Air Chief Marshal Air chief marshal (Air Chf Mshl or ACM) is a high-ranking air officer originating from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. An air chief marshal is equivalent to an Admir ...

Hakimullah Khan Durrani ( ur, ) (15 October 1935); best known as Hakimullah, is a retired four-star air officer who tenured as the 5th Chief of Air Staff of Pakistan Air Force, appointed in this post from 9 March 1988 until retiring on 8 March 1991.The Story of the Pakistan Air Force 1988-1998: A Battle Against Odds (Oxford University Press, 2000)

Biography

Hakimullah was born in

NWFP NWFP may refer to: *North-West Frontier Province, a province of British India, and later, Pakistan *Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP o ...

on 15 October 1935 into a Pashtun family. After matriculating from the

Edwardes College Edwardes College Peshawar is a semi-government degree The college's undergraduate and graduate degree programs lead to the Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.), 4 year BS Programme in English and Computer Science, Master of Bus ...

in Peshawar, he joined in the Pakistan Air Force in 1956,

passing out Passing may refer to: Social identity * Passing (sociology), presenting oneself as a member of another sociological group ** Passing (gender), presenting oneself as being cisgender ** Passing (racial identity), presenting oneself as a member of ...

in 1957 where he gained commissioned as a

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

. Further training took place in the United States where Flying Officer qualified to fly the

F-104 Starfighter The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter is an American single-engine, supersonic air superiority fighter which was extensively deployed as a fighter-bomber during the Cold War. Created as a day fighter by Lockheed as one of the "Century Series" of fi ...

and participated in the second war with India in 1965. Flight-Lieutenant Hakimullah, with speed of Mach 1.1, notably intercepted the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

's Folland Gnat flown by then-

Flight lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

Brijpal Singh Sikand, who was forced to land near at the airstrip in

Pasrur Pasrur (Punjabi and ur, ), is a city of Sialkot District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The city is the capital of Pasrur Tehsil and is administratively subdivided into 26 wards of municipal committee Pasrur. It is located at 32°16'0N 74 ...

, Pakistan. This claim, however, has been contested by India. In 1971,

Wing-Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the Indian Air Force, IAF, and the Pakistan Air Force, PAF, WGCDR in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF and Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior Officer (ar ...

Hakimullah flew Mirage-IIIA in the

western front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

of the third war with India, seeing aerial actions against the MiG-21. On 5 May 1976, Wing Commander Hakimullah was appointed the first commanding officer of the newly established Combat Commanders' School at PAF Base Sargodha. In 1981, Air-Cdre. Hakim was appointed as Project-Director of Project Falcon, overseeing the acquisition of

F-16s The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

in the air force. In 1986–87, AVM Hakim served in the Air AHQ as its

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

under Chief of Air Staff. In 1988, Air-Mshl. Hakimullah was elevated as the DCAS (Administration) but was later elevated to the four-star rank promotion. At promotion, Air Chief Marshal Hakimullah superseded at least one senior air officer, Air Marshal Shabbir Hussain Syed, the then-Vice Chief of Air Staff (VCAS). In 1991,

ACM ACM or A.C.M. may refer to: Aviation * AGM-129 ACM, 1990–2012 USAF cruise missile * Air chief marshal * Air combat manoeuvring or dogfighting * Air cycle machine * Arica Airport (Colombia) (IATA: ACM), in Arica, Amazonas, Colombia Computing * ...

Hakimullah eventually completed his tenure and retired to settle in Islamabad.

Awards & Decorations

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Durrani, Hakeemullah Khan Pakistan Air Force air marshals Chiefs of Air Staff, Pakistan Pakistan Air Force officers Pakistani aviators Pilots of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Pakistani military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 1935 births Living people Edwardes College alumni Pilots of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Biography

Awards & Decorations

See also

References