Pakistan Air Force Museum Faisal ( ur, ) is an

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

and park situated near ''Karsaz Flyover'' on

Shahrah-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.

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

, Sindh,

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

.Air Chief inaugurates martyrs monument at PAF Museum Karachi
''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', Published 7 September 2015, Retrieved 14 September 2017 A majority of the aircraft, weapons and radar are displayed outside in the park but the main museum features all major fighter aircraft that have been used by the

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

. The museum also houses the

Vickers VC.1 Viking The Vickers VC.1 Viking is a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers-Armstrongs Limited at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. After the Second World War, the Viking was a ...

aircraft used by

Mohammed Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

, founder of Pakistan, and a

Folland Gnat The Folland Gnat is a British compact swept-wing subsonic fighter aircraft that was developed and produced by Folland Aircraft. Envisioned as an affordable light fighter in contrast to the rising cost and size of typical combat aircraft, it wa ...

of the Indian Air Force, that landed in Pasrur town, Pakistan in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965. Also on display are the scale models of some

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and some more modern aircraft and photo galleries of almost all the squadrons of

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

History

The museum was established in 1990 in two unused hangars in a remote part of the Base. The museum was expanded significantly from its humble beginnings in the period 1999–2004. Additions include children's playing areas, rides, and eateries.

Management

The museum is managed by a committee headed by the Air Officer Commanding Southern Air Command; however, it is managed and run by the Administrator. Recently the museum has been renamed as Historical Record & Archives Section and given additional responsibilities for maintaining some documented history of the PAF. The current Administrator of Museum is Air Commodore Syed Ali Zaidi. However, the museum was developed by Wing Commander Syed Salman Ahmed.

Gallery

File:PAF Museum Karachi, Pakistan 01.jpg, Main Gate File:PAF Museum Karachi, Pakistan 03.jpg,

Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizonta ...

Aircraft File:PAF Museum Karachi, Pakistan 04.jpg, F-6 Aircraft File:PAF Museum Karachi, Pakistan 06.jpg, Archives Gallery File:PAF Museum Hall.jpg, Museum Hall at night File:PAF gallery.jpg, Captured Indian

from

1965 war The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 or the Second Kashmir War was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan's Operation Gibraltar, which was d ...

on display at the PAF Museum Gallery. File:PAF Museum Karachi, Pakistan 02.jpg, Shenyang F-6 Aircraft File:Pakistan Air Force Museum Austin Aiglet 1.jpg, Auster Aiglet retired from the PAF on display at the PAF Museum, Karachi. File:Bombs At PAF Museum.JPG File:Fighter plane At PAF Museum.JPG, Fighter plane At PAF Museum File:PAF Museum Hall Inside View.jpg, Museum Hall Inside View File:Pakistan Air Force Museum 30 mm cannon of F-6 and model of Martin B-57.jpg, A model of the Martin B-57 bomber and the 30 mm cannon installed on the Shenyang F-6, on display at the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Museum, Karachi.

Selected exhibits

Some of the aircraft that are preserved in the museum are: *

Martin B-57 Canberra The Martin B-57 Canberra is an American-built, twin-engined tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 is a license-built version of the British English Electric ...

* De Havilland Tiger Moth *

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

Lockheed 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 ...

North American F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing ...

Dassault Mirage 5 The Dassault Mirage 5 is a French supersonic attack aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation during the 1960s and manufactured in France and a number of other countries. It was derived from Dassault's popular Mirage III fighter and spawned severa ...

* Shenyang F-6 *

Lockheed T-33 The Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star (or T-Bird) is an American subsonic jet trainer. It was produced by Lockheed and made its first flight in 1948. The T-33 was developed from the Lockheed P-80/F-80 starting as TP-80C/TF-80C in development, then d ...

* Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 * Auster Autocar *

Antonov An-26 The Antonov An-26 ( NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Tw ...

* Antonov An-12 * A-26 Invader *U-9

Aero Commander Aero Commander was an aircraft manufacturer formed in 1944. In subsequent years, it became a subsidiary of Rockwell International and Gulfstream Aerospace. The company ceased aircraft production in 1986. History Aero was formed in Culver City, ...

Vickers Viking The Vickers Viking was a British single-engine amphibious aircraft designed for military use shortly after World War I. Later versions of the aircraft were known as the Vickers Vulture and Vickers Vanellus. Design and development Resear ...

Kaman HH-43 Huskie The Kaman HH-43 Huskie is a helicopter with intermeshing rotors used by the United States Air Force, the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps from the 1950s until the 1970s. It was primarily used for aircraft firefighting and ...

Besides those from PAF inventory, visitors can see the captured

of Indian Air Force and Afghan Air Force

Mig 21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickna ...

and Iraq Air Force, Antonov An-12. A statue of Indian Airforce's Wing Commander

Abhinandan Varthaman Abhinandan Varthaman VrC (born 21 June 1983) is an Indian Air Force fighter pilot who, during the 2019 India–Pakistan standoff, was involved in entering Pakistani airspace and his MIG 21 was shot down by Pakistani PAF F-16 on 27 February 2019 ...

along with the parts of the fuselage and tail of his

Mig-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickn ...

aircraft are also on display in a gallery named

Operation Swift Retort On 27 February 2019, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) conducted six airstrikes at multiple locations in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). The airstrikes were part of the PAF military operation codenamed Operation Swift Retort and were co ...

References

External links