MARTIN B-57 "BABA"
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(1959-1985)
The Martin B-57 Canberra was a United States built, twin jet engine light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, which entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 was initially a version of the English Electric Canberra built under license. However, the Glenn L. Martin Company significantly modified the design and produced several unique variants.
24 B-57B and 2 B-57C delivered to Pakistan Air Force forming No.7 and No.8 Bomber Squadrons of No.31 Bomber Wing based at Masroor (then known as Mauripur Air Base in Karachi) in 1959. All B-57B were retrofitted with RB-1A all-weather bombing system starting in 1963, some aircraft were also fitted with under wing hard points to facilitate carriage of four extra fuel tanks.
Crewed by two; pilot,
navigator / bombardier the aircraft could carry 2000 kg bomb load in an
internal bomb bay and 1300 kg
on
four external hard points to maximum combat radius of
1530 km.
Pakistan Air Force was one of the main users of the B-57 and made use of it in two wars with India. In 1965 Indo-Pak B-57s flew 167 sorties, dropping over 600 tons of bombs. Three B-57s were lost in action. However, only one of those three was lost as a result of enemy action. During the war, the bomber wing of the Pakistan Air Force attacked concentration of airfields in north India. In order to avoid enemy fighter-bombers, the B-57s operated from several different airbases. The B-57 bombers would arrive over their targets in a stream at intervals of about fifteen minutes, which led to a major disruption of the overall Indian Air Force effort.
During the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, the Pakistan Air Force again made use of the B-57. On the very first night, 12 Indian Air Force runways were targeted and a total of 183 bombs were dropped. As the war progressed, Pakistan Air Force B-57s carried out many night missions. There was a higher attrition rate than in 1965, with reportedly 5 B-57s being put out of service by the end of the war.
The
remaining 10/11 B-57s were replaced in a ceremony on
27 December 1983/1985 when No.7 Squadron was formally
re-equipped with the A-5s.
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