Air Commodore Patrick Desmond Callaghan (16 July 1926 – 6 April 1992) was a one-star

air officer An air officer is an air force officer of the rank of air commodore or higher. Such officers may be termed "officers of air rank". While the term originated in the Royal Air Force, air officers are also to be found in many Commonwealth nations ...

in the

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

who is credited for his pioneering work in

Flight safety Aviation safety is the study and practice of managing risks in aviation. This includes preventing aviation accidents and incidents through research, educating air travel personnel, passengers and the general public, as well as the design of airc ...

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 ...

Military career

Early days

He was commissioned into the

Royal Indian Air Force The Royal Indian Air Force (RIAF) was the aerial force of British India and later the Dominion of India. Along with the Indian Army, and Royal Indian Navy, it was one of the Armed Forces of British Indian Empire. The Indian Air Force was offi ...

(RIAF) as a Pilot Officer on 17 September 1945. Early in his commissioned service, he was posted to the RIAF base at

Kohat Kohat ( ps, کوهاټ; ur, ) is a city that serves as the capital of the Kohat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is regarded as a centre of the Bangash tribe of Pashtuns, who have lived in the region since the late 15th century ...

in 1946. He flew a variety of aircraft including

Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...

s. In 1946, Callaghan belly landed his aircraft at Kohat airfield. The aircraft's engine had caught fire after an oil leak during landing practice. The aircraft was later written off in 1947. At the partition of India in August 1947, he opted to serve with the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), and later married Maureen Viegas, whose sister, Jeanne, would later marry

Mervyn Middlecoat Wing Commander Mervyn Leslie Middlecoat (6 July 1931 – 12 December 1971) was a Pakistani fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) who was involved in a number of aerial battles during the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars, before being ...

, who went on to command the PAF's famed No. 9 Squadron and become a hero of the PAF. On 1 September 1951 a PAF two seater Fury aircraft caught fire. Now

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 ...

Callaghan was the second pilot on that flight. One of the pioneer officers of the PAF, Callaghan served for a number of the early years of the PAF as a flight instructor at

Risalpur Risalpur (Pashto/ ur, رسالپور) is a city in Nowshera District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, on the Nowshera-Mardan Road. It is nearly 45 km from Peshawar and 18 km from Mardan and is located at 34°4'52N 71°58'21E. In a basin so ...

, where he helped to train many of the PAF's future leaders and top fighter and bomber pilots (including his brother-in-law through marriage, Mervyn Middlecoat).

1965 War

During the September 1965 war, although a "desk jockey" in Peshawar, he volunteered for and flew dangerous low, low level night-time strafing missions in old Harvards along the Grand Trunk Road between

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

and Amritsar harassing Indian Army convoys. Years later, as a Group Captain, he led the PAF team that investigated the crash of a PAF C-130 after it went missing while returning to Pakistan from

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. This investigation was conducted at high altitude in mountainous country and was particularly trying and hazardous. By 1969 he had risen through the ranks of Squadron Leader and Wing Commander, working in staff jobs in Kohat and

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

, after earlier being based at

Mauripur Maripur or Mauripur ( ur, ماری پور ) is a village to the west of Karachi, Pakistan, near Hawke's Bay Beach. Air Force Base PAF Base Masroor is the largest airbase operated by the Pakistan Air Force. It is located in the Mauripur area ...

, (Karachi).

1971 War

In 1971, Air Commodore Callaghan was the PAF Chief Inspector, in charge of the verification of Pakistani claims of enemy aircraft kills. Working closely with him was the then United States air attache/adviser to the PAF, USAF Brigadier General Charles "Chuck" Yeager (the first man to break the sound barrier). After retiring from the PAF, Air Commodore Callaghan headed the Air Safety Branch of the Department of Civil Aviation and his internationally recognized expertise in investigating and solving the causes of air crashes led to his call out by a number of Arab countries to help them solve a number of crashes in their countries. Callaghan died in April 1992 at the age of 65.Air Commodore Patrie Desmond Callaghan
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callaghan, Patrick 1926 births 1992 deaths Aviation safety pioneers Pakistan Air Force officers Pakistani aviators Pakistani Christians Pakistani people of Anglo-Indian descent Pakistani military personnel of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Pilots of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965