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Sherdils
Sherdils (Urdu: ﺸﻴر دﻝ; English: Lion Hearts) are an aerobatics display team of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The team is based out of the Pakistan Air Force Academy Asghar Khan, in Risalpur, Pakistan. Currently, it consists of nine Karakoram K-8P aircraft.
The Sherdils are not a full-time aerobatic team, rather the pilots are selected from the PAF Academy's Advanced Jet Training Squadron instructors, where cadets and young fighter pilots go through jet aircraft training. The Sherdils are responsible for preparing and performing formation aerobatics at national and international events.
The team was officially formed on August 17, 1972, by Bahar-ul-Haq, an academy instructor who was inspired by the Red Pelicans, which was the aerobatics team of the RAF College, Cranwell, where Bahar had attended an exchange tour. Bahar decided to put on a show during graduation to demonstrate the professional skills of the academy instructors and after several trials of candidate instructors, a team was formed under Wing Commander Imtiaz Bhatti using T-37 aircraft. The other members of the first team were Flight Lieutenant Aamer Ali Sharieff, Flight Lieutenant A Rahim Yusufzai, and Flight Lieutenant Niaz Nabi.
The debut performance of the team was highly successful, leading to more air shows for foreign dignitaries, heads of state, and military officers. Initially, the team had no name, flying as the "Sherdils" for the first time on September 19, 1974. The team was also known as the "Tweety Birds" after the T-37 "Tweets" they flew. Attempts were made to increase the number of aircraft in the team, but engine thrust demands were too much for the outer formation members. A four-aircraft diamond thus remained the basic formation of the Sherdils for almost three decades.
On 8 October, 1978, the Sherdils team experienced an accident during practice, resulting in the loss of one aircraft and its leader, Flight Lieutenant Alamdar. He was later awarded a posthumous Sitara-e-Basalat.
In 2004, the number of aircraft in the primary formation was increased to six under the leadership of Wing Commander Tariq Chaudhary. The team was expanded to 9 aircraft on October 2, 2004, under the leadership of Wing Commander Vaqar Ali Qureshi, however the limited power of the T-37's engines caused difficulty with maintaining formation, especially for aircraft on the outside of the formation. The pioneer nine aircraft Sherdils team members were Wing Commander Vaqar (Leader), Flight Lieutenant Armughan (No. 2), Flight Lieutenant Nusrat (No. 3), Squadron leader Tariq Azeem (No. 4 slot/deputy leader), Sqn Leader Nasir (No. 5), Squadron Leader Sohail (No. 6), Squadron Leader Zahid (No. 7), Flight Lieutenant Hammad (No. 8), and Squadron Leader Tanveer (No. 9).
In 2009, the Sherdils transitioned from T-37 to K-8 aircraft, which were jointly developed by Pakistan and China. A four-ship formation of K-8P aircraft performed for the first time in November 2009 at the PAF Academy Risalpur under the leadership of Squadron Leader Aamer Misbah Ahmad. The members of the first Sherdils K-8P squad were Squadron Leader Aamer Misbah Ahmad (Leader), No.2 Squadron Leader Nasir Zia (Right Wing), No.3 Squadron Leader Wajahat Syed (Left Wing), and No.4 Squadron Leader Khalid Matin (Slot Member).
Squadron Leader Aamer Misbah Ahmad became the pioneer of the Sherdils K-8P team. He singlehandedly led the successful conversion of the team from T-37 to K-8P without any incident despite much resistance from the T-37 team. Along with this, he was the Flight Commander of the Advanced Jet Training Squadron (AJTS) in parallel and was responsible for training new pilots at the PAF Asghar Khan Academy in Risalpur.
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Sherdils
Sherdils (Urdu: ﺸﻴر دﻝ; English: Lion Hearts) are an aerobatics display team of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). The team is based out of the Pakistan Air Force Academy Asghar Khan, in Risalpur, Pakistan. Currently, it consists of nine Karakoram K-8P aircraft.
The Sherdils are not a full-time aerobatic team, rather the pilots are selected from the PAF Academy's Advanced Jet Training Squadron instructors, where cadets and young fighter pilots go through jet aircraft training. The Sherdils are responsible for preparing and performing formation aerobatics at national and international events.
The team was officially formed on August 17, 1972, by Bahar-ul-Haq, an academy instructor who was inspired by the Red Pelicans, which was the aerobatics team of the RAF College, Cranwell, where Bahar had attended an exchange tour. Bahar decided to put on a show during graduation to demonstrate the professional skills of the academy instructors and after several trials of candidate instructors, a team was formed under Wing Commander Imtiaz Bhatti using T-37 aircraft. The other members of the first team were Flight Lieutenant Aamer Ali Sharieff, Flight Lieutenant A Rahim Yusufzai, and Flight Lieutenant Niaz Nabi.
The debut performance of the team was highly successful, leading to more air shows for foreign dignitaries, heads of state, and military officers. Initially, the team had no name, flying as the "Sherdils" for the first time on September 19, 1974. The team was also known as the "Tweety Birds" after the T-37 "Tweets" they flew. Attempts were made to increase the number of aircraft in the team, but engine thrust demands were too much for the outer formation members. A four-aircraft diamond thus remained the basic formation of the Sherdils for almost three decades.
On 8 October, 1978, the Sherdils team experienced an accident during practice, resulting in the loss of one aircraft and its leader, Flight Lieutenant Alamdar. He was later awarded a posthumous Sitara-e-Basalat.
In 2004, the number of aircraft in the primary formation was increased to six under the leadership of Wing Commander Tariq Chaudhary. The team was expanded to 9 aircraft on October 2, 2004, under the leadership of Wing Commander Vaqar Ali Qureshi, however the limited power of the T-37's engines caused difficulty with maintaining formation, especially for aircraft on the outside of the formation. The pioneer nine aircraft Sherdils team members were Wing Commander Vaqar (Leader), Flight Lieutenant Armughan (No. 2), Flight Lieutenant Nusrat (No. 3), Squadron leader Tariq Azeem (No. 4 slot/deputy leader), Sqn Leader Nasir (No. 5), Squadron Leader Sohail (No. 6), Squadron Leader Zahid (No. 7), Flight Lieutenant Hammad (No. 8), and Squadron Leader Tanveer (No. 9).
In 2009, the Sherdils transitioned from T-37 to K-8 aircraft, which were jointly developed by Pakistan and China. A four-ship formation of K-8P aircraft performed for the first time in November 2009 at the PAF Academy Risalpur under the leadership of Squadron Leader Aamer Misbah Ahmad. The members of the first Sherdils K-8P squad were Squadron Leader Aamer Misbah Ahmad (Leader), No.2 Squadron Leader Nasir Zia (Right Wing), No.3 Squadron Leader Wajahat Syed (Left Wing), and No.4 Squadron Leader Khalid Matin (Slot Member).
Squadron Leader Aamer Misbah Ahmad became the pioneer of the Sherdils K-8P team. He singlehandedly led the successful conversion of the team from T-37 to K-8P without any incident despite much resistance from the T-37 team. Along with this, he was the Flight Commander of the Advanced Jet Training Squadron (AJTS) in parallel and was responsible for training new pilots at the PAF Asghar Khan Academy in Risalpur.