FS Hussain

Air Commodore Fuad Shahid Hussain SBt TPk (20 July 1924 – 9 April 1969), better known as FS Hussain, F.S., King of Fury, and the Prince of Pilots, was among the pioneer officers of the Pakistan Air Force, a fighter pilot, aerobatic pilot, and one-star rank air officer. He served as Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Training) from December 1968 until his death in service from radiation poisoning.

Born in the United Provinces, Hussain graduated from La Martinière College, Lucknow and was commissioned into the Royal Indian Air Force in 1944. He later joined No. 4 Sqn, which was attached to the British Commonwealth Occupation Force in Japan, and deployed aboard an aircraft carrier. Assigned as an aerial photographer, he was responsible for capturing images of the aftermath of the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

By 1947, he opted for the Royal Pakistan Air Force and was attached with No. 5 Sqn. Due to his prowess, he was selected for a course in the United Kingdom. He topped the course as a Category "A" Pilot Attack Instructor and set a Commonwealth record for air-to-air and air-to-ground shooting in 1949. The Commandant of the school remarked, "This officer who is a member of the Royal Pakistan Air Force for combat flying is outstanding in every way. He achieved the finest result in the air ever experienced in the Central Gunnery School, Leconfield England".

At an airshow in honour of The Shah's first visit to Pakistan in 1950, Hussain performed aerobatic manoeuvers in an Hawker Sea Fury. The Shah, who was impressed, requested to meet him and ordered his court poet to write a poem in his honour. By the early 1950s, he rapidly gained fame nationwide and internationally by his initials "F.S." At the Coronation of Elizabeth II, he performed solo aerobatics to which Arthur Tedder, Marshal of the Royal Air Force remarked, "A generation of pilots is yet to be born, who will try to achieve the standards already perfected by Flight Lieutenant FS Hussain of the RPAF". Wing Commanders F.S. and Mitty Masud trained the pilots who set the World record loop with 16 F-86 Sabres in 1958.

In early 1959, Group Captain F.S. Hussain was appointed Chief Inspector of Flight Safety. In the year that followed, flying accidents in the PAF reached an all-time low, with only one fatal accident. Air Marshal Asghar Khan, the Commander-in-Chief, expressed personal satisfaction with his inspection reports and congratulated him for this achievement. By the early 1960s, medical tests suggested Hussain had diabetes, but Air Marshal Asghar Khan dismissed the diagnosis. Fearing he would be grounded from flying as a result of his worsening health, F.S. hid his illness from his colleagues.

At the onset of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Air Marshal Nur Khan appointed Hussain as the head of a committee formed to review operational plans. The PAF lacked the capability of night-time air defence which led to Khan assigning Hussain the task of developing night interception techniques. As a result, F-86 Sabres were integrated with AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles. These would prove effective with at least one confirmed victory against an Indian Canberra.

Air Commodore FS Hussain died in 1969. Sometime after his death, Air Commodore Riffat Mahmud, Director General of Medical Services of the PAF, visited the United States and took Hussain's blood samples to specialists of the United States Air Force. They found clear evidence of radiation poisoning and Mahmud shared the diagnosis with Hussain's family. Unbeknownst to Hussain, he had absorbed high levels of atomic radiation during his service in World War II, when he photographed the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, unaware of the health risks. In the years that followed, neither the Pakistan Army Medical Corps nor the PAF possessed the medical knowledge to detect radiation-related illnesses, and his symptoms went unnoticed during his yearly health exams.