Sky Force

Movie (2025)
Hindi title: स्काई फोर्स

Starring:
Akshay Kumar (Wing Commander Kumar Om Ahuja)
Veer Pahariya (Squadron Leader T. Krishna Vijaya "Tabby")
Sara Ali Khan (Geeta Vijaya)
Nimrat Kaur (Preeti Ahuja)

In 1971, Wing Commander Ahuja interrogates a Pakistani pilot. He tries to know what occured 6 years before but got no response. The Indo-Pakistani air war of 1965 is then reviewed from No. 1 Squadron IAF, covering both its difficult periods and its successes.
1981... Now retired, Ahuja received a book about the 1965 war.

Note: This film utilises a significant quantity of Computer Generated Images (CGI). Aircraft portrayed in this film may not be entirely accurate and have been identified as closely as possible to real aircraft.

Hawker Hunter

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

The last of the 45 used by Indian Air Force was retired in 1967 without ever being used in anger (in 1965, only maritime patrols were carried on).

Folland Gnat F.1

HAL HF-24 Marut

Lockheed F-104A Star Striker

As well as for all the character's names, Star Striker is the fictionalized name of the Starfighter.

The Indian secret services prepared a dossier on the Star Striker. In black, the aircraft's factory plan; in white, a three-view drawing of an F-104 in German colours!

North American F-86F Sabre

F-86F didn't use missiles. Even so, the later variant (Canadair F-86 Sabre Mk 6) -fly by the Pakistan Air Force after 1966- able to fire the AIM-9 Sidewinder never used the AIM-7 Sparrow seen here !

Dassault M.D.454 Mystère IVA

Unidentified Aircraft

de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth ?

De Havilland Vampire

de Havilland DH.113 Vampire NF. Mk 54 or single-seat DH.100 FB.52 ?

Mitsubishi A6M Zero

Polikarpov I-16

An advertising of the late 1930s Soviet propaganda; read the Discussion tab.

Sikorsky H-19

Armstrong Whitworth A.W.15 Atalanta

In the dim light of the room, numerous other objects evoking aviation : metal deskmodel, knickknack as an aircraft overflying the earth, ...

Douglas C-47 Skytrain

Book

Book sent to the retired Wing Commander Ahuja.
The real title is : Battle for Pakistan - The air war of 1965 (published in 1979 by John Fricker (Ian Allan Printing Ltd)).
The author's name is fictionalized as John Peterson (acted by Tim Hudson).
The stupendous point of this movie : as all names are fictionalized including the book's title, but the excerpt read is consistent with the content of the book and the page indicated is indeed where it can be found!

And this Lockheed C-130 Hercules is on page 106.

The Journey

Unidentified Airliner

First step : flight to London with the shade of an Airbus A320neo (?)

Next stop: Bordeaux, France, near the Dassault factory located in the suburbs, in Mérignac, to meet with the aircraft manufacturer.
So to see mountains, Lockheed C-130J Hercules and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor (plus four Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II in the white frame) is pure fantasy! The town is more than 100 km / 62 miles from the mountains!

The following two flights (to and from the USA, probably to Littleton or Colorado Springs -two main locations of Lockheed-) show the map against a backdrop of images taken in Hendon, with shots that are then seen more clearly with the characters.