Matiur Rahman (Bir Sreshtho)

Common card · No. 487207

Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman, Bir Sreshtho (29 October 1941 – 20 August 1971) was a Bengali fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and a recipient of Bir Sreshtho, Bangladesh's highest military award, for his actions during the Bangladesh War of Independence. He attempted to escape from West Pakistan and join the Bangladesh War of Independence in then East Pakistan by hijacking a Lockheed T-33 aircraft being flown by a 20-year-old newly commissioned pilot officer, Rashid Minhas, who was conducting his second solo flight. Rahman stopped the aircraft on the runway, climbed into the cockpit, and steered the aircraft toward the Indian border, but Minhas soon realized his intentions and fought against him through the mechanically linked controls. Minhas then released the canopy, and since he was not properly strapped in, Rahman was sucked out of the cockpit. Minhas then tried to recover the plane, but it crashed since it was flying too low, killing...

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