The IAF seemed a little less in awe of the F-86, presumably because Gnats and Hunters were both considerably faster and could swiftly disengage whenever it became more prudent to do so. Even so, after the first two hectic days of the war, there were only five occasions on which the marauding F-86s of the PAF could goad the reluctant enemy into decisive air combat. The last of these was on the 20 September, and was unusual in that much of the ensuing dog fight took place in full view of delighted Lahorites, whose mounting excitement turned to exultation as they saw stricken Indian fighters plunge to their doom. The engagement started when the usual 4 Sabres on CAP at 20,000 ft between Kasur and Lahore drew an unusually brisk reaction from the lAF. On this occasion, the CAP was led by Squadron Leader Sharbat Ali Changezi, with Flight Lieutenants Anwarul Haq Malik, S N A Jilani and Amanullah Khan as Nos 2,3, and 4. Although the sky was clear at 20,000 ft, virtually nothing could be seen below because of the usual summer dust haze. "Four bogies climbing well inside enemy territory heading north", came the radio warning from Sakesar radar. Over Lahore, Amanullah suddenly saw out of the corner of his eye, a couple of dark specks swimming up through the haze. "Two bandits about 5,000 ft below, 11 o' clock", he transmitted. As drop tanks fluttered down (one of Changezi's had hung up) spraying out glittering globules of fuel, gun switches were selected to 'fire' and gunsight checked.

As the 2 enemy aircraft came close enough to be identified as Hunters, Jilani and Amanullah peeled off to dive after them, but at that moment Changezi spotted another pair of Hunters at 12 O'clock preparing to pounce on the No 3 and 4 Sabres. Changezi immediately dived on the second pair of Hunters, so that there was a veritable procession of Hunters, Sabres, Hunters and more Sabres in pairs tumbling through the sky. The first pilot to get his sight on a target was Changezi, a scion of the Hazara tribe of the Baluchistan Province, who managed to turn inside his Pair of Hunters despite the handicap of one Underwing fuel tank. His wingman Malik called, "lead Your tail is clear", and the leader fired a short burst as the Hunter loomed up into his gunsight. Strikes were evident on the fuselage of the enemy aircraft, and after a second burst, it began emitting smoke.

Malik called up and said, "Lead, why isn't it bursting into flames?" Changezi replied, "wait", and found that he was skidding slightly while following the desperate manoeuvres of the Hunter, because of the drop tank under one wing. He booted the rudder and fired a two-second burst while sweeping his gunsight pipper right across the Hunter from left to right. It seemed the pilot was probably killed, since the Hunter suddenly levelled out from its violent turns and went into a shallow dive without much acceleration.

At that moment, Changezi saw 4 Gnats which had suddenly appeared from the left, so after one last burst at the Hunter, which dived into the ground, he broke left to confront the new enemy. He had lost contact with his No 2 who did not answer repeated radio calls, although he could hear the other 2 Sabre pilots busily engaged with the other Indian aircraft. Malik, in fact, had been attacked by the IAF Gnats while he was busy keeping his leader's tail clear, and his Sabre had suffered several strikes on the starboard wing and fuselage from 30mm high explosive cannon shells. As he looked into his rear view mirror, Malik saw two Gnats coming in again with flashes from their cannon clearly visible and, although he took violent evasive action, he received further hits.

The Sabre flicked over on the edge of a spin, but Malik managed to regain control despite dense fumes filling the cockpit. He lost his radio, and the aircraft would barely stay in the air, but he managed to dive out of the battle and head back into Pakistan just across the border, the Sabre finally became uncontrollable, and he was forced to eject quite close to Lahore. He parachuted down without major injury, and was back at Sargodha within a few hours.

In the meantime, Flight Lieutenants Jilani and Amanullah were continuing their battle with the 3 remaining Hunters, which had since been joined by the 4 Gnats. While Jilani was circling with a Hunter, Amanullah stayed on his wing until attacked by a Gnat, when he was forced to break away. He was also fired at by the second Hunter which fortunately missed. Eventually, Jilani managed to out-turn his adversary, and as the Hunter began to fill his sight, he poured a stream of armour piercing and incendiary bullets into it from close range.

As the Hunter plunged down in flames and out of control, the remaining IAF aircraft broke off the engagement and disappeared. Air Commodore Masroor Hosain who was watching the progress of the fight on the Sakesar radar, urged the PAF aircraft to chase the enemy, but it was rapidly getting dark and the IAF aircraft were nowhere to be seen. "How did you get on?" asked the air commoclore over the radio of the returning pilots.

"I got a Hunter," replied Changezi.
" I got a Hunter, too, " added Jilani.
"I got saved," said Amanullah wryly, and brought the curtain down on air engagements.