Pakistan Air Force Airmen Academy Korangi Creek is "Home of Airmen". It was PAF Base which imparts only technical training to Aero Apprentices and training of non-technical trades was going on another PAF Bases, so PAF needed to train all

Airmen An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred as a soldier in other definitions. In civilian aviation usage, t ...

at one place. In 2019, It was established as an Academy in which training of all trades is planned. It was a momentous occasion in the history of Pakistan Air Force, as the Air Chief laid the foundation stone of PAF Airmen Academy at

PAF Base Korangi Creek Pakistan Air Force Airmen Academy Korangi Creek is "Home of Airmen". It was PAF Base which imparts only technical training to Aero Apprentices and training of non-technical trades was going on another PAF Bases, so PAF needed to train all Airmen ...

Monday. To mark this historic event, a ceremony was held, in which

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 ...

Mujahid Anwar Khan Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan (Urdu: مجاہد انور خان) , is a retired senior officer and the former 15th Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force. On 19 March 2018, ACM Anwar took over command of the Pakistan Air Force from ...

, Chief of the Air Staff

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

unveiled the plaque of this unique institution. Addressing at the occasion, the Air Chief said that PAF has always focused on imparting quality training to the airmen, who are considered to be the backbone of PAF human resource. He further said that existing airmen training model needed revamping to make it at par with

PAF Academy Asghar Khan The Pakistan Air Force Academy Asghar Khan ( ur, ) is an accredited three-year military academy which provides undergraduate education to officer candidates for the Pakistan Air Force. The eligible and selected candidates from all over Pakista ...

, which is a premier training institution of officers’ cadre. He added that in this centralized institution, airmen of various trades and expertise would be trained in technical and non-technical disciplines under one umbrella. The Air Chief reiterated his resolve of making it a reputed institution which would also offer quality training to the airmen from friendly air forces. High ranking civil and defence forces officers and a large number of PAF personnel attended the ceremony.

History

Royal Air Force

The facility was established by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

in 1923. Located in a

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shel ...

area of Karachi, the primary role of the facility was to provide the embarkation and disembarkation facilities to the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and other British personnel arriving by civil or military amphibious aircraft, and also to handle receipts and dispatch of cargo on these aircraft. In 1942, the RAF leased an area of from the

Government of Sindh The Government of Sindh ( sd, حڪومت سنڌ) ( ur, ) is the provincial government of the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Its powers and structure are set out in the provisions of the 1973 Constitution, in which 30 Districts of 7 Divisions un ...

and the station premises were then properly secured with a perimeter fence. Korangi Creek also served as a logistic base for the aircraft repair depot at Drigh Road through the supply depot there. Aircraft engines and spare parts that were brought to Korangi Creek by amphibious aircraft were eventually transferred to Drigh Road ( now

Shara-e-Faisal Shahrah-e-Faisal, founded as Drigh Road, is a boulevard in Karachi that runs , from the Bhutto Underpass near Hotel Metropole in central Karachi, to Star Gate near Jinnah International Airport, where it becomes N-5 National Highway.

) to be made use of. Much of the equipment serviced by the repair depot was channeled through Korangi to Bombay to support RAF units all over British Raj. After the

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, the station continued to be commanded and manned by RAF personnel till 1949.

Pakistan Air Force

In December 1949, the first RPAF station commander was

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

A.R.K. Malik. At this stage, it was decided to make Korangi a technical training base for officers and airmen of the PAF. In April 1951, the first technical school was established at this station, and was named the School of Aeronautics (SOA). The school was inaugurated by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Liaquat Ali Khan Liaquat Ali Khan ( ur, ; 1 October 1895 – 16 October 1951), also referred to in Pakistan as ''Quaid-e-Millat'' () or ''Shaheed-e-Millat'' ( ur, lit=Martyr of the Nation, label=none, ), was a Pakistani statesman, lawyer, political theoris ...

. The SOA soon established its reputation as a successful training program in the PAF and abroad, and a large number of foreign countries started sending their air technicians to the base for basic training. In 1963, the School of Electronics (SOE) was moved from PAF Station Malir to Korangi Creek to become the sister institution of the SOA.

Other

The Academy is implicitly used for the development of the

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

. Pakistan's

Integrated Defence Systems Integration may refer to: Biology *Multisensory integration *Path integration * Pre-integration complex, viral genetic material used to insert a viral genome into a host genome *DNA integration, by means of site-specific recombinase technology, ...

(IDS) and the military scientists from

College of Aeronautical Engineering The College of Aeronautical Engineering (CAE) is an institution for education of Aeronautical Engineering in Pakistan located at the National University of Sciences and Technology, Risalpur (Campus), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is a consti ...

and

Pakistan Navy Engineering College The Pakistan Navy Engineering College (PNEC), ( ur, ) also called PNS Jauhar, is a military college operated by the Pakistan Navy. Located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, it is also a constituent college of the National University of Sciences and Te ...

have been engaged in the research and development of UAVs and aerospace related technologies. Now, the Pakistan Air Force is also producing EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) qualified technicians. Now, they are among the world's most talented technicians and engineers. EASA courses are being taught in PAF Airmen Academy Korangi Creek.

References

External links