of the hangar to give it a shower. No documents were found inside, nor did PAF have any additional data. The maintenance team started a detailed inspection and servicing, in line with Mi-8 procedures in vogue, as no manuals were available for Mi-17. The Mi-17 cockpit had all switchology marked in Russian language, which posed difficulties in recognising the function of each circuit breaker and switch. With the help of a local Russian interpreter, the switches and markings inside
the cockpit were understood, and with this experience, the Mi-17 was started.

On 23 August 1992, the Mi-17 was flown from Peshawar with a faulty radio navigation system, but landed safely at Qasim Base, where it was well received. Later, this particular Mi-17 remained the workhorse of the Army Aviation, and it was its performance, more than any thing else, which resulted in induction of over a dozen Mi-17 in mid-nineties, in Pakistan Army Aviation.

Notes

• 4 Army Aviation Squadron, Digest of Service.
• Amir Mushtaq Cheema, Mushtaq Madni and Muhammad Azam, History of Pakistan Army Aviation 1947-2007,
  (Islamabad: Army Press, 2007).
  • Major Iftikhar, telephonic interview, December 15, 2021.
  • Qasim Aviation Base, Digest of Service.
  • Barry Renfrew, “Pakistani Officials Say Two Afghan Helicopter Gunships Defect.” AP News, July 13, 1983. https://
  apnews.com/article/3b2a3aa70518bcf1984132e81925fc3a.
  • Ashraf Waraich, telephonic interview, December 3, 2021.