Saiful Azam

Saiful Azam (Bengali: সাইফুল আজম; 11 September 1941 – 14 June 2020) was a Bangladeshi fighter pilot and flying ace, and politician. He first served as a fighter pilot for the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and later the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF). According to Pakistani sources, during his career as a PAF pilot, he allegedly shot down one Indian Air Force aircraft in the 1965 Indo-Pakistani War, where he served as a military advisor and pilot for the air forces of Jordan and Iraq. For his actions, he received various gallantry awards from Pakistan, Jordan and Iraq.He also took part in 12 ground-attack missions against the Indian Armed Forces. After the independence of Bangladesh, he joined the newly formed Bangladesh Air Force. In 1978, Azam retired as a group captain from the Bangladesh Air Force. After retiring from the military, Azam continued government service on contract basis and started his own private trading firm. Azam was a one term parliament member (1991–1996) representing his hometown seat of Pabna from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). He died on 14 June 2020 at Combined Military Hospital, Dhaka Cantonment.