To say that as the sun rose on 4 December, the PAF was ready and waiting for India’s counter air strikes would be an understatement. The previous afternoon’s provocation was meant to limit the IAF’s options and, like any force of its size placed in similar circumstances, it responded precisely as expected.

The IAF came in with force and determination: using some 70 Hunters and u-7s in flights of twos and fours, it began a series of strikes against 12 air bases and 2 radars of the PAF. The first attack began at 0550 hrs when 4 Su-7s bombed and straffed Chander. Most of the strike routings indicated the IAF’s full knowledge, through defecting East Pakistani officers, of the numbers, types and locations of PAF radars; the locations could not be changed very much without compromising effectiveness. As a consequence, the IAF formations were often able to exploit the radar gaps and arrive undetected over their targets. This meant that the air defence system was compelled to fly continuous CAPs, which became the bane of the fighter pilots, who hated to be held fruitlessly in the idle orbits for long periods.

Surprisingly, Sargodha air base was not attacked by day at all, an indicator perhaps of the caution it inspired in the IAF planners’ minds. By the end of the day PAF pilots from different bases had destroyed 10 and damaged 4 enemy fighters as shown in the table below.

S No	Shot Down By	Aircraft Type	Air Base	Awarded Destroyed ----- Damaged
1	Flt Lt K Latif	F-6	Risalewala	1 Su-7	-
2	Flt Lt Sarfraz	F-6	Risalewala	-	1 Su-7
3	Sqn Ldr Sajid	F-86	Masroor	1 Hunter	-
4	Flt Lt Irfan	F-86	Sargodha	1 Su-7	1 Su-7
5	Sqn Ldr Wamiq	F-86	Rafiqui	1 Su-7	-
6	Wg Cdr Changezi	F-86	Peshawar	1 Hunter	-
7	Flt Lt J Qazi	F-6	Mianwali	1 Hunter	-
8	Flt Lt S B Mirza	F-86	Peshawar	1 Hunter	-
9	Flt Lt K Razzak	F-86	Peshawar	-	1 Hunter
10	Sqn Ldr Aman	F-104	Sargodha	1 Gnat	-
11	Sqn Ldr Bhatti	F-104	Sargodha	1 Su-7	-
12	Flt Lt Mujahid	F-86	Murid	1 Hunter	-
13	Sqn Ldr G Saleem	F-86	Peshawar	-	1 Hunter

Additionally, Pak ack ack gunners destroyed 4 other fighters that day taking the tally upto 14 destroyed and 4 damaged IAF fighters on 4 December, excluding the Indian losses at night and in East Pakistan. In contrast the PAF lost only one F-86 on the ground at Murid and the radar at Badin was slightly damaged.

The PAF too continued its day strikes throughout the war but, in all its 100 sorties over enemy airfields and radars, it lost only two aircraft, both F-104s. On 5 December Squadron Leader Amjad H Khan’s F-104 was shot down by flak while he was attacking Amritsar radar and the pilot was taken POW. The second F-104, piloted by Wing Commander M L Middlecoat, was intercepted near Jamnagar by a Mig-21 on 12 December but Middlecoat could not be rescued by the IAF after ejecting over water.

The battle of the air bases raged on but, after experiencing heavy losses on the first two days, the IAF switched greater air effort over to interdiction of Pakistan’s major rail and road communications which ran close to the border. In the absence of the PAF radar cover in this interdiction area, the IAF enjoyed relative freedom from interception, and greatly succeeded in its alternative targeting. Despite launching many CAPs the PAF was often unable to make contact with the fleeing IAF attackers.

On the ground the PAF’s biggest single loss occurred at Murid on 8 December when a Hunter attacked a lone F-86 which was thoughtlessly parked, after being refuelled and rearmed, next to a cluster of 4 covered pens; within these pens stood 4 F-86s fully armed with bombs for the next mission. The base paid the price for this inexcusable lapse by losing all 5 aircraft when the exploding bombs of the exposed Sabre triggered detonations in the other four. On 17 December, the IAF struck Skardu airfield, not in use by the PAF, and cratered the runway. The daylight strikes of the IAF failed to cause any lasting damage at any of the other airfields, although operations were temporarily impeded in some cases.