Fifth death anniversary of Pakistani fighter pilot Muhammad Mahmood Alam popularly known as MM Alam, was observed across the nation on Sunday. The war hero is remembered for his remarkable show of brilliance on 7th of September, 1965 when he shot down five Indian aircrafts within a minute, the four of them in just thirty seconds. The fighter pilot was nicknamed ‘Little Dragon’ for the skills he had. His aerial combat led to the destruction of nine Indian aircrafts in total. Alam was a North American Aviation F-86 Sabre flying ace and air commodore, who served Pakistan Air Force (PAF). Third highest military award of Sitara-e-Jurat which means “The star of courage” was given to him. Born on 6th of July, 1935 MM Alam belonged to a well-educated family of Calcutta in the British India. In 1951, he completed the secondary education from Government High School located in Dhaka. Alam joined PAF in 1952 and was then granted commission on 2nd of October, 1953. His major appointments included air gunnery and tactical instructor at Fighter Leader School, commanding officer of PAF squadrons No. 11, No. 5 and No. 26, director operation research, assistant chief of the air staff (flight safety) and assistant chief of the air staff (plans) at the headquarters. He retired as air commodore in 1982. The veteran died on 18th of March, 2013 at the age of seventy-seven years in Karachi.
Published in Daily Times, March 19th 2018.