I’m sure the Pak pilots were at the top of their game too. Pakistan is famous for their piloting skills.
I have no doubt that a MiG-21 would beat an F-104 in a turn and burn dog fight. But only an idiot F-104 pilot would turn and burn against that delta wing.
I'm all for the Indians whooping up on the Pakis, but this article is a real piece of... happy nostalgia. The MiG-21 was clearly one of the premier aircraft in the world in 1971 and the Indian pilots were superior to the Paki pilots. They also had three times as many MiG-21s as the Pakis had F-104s.
Lol. Just what I was about to post. I remember reading once that we had some plane with a hundred and some gauges. The model we sold them had like 15 or 20 idiot lights.
Like back in the 1980’s when a Pak F-16 accidentaly shot down his wingman.
Top Gun, they are not.