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Early life
Born July 6, 1935 to a well-educated family of Kolkata, British India, M.M. Alam completed his secondary education in 1951 from Government High School, Dacca, East Pakistan. He joined the PAF in 1952 and was granted commission on October 2, 1953. Alam's brothers are M. Shahid Alam, an economist and a professor at Northeastern University, and M. Sajjad Alam, a particle physicist at SUNY Albany. His family moved to West Pakistan in around 1971, after the secession of East Pakistan.
Being the eldest among 11 siblings in his family, M.M. Alam never
married as he had to share the financial responsibilities of his younger
sisters and brothers. Several of his younger brothers excelled in
various academic and professional careers, owing their success to MM
Alam’s hard work.
Service with the Pakistan Air Force
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
M. M. Alam was the first ever honored fighter pilot for PAF, listed
on top in the hall of famers list at the PAF Museum in Karachi. Alam is
considered as a national hero for Pakistan, most significantly, for his
remarkable show of brilliance in the war of 1965 when he was posted at Sargodha. During this war he was involved in various dog fights while flying his F-86 Sabre fighter. He downed nine Indian fighters in air-to-air combat, including six Hawker Hunter fighters.
In one mission on 7 September 1965, Alam claimed to have downed five Indian aircraft
in less than a minute, the first four within 30 seconds, establishing a
world record, with total of 9 aircraft downed in the war.
Alam's confirmed kills are as follows:
- September 6, 1965, 1× Hawker Hunter
- Squadron Leader Ajit Kumar Rawlley, No. 7 Sqn, KIA near Tarn Taran.
- September 7, 1965, 5× Hawker Hunters
- Squadron Leader Onkar Nath Kacker, No. 27 Sqn, POW
- Squadron Leader A B Devayya, No. 7 Sqn also claimed by Flt Lt Amjad Hussain
- Squadron Leader Suresh B Bhagwat, No. 7 Sqn
- Flight Lieutenant B Guha, No. 7 Sqn
- Flying Officer Jagdev Singh Brar, No. 7 Sqn, KIA, near Sangla Hill.
- September 16, 1965, 1× Hawker Hunter
- Flying Officer Farokh Dara Bunsha, No. 7 Sqn, KIA, near Amritsar.
The Pakistan Air Force figures have been disputed by Indian sources
on basis of discrepancies in names, times and plane types flown, also
attributing one of the losses of Sqn Ldr Onkar Nath Kacker's aircraft to technical failure or some other cause. They also claim that gun camera footage of Alam's kills must have been most likely tampered with including a photograph purporting to depict an Indian Hunter on fire
but later identified as cut from a training film showing a Pakistani
Sabre firing rockets against practice ground targets. Devayya and Guha
were Mystere pilots, claimed by PAF as shot down by PAF pilots F/L Hussain and F/L Malik
PAF Air Cdre Kaiser Tufail credits Alam with three Hunters shot down and two damaged on September 7
1965, while saying Alam is rightly worthy of a place in the annals of
air warfare as ‘one of the great aces of jet age'.
In 1967, Alam was transferred as the Squadron Commander of the first squadron of Dassault Mirage III fighters procured by the PAF.
He was removed from staff college based on a false pretext in May 1969.
He had rubbed many PAF officers including superiors the wrong way,
including recommending the removal of hard drinks from PAF Officers
mess.
During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, all personnel who were of
Bengali origins or were born in Bengal were grounded to prevent any
defections. Thus, Alam was posted on a staff job and did not fly in
combat.
In 1972, he commanded No. 26 Squadron for two months.
In 1982, Alam retired as an Air commodore and took up residence in Karachi. Since retiring, Alam had become more deeply interested in religion.
Death
The Air Force legend had been battling illness since December 2012,
and was admitted to Pakistan Naval Station Shifa Hospital in Karachi. After a protracted illness, M. M. Alam died in Karachi on 18 March
2013. He was 77. Alam had been suffering from respiratory problems but
his health had deteriorated lately. He had been under treatment for
about 18 months. M. M. Alam’s funeral prayer was offered at the PAF Base Masroor,
where he served some of the finest years of his air force life. He was
later laid to rest at the Shuhuda (Martyrs) graveyard at PAF Masroor
Airbase. Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, Sindh Governor Dr
Ishratul Ebad, Air Chief Marshal (Ret.) Farooq Feroz Khan, Sindh corps
commander Lt. Gen Ijaz Chaudhry, Pakistan Rangers (Sindh)
Director-General Maj. Gen. Rizwan Akhter, several war veterans of the
1965 war and a number of colleagues of M. M. Alam attended the funeral.
One of the younger brothers of the deceased, Zubair Alam, was also
present.
Memorials
M.M. Alam Road in Lahore
M. M. Alam Road, a major road in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan is named in honour of the flying ace of Pakistan Air Force, Air Commodore Muhammad Mahmood Alam, running from Main Market to Gulberg.
The road runs parallel to famous Main Boulevard thus providing an
alternate route and is a commercial hub with many restaurants, fashion
boutiques, shopping malls, beauty saloons and décor stores. M.M. Alam
road hosts a variety of flamboyant restaurants in modern Lahore.
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