PAKISTAN AIR FORCE: A Short History

PAKISTAN AIR FORCE: A Short History

947–1951: The Formative Years

PAF Hawker Sea Fury two-seat trainer

The Royal Pakistan Air Force (RPAF) was established on 14 August 1947 with the independence of Pakistan from British India. The RPAF began with 2,332 personnel, a fleet of 24 Tempest IIfighter-bombers, 16 Hawker Typhoon fighters, 2 H.P.57 Halifax bombers, 2 Auster aircraft, 12North American Harvard trainers and 10 de Havilland Tiger Moth biplanes. It also received 8 C-47 Dakota cargo planes which it used to transport supplies to soldiers fighting in the 1947 War inKashmir against India. However, the RPAF did not receive all of the aircraft that it was originally allotted at the time of independence of South Asia.^[2] It started with 7 operational airbases scattered all over the provinces. The prefix Royal was removed when Pakistan became a republic on 23 March 1956. It has since been called the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

Operating these inherited aircraft was far from ideal in Pakistan's diverse terrains, deserts, and mountains, with frequent attrition and injuries resulting. However, by 1948 the air force acquired better aircraft such as the Hawker Sea Fury fighter-bomber and the Bristol Freighter. These new aircraft gave a much-needed boost to the morale and combat capability of the Pakistan Air Force; 93 Hawker Fury and roughly 50-70 Bristol Freighter aircraft were inducted into the PAF by 1950.

[edit]1951–1961: PAF enters the Jet Age