Heroics of Wg Cdr Mervyn Middlecoat (Shaheed),Sitara-i-Jurat, Bar to Sitara-i-Jurat

Mervyn Lesley Middlecoat grew up in Lahore and received his early education at Saint Anthony’s High School. After having a short stint of few months at prestigious Burn Hall College at Abbottabad, he joined PAF in 1951. He passed out with 16 GDP course in 1954, and won the Best Performance Trophy in ground subjects - a great honour for a promising flight cadet.
At the outbreak of 65 War, the courageous Sqn Ldr Mervyn Middlecoat was commanding the Elite No. 9 Sqn equipped with F-104s. The Sqn was assigned with the precious and vital task of photoreconnaissance deep inside enemy territory along with air defence of Pakistan. Another important task for the Star fighters was the interception of intruding IAF Canberra bomber aircraft.
The only potent weapon available to PAF was the F-104, as it could fly the night interception missions and could pose threat to IAF bombers. After 1st Sept, the F-104s were extremely active in air defence and air superiority operations. Out of 246 missions flown by F-104s during hostilities, 42 were at night against the IAF Canberras. Middlecoat was highly enthusiastic about these night interception sorties and flew many such missions.
The first positive encounter between a Canberra and PAF night fighter took place on the night of 13/14 Sept when a Star Fighter flown by Middlecoat from Sargodha intercepted a Peshawar intruder during its high-level exit.
The Sakesar radar carried out the interception. As Middlecoat arrived at the position directed by the radar, nothing was visible in the pitch-dark night. Middlecoat carried out a completely blind interception and was vectored about half a mile behind the intruder by the Sakesar radar. On arriving at the directed position, he fired his lethal sidewinder. Missile tone indicated acquisition of the target, and seconds later an explosion was seen at a range of about 4000 feet. It was an indication that the impact or proximity fuse of the sidewinder had fired, and the Canberra was assumed to have been destroyed, although confirmation was not possible since the encounter took place over the Indian territory.
On the morning of 12 Dec 1971, Middlecoat along with his wingman Tariq Habib strafed the aircraft parked on the runway of the heavily defended Indian air base at Jamnagar. However they were forced to abort their mission after two IAF MiG-21 aircraft. Middlecoat quickly reduced altitude and maintained high speed. Within moments, one of the MiG’s fired its lethal sidewinder. He managed to deflect the missile with superior aircraft handling and continued to exit the area. Subsequently, however another missile fired at him at close range shot him down. He bailed out over the Gulf of Kutch. Flt Lt Bharat Bhushan Soni, the Indian pilot that shot him down, saw Middlecoat ejecting. However, his remains were never found. He was declared missing in action initially and was posthumously awarded a Bar to SJ.
Middlecoat also flew daring photo reconnaissance missions deep inside the enemy territory. He flew with great courage and produced some extraordinary results. The intelligence gathered by him while flying these missions proved to be of great importance to PAF and Pakistan Army in assessing the battlefield. For his feats of valour and dedication to the country and service, he was awarded Sitara-i-Jurat.