Contact with the SOC, who had yet to give the final clearance for any shooting to take place, had been temporarily lost, but Squadron Leader Rafiqui had little doubt about what needed to be done: the gloves were off - and he went unhesitatingly into the attack in masterly fashion. Bhatti covered while Rafiqui's deadly marksmanship accounted for both the Vampires. In the pursuit Bhatti saw 2 other Vampires cutting into threatan his leader. He manoeuvred into a position where he could pick up the fighters but withheld his fire on his first victim as there was a danger of hitting Rafiqui's aircraft. The enemy fighters were now close and Bhatti warned his leader of the danger, which was to go unheeded for the time being as Rafiqui was downing his second Vampire. Bhatti called out to Rafiqui then to break hard to the left, which he did, and in that instant Bhatti fired and claimed his first Vampire. He then turned on the second, firing while Rafiqui covered him, and in a low level chase the fourth Vampire was last seen crashing into the trees below. The pair then looked around for the Canberras which were nowhere to be seen and presumed that they had slipped away while the fight was in progress.

On landing back they were to receive in person the warm congratulations of the C-in-C himself. Thanks to this valiant pair, the PAF had got off to a good start. This was to be the last time that the old Vampires would be tried out in combat, as it dawned on the Indians that the PAF was now in deadly earnest. The brief engagament between the Sabres and the Vampires had occurred in full view of Pak troops and was to have an exhilarating effect. Brigadier Amjad Ali Khan Chowdhry, Commander Artillery of 4 Corps writing from the front said in a letter to the C-in-C: "Your very first action in Chamb left no doubt in our minds that we did not have to worry much about the enemy air. The pattern was set there and then. We will never forget that spectacle-it lifted our spirits and gave us a flying start."

Interestingly Indian side reported that Vampire strike was followed by the Mystere IV-A. According to an Indian source: "The Mystere IV-A followed up in the wake of the Vampires. No one can tell why the Mysteres were not sent earlier in the first place instead of the Vampires. Even though the Mystere was no match for the Sabre, it had a fighting chance as it was slightly faster than the Sabre. Maybe it was assumed that the PAF would not intervene, or it may have been that the Vampires could be in the air faster than the Mysteres, for the situation was desperate enough to warrant sending the Vampires first. Be that as it may, following the 12 Vampire sorties came 16 more by the Mysteres. Nos. 3 and 31 Sqns. flew the 16 sorties in 45 minutes. IAF Mysteres in flights of 4, managed to do lot of damage on ground, sometimes making as many as six runs over the battlefield.

To quote Wg. Cdr. W.M. Goodman, "Our boys were in like a flash and in no time the whole place was ablaze with burning tanks and Vehicles, the enemy will never forget the Mystere." The last Mystere sorties were at 1905 hrs. By that time, the IAF had claimed 13 tanks, 2 guns, and 62 soft-skinned vehicles as destroyed. This assesment was released by the IAF but was never confirmed by the Army.

Recent research by a retired Army Officer came up with some startling facts. Army officers in the Chamb sector had told him in the interviews that the IAF strafing and rocket attacks had destroyed three of our own AMX-13 tanks, a dozen truckloads of artillery ammunition and one truck carrying tank ammunition. The destruction of the latter resulted in the shortage of tank ammunition for the armoured squadron." (Jagan's 1965 war homepage)

Against light opposition the Pak Army waded across the narrow width of the Tawi early the next morning, and established a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the river. The tanks and vehicles of the infantry battalions had some minor problems while crossing the obstacle, the depth of which was about 3 feet at its deepest, but all managed to get across eventually. In this situation, Pak Army units were again very vulnerable to air attack, and it was surprising that the IAF missed the opportunity.

Despite the relative tranquillity that prevailed in the air on 2 September the PAF did,not let down its guard and from dawn to dusk a CAP was maintained in the Jhelum-Muzaffarabad area. No less than 18 F-86 and 6 F-104 missions were flown, with the F-86s operating in pairs except one when 4 aircraft were used. A few enemy tracks appeared at irregular intervals on the radar screen at Sakesar, and fighters were directed towards them, but no contact was established, in which case invariably the fighters were withdrawn to avoid wasteful flying

The PAF had, however, acceded to an Army request for close support in the Akhnur sector, where opposition to Pak ground forces was relatively stiff. Squadron Leader Alam in command of 11 Squadron at Sargodha was assigned the mission, the targets being gun positions and troop concentrations near Jaurian, the next Indian stronghold after Chamb. The morning at 0530 hours on 2 September was clear, with a slight mist hugging the ground as the first flight of 4 F-86s, led by the squadron commander, winged their way at low level towards jaurian, to be followed five minutes later by a second flight of 3 F-86s, one having ,been forced to drop out owing to last minute unserviceability. Fifteen minutes flying brought the leading 4 to the target area where, pulling up, they spent the best part of ten minutes circling around to see some signs of enemy activity. Nothing was visible in the early morning light and the leader was almost in despair at the thought of returning home with ammunition intact when he sensed where a hidden enemy might conceivably be as he spotted an orchard occupying an area of some 300 square yards. He directed his flight of 4 to attack it with rockets. The action was rewarded when a startled enemy was seen to break cover in an effort to get away from the area under attack. Military vehicles of various descriptions were seen emerging and Alam's formation was then able to empty out their guns on more lucrative targets and with visible results. An RT-33 aircraft escorted by 2 Sabres later carried out a reconnaissance in this area and photographs revealed that there were some buildings amongst the trees, presumably a tent house being used as an Indian Army Formation HQ. Flight Lieutenant Yusaf's formation arriving on the scene shortly after Alam's foursome, having fruitlessly searched the ground upto now, spotted a long convoy of vehicles including tanks on the road to Jaurian. After the first rocket attack the tanks drove off the road to take cover as best as they could. About two more attacks by each of the 3 Sabres were made and estimations are that about 5 tanks were hit.