All the content is taken from the 'History of Pakistan Army Aviation 1947-2007'. The copyrights belong to the respective authors. I am posting it here with the kind permission of one of the authors and copyright holders Major General (R) Muhammad Azam HI(M).
Major General (R) Muhammad Azam HI(M) 'was commissioned in 19 Baloch Regiment in April 1971. He got his flying brevet with pilot course serial 18. He served in 3 Army Aviation Squadron during Balochistan insurgency and later flew the pioneer sortie in Siachen while serving in 5 Aviation Squadron in 1982. He commanded 7 Army Aviation Squadron and later raised Aircraft Accident Investigation Board. He also commanded Army Aviation School and Army Aviation Command before commanding Defence Services Guards Corps. He remained associated with history project from inception in 1996 till its completion in 2007.'
The Journey Begins The story of Pakistan Army Aviation begins at the time of partition of the sub-continent. 659 British Army Air OP (Observation Post) Squadron which was deployed at Lahore in support of the Punjab Boundary Commission was split between the two new countries-Pakistan and India. Four Auster-V aircraft were the share of Pakistan and this became the nucleus on which was built No. 1 Air OP Flight-fore runner to present day Army Aviation. Pilots of Air OP Squadrons in British Army were from Royal Artillery and technical personnel were from Royal Air Force. Operational control was exercised by the Royal Artillery and technical control by RAF. Same pattern was retained in newly born Pakistan Army. At that time there was no Pakistan Army Pilot trained to take over the flight thus No. 1 Air OP Flight Royal Pakistan Air Force was managed temporarily by the Royal Pakistan Air Force. British agreed to leave behind a batch of four Auster pilots for few months to allow the newly born flight undertake the flying duties in a smooth manner. Major PD Morris thus became its first flight commander with Captain RD Raikes, Captain DS Murray and Captain GF Cox, all ex- Royal Artillery, as section pilots. Flight was organized into a flight headquarters and four sections, each having one aircraft. The Indian contingent of No. 1 Air OP Flight RIAF flew out to Amritsar on 7 September 1947. Four Auster-V aircraft inherited by Pakistan Army had the tail numbers 228, 271, 377 and 625. In October 1947 three officers from RPAF were hastily sent to the Air OP Flight to take over the flight from British officers. They were Flying Officer Nazir Ahmad Siddiqui, Pilot Officers Ashraf and Mahmood Jan. These officers quickly acquainted themselves with the operations and by November 1947 were ready to replace the British officers. Captain RD Raikes with all other ranks left the flight in October followed by Captain Murray and Captain Cox in November 1947. By mid November 1947 the flight was entirely manned by RPAF officers except the flight commander Major PD Morris, who was later relieved by Flying Officer M M Jaffery in May 1948.
FIRST PAKISTANI PILOT TO FLY ARMY AUSTERS Flying Officer Nazir Siddiqui was the first Pakistani pilot to fly the 659 RAF Air OP Squadron Austers left at Lahore as Pakistan’s share in 1947. He reported to the Flight in early October 1947 and flew his first dual mission on Auster - TJ 337 on 11th October 1947. He was cleared to fly solo on 16th October. He was part of the Royal Pakistan Air Force (RPAF) Pilots who were sent to the Air OP Flight to replace the British pilots. Once Army trained its own pilots, these RPAF pilots returned to their parent units. During the process of research for this book, Wing Commander (R) Nazir Siddiqui was traced to be living in his house next to the perimeter fence of Qasim Army Aviation Base, Dhamial. These two pictures show him in 1960 and in 2004. The second pilot of his batch was Pilot Officer Ashraf, who also retired as a Wing Commander. For a long time he served in Lahore and Multan Flying Clubs as a flying instructor. The third pilot was Pilot Officer Mahmood Jan, who later left the service and flew for PIA. The latter two are no more living. Incidentally, son-in-law of Wing Commonder (R) Ashraf, was an Army Aviator - Colonel (R) Liaqat Raja of the Combat Group.
1960
2004
Operation Curzon – Troops pull out from Tribal Area--1947 Waziristan Agency had remained a thorn in the side of the British Empire; the very first induction of aircraft in the sub-continent is attributed to the unrest in tribal areas along the Durand Line since 1919. British Army had formed a Waziristan Area Command, with 30,000 troops, which had its headquarters at Dera Ismail Khan, with brigade headquarters at Razmak, Bannu, Wana and Gardai. Quaid-e-Azam intended to withdraw this force as a sign of reconciliation towards tribesmen.In October 1947, No. 1 Air OP Flight was tasked to provide support for “Operation Curzon”. Two Austers were immediately despatched to Razmak with a servicing station established at Peshawar. The flight was placed under command Wing Commander Nazir Ullah of RPAF.
An artist’s impression of Auster in the field operations
Captain DF Murray and Captain GF Cox were the pilots in the Razmak Section, where as Major Morris and Captain RD Raikes stayed back at Lahore with flight headquarters and two Auster for supporting the Punjab Boundary Force. Later, the flight headquarters and one Auster also moved to Peshawar on 7th October 1947. Air OP aircraft were used for communication and reconnaissance duties. During the troops pullout phase, tribal marauders, on being spotted would be reported by the Auster to main control station at Miran Shah and soon ‘Tempests’ of No. 5 Squadron RPAF would appear for strafing. Wing Commander Siddiqui remembers the flying of those days, “We would fly the air force crew from Peshawar to Razmak, fly political agents, performed other tasks like casualty evacuation, road clearance and flying the commanders in various sectors. At times we also took artillery shoots over the attacking tribal who were ransacking, looting the evacuated garrisons and undertaking occasional hit and run attacks on the army convoys”. ‘Operation Curzon’ terminated on 31st December 1947. The flight supported the operation with dedication and devotion and flew 115 hours. On completion of the duty, the flight reassembled at Peshawar.
Air OP Flight’s Immediately after re-grouping as the First Air OP Flight, the unit was tasked to fly
missions in support of the army deployed/moving to help the refugees coming into
Pakistan. Pilots would fly between Amritsar and Lahore to monitor safe passage of
the refugee columns. Troops were despatched by the army authorities at Lahore on
receiving information from the pilots of any troubled column. These Auster were a
source of solace and assurance to the steady stream of humanity crossing over in one
of the world’s biggest population transfer.
The First Army Pilot A batch of five young Indian army officers proceeded to England in June 1947 to train as Air OP pilots. This group included one Muslim army officer as well who was Captain Azmat Baksh Awan, belonging to the Corps of Artillery. On completion of flying training this group returned to the respective independent countries - India and Pakistan. Captain Awan was thus destined to be the pioneer Pakistan Army Air OP pilot who joined the No.1 Air OP Flight located at Chaklala in June 1948. He also became the flight commander since at that time the existing flight commander, Flight Lieutenant M.M Jaffery left to attend Command and Staff College Quetta. Captain Awan followed a distinguished career path and served with distinction in every rank. He was the spearhead of Army’s flying force and led the force to grow in size and operational effectiveness. He rose to the rank of lieutenant General and commanded two corps, he also became the first Colonel Commandant of Army Aviation. After retirement he served the country as an ambassador to Sweden. He passed away in January 1996.
Captain A.B. Awan standing third from left.
First Group of Pakistan Army Pilots Realizing the future necessity, Director Artillery, Brigadier Harris selected five gunner officers in September 1947 to undergo Air OP training in UK. The officers were Captains Nasrullah Khan, Moin Ullah Kirmani, Gholam Jabbar, RIU Khan and MS Wazir. Only Captain Kirmani and Captain Jabbar came back with flying brevet in September 1948. The remaining three officers lacked flying aptitude and were returned to their units. Captain Kirmani soon left Army and It will not be out of place to mention that with the passage of time, Captain Jabbar became a torch-bearer on the inclined path of growth and development of Pakistan Army Aviation and retired as a brigadier after serving at various tiers of command in this splendid outfit.
Bokker Hill, (UK) April 1948. First Pakistan Army Batch.
Standing 2nd from left Capt Wazir, Last staning Capt Kirmani, & 2nd sitting on ground Capt Jabbar.
The First Flying Instructor Considering high attrition in which five students who were sent to UK for flying training, only two returned as qualified pilots. It was decided to request the British authorities to depute a flying instructor for training in Pakistan. Captain Awan recommended the name of his own instructor – Captain Gerald Terence Leworthy, a WW -2 veteran with a DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross). The major consideration in recommending his name apart from his flying skills was his sense of humour. Captain Leworthy (Major retired) arrived in Pakistan on 12 September 1948 and besides flying training, played an important role as an advisor on tactical matters pertaining to Air OP.
Major and Mrs Leworthy
The First Pilot Trained in Pakistan Lieutenant Mohammad Saleem Ullah was the first army officer to have been completely trained in flying within Pakistan. He was selected for Air OP Course while serving in Kashmir with 2 Field Regiment Artillery during “Pandu Operations”. He reported for basic training on Tiger Moth aircraft at Risalpur after undergoing medical examination conducted by the medical officer of 2 Field Regiment. On completion of basic training, he joined No. 1 Air OP Flight at Chaklala on 2nd December 1948 for advance training. Lieutenant Saleem Ullah retired as Director Aviation in 1974, he expired in 2006. He wrote about his Air OP days; “I had a long briefing from Major A.B Awan, the flight commander, on the training aspects. Captain Leworthy was a brilliant flying instructor and I was fortunate to be his student. His knowledge of ground subjects was excellent. My flying training schedule was easy. Two hours of flying, three hours of ground subjects which mainly included principles of flight and meteorology which was conducted by air force meteorological officer and then two hours of normal unit administration as quartermaster. Captain Leworthy was very particular about the air exercises and always made sure that I understood these on ground before going up in the air. Captain Leworthy used to lay great emphasis on map reading. He maintained that a pilot must know the relationship of map to ground all the time. Accordingly, he would conduct map reading exercise once a month. The flight was deployed with a spacing of approximately 1000 yards. They were given vary light pistols and cartridges with a timetable when they had to fire. The pilots were given a flight path 5000 yards away from the troops with different heights. When the pilot was positioned at the flight path, troops would fire and the pilot had to record the location. Initially the results were not very encouraging but soon we improved. The pre and post flight briefings were comprehensive. My flying with Leworthy was of great help to me during my flying instructor course in UK”
Captain Saleem Ullah
First Brevet Ceremony Lieutenant Saleem Ullah was awarded the much-coveted flying brevet by General Sir Douglas Gracey, Commanderin-Chief of Pakistan Army, on 3 March 1949 at Chaklala. Brigadier Jabbar recalls the event “We had sent the typed card to the C-in-C through the Aide De Camp(ADC). General Gracey all along had been taking a personal interest and keeping himself abreast of the training progress. It was an important milestone in the history of Pakistan Army. The gracing of the ceremony by the C-in-C also highlighted the importance of Air OP which was still in its infancy amongst the other senior arms ”
THE FIRST PARADE OF THE AIR OP CHAKLALA-12th JANUARY 1951
ON 12th JANUARY 1951, AT RPAF BASE CHAKLALA, GENERAL SIR DOUGLAS GRACEY, COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF PAKISTAN ARMY, AWARDED FLYING BREVETS TO THREE ARMY PILOTS. NAMELY CAPTAIN BLAKER, CAPTAIN AHMED AND CAPTAIN KARIM. GENERAL MUHAMMAD AYUB KHAN, THE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF DESIGNATE, WAS ALSO PRESENT ON THE OCCASION. AFTER AWARD OF FLYING BREVETS, THE MACH PAST WAS LED BY MAJOR AWAN, THE FLIGHT COMMANDER OF AIR OP FLIGHT. CAPTAIN JABBAR WAS THE PARADE SECOND IN COMMAND. MARCHING COLUMN WAS LED BY THREE NEWLY GRADUATED OFFICERS. CAPTAIN KARIM IS THE LEFT FRONT GUIDE, CAPTAIN AHMED IN THE CENTRE AND CAPTAIN BLAKER THE RIGHT FRONT ROW GUIDE. GENERAL AYUB IS SITTING SECOND FROM RIGHT IN THE FRONT ROW.
General Gracey’s Last Parade – 12th January 1951 Captain Karim had joined the Military Academy Dehra Dun in August 1947 and migrated to Pakistan on 14 October 1947. He was commissioned in 2 Field Regiment and was later posted to 3 SP Regiment in 1949. He remained as ADC to C-in-C General Gracey from 1 April 1949 to 19 October 1950. Captain Karim had already flown 200 hours in India at Bihar Flying Club, Patna. He had served in RIAF and Navy as commissioned officer, the only instance of an officer serving in all three services. At the end of his tenure with General Gracey, as per custom in vogue, the chief asked for his choice posting, on which Captain Karim requested for Air OP Flight, thus he underwent flying course from 20 October -20 December 1950. At the graduation parade which was Gracey’s last as the C-in-C, he consented to be the chief guest, more as an affiliation to his ADC.The other two officers who received the flying brevet that day were Captain Blaker and Lieutenant Ahmed.
Top: Captain Karim - Captain Ahmed
Lieutenant A.M.S. Ahmed was from Bengal. He joined Air OP Flight in June 1950 from 1 AGRPA where he was an intelligence officer (IO).He completed 14 hours of training with University Air Squadron and rest of training within the flight. He later got married to a medical college student and had two kids. Sadly he died soon in an air crash. His wife later completed her studies in medicine and raised both children. She lives in Dhaka.
In early 1949 General Headquarters selected Captain Blaker an Anglo-Indian officer of 8 Medium Regiment to undergo flying training. Captain Percy Joseph Blaker, was known for his lively demeanour; he gained an instant popularity with the rest of the community. He completed his basic flying course at RPAF College Risalpur and reported to the flight for further AOP training in March 1949. It took him another year and half before he got his brevet. He was all alone in Pakistan as rest of his family was in England. He later rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and commanded 2 Squadron apart from being the Aviation School Commandant. A cool, composed and an extremely popular commanding officer. He later left the army and settled in Australia where he took his last breath in the company of his wife Irene in February 2003.
Captain Blaker
Brigadier Karim recalling that day narrates.“We all three stood at attention, the C-in-C walked in along with few army officers. Some air force officers and civilians were also invited. After the brevet ceremony; the flight consisting of fifty five all ranks gave a smart march past. A demonstration of short landing and take off was also shown. Lady Gracey also graced the occasion and while having light refreshment in the hangar remarked, "This place looks cleaner than a hospital”. It really showed how the gunners and airmen worked to keep a place like hangar so neat and tidy.
The First Squadron Is Born – 20th June 1956 Mid fifties saw major cooperation developing between Pakistan and USA. Defence was
one of the main areas where both the countries were probing for collaboration. The initial package agreed by both the countries included a sizeable fleet of fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. GHQ decided to upgrade and enlarge the Air OP setup. No. 1 Air Observation Post Flight was thus decided to be converted into a squadron. It was on 20th June 1956, that, No. 1 Air OP Squadron was raised with Major Mukhtar Karim as the Officiating Commanding Officer. Lieutenant Colonel Gholam Jabbar was posted as the first Commanding Officer and he took over in January 1957 on promotion.
Last Hurrah For The Auster The First Squadron continued flying old machines till the arrival of new American equipment. In October 1956 a requirement came to ferry two Austers from Karachi to Chaklala, which proved the last “hurrah” for the old birds. Major N.U.K. Babar and Captain H.R.H. Abbasy were despatched for the purpose. They successfully accomplished the mission on 1st November 1956, which took a little over eleven hours of flying time.
Front Row: Captain Jabbar, Major Awan, Flight Sergeant, Mrs Leworthy, Flight Sergeant, Major Leworthy, Captain Saleem Ullah and Captain Blaker at the Annual Flight Family Day 1951.
Bracing Up For The L-19s It was in 1954 when USA offered L-19 fixed wing aircraft and OH-13S helicopters as part of foreign military assistance programme. Necessary preparations were undertaken to absorb this new equipment. General Headquarters planned to equip three full-fledged squadrons with expected sixty two L-19s and eighteen OH-13S helicopters. Raising of aviation maintenance battalion and other related services including Ordnance and Medical were also part of this mutual aid programme. Artillery Directorate GHQ, exercised complete operational control over the existing Air OP unit i.e. 1 Squadron. Appointment of General Staff Officer Grade 11 (GSO-II) Aviation was sanctioned in the Artillery Directorate and Major M M Karim was posted in this vacancy. This appointment was a great help in resolving the raising problems in 1959.
Pioneers In 1957 the first batch of pilots selected to undergo L-19 conversion left for USA. This batch had already flown solo on Auster with the 1 Air OP Squadron at Chaklala. Solo flying was the pre-requisite for training in USA. The pioneers who were trained in USA on L-19 included Captains Qayyum, Riaz, Hashmi, Gilani, Nazar, Nazir, Tirmizi, Saqlain, Rabbani, Shafaat, Aslam and Raja Wali. In 1958, more officers proceeded to USA – Captains Sultan, Fazal, Rafique (lovingly called “Rafique Bhai” for his all time brotherly behaviour). Latif, Madni, Subhan, Sarfraz, Shams, Naeem, Younis, Sultan Mahmood, Akram and Kallue. Two Electrical and Mechanical Engineer (EME) Captains - Maqbool and Majeed Ullah were also sent for maintenance training as well as pilot training. Unfortunately Captain Majeed Ullah did not qualify. Captain Maqbool thus became the first EME officer to put on the flying brevet. These two officers later underwent Maintenance Course together. The basic idea behind was to have an engineer who could understand the aircraft problem, rectify it and air test it.
From Left: Captains Hashmi, Qayyum, Commandant, Major Hussain, Major Nazir, and Captain Riaz
The Bird Dogs Arrive L-19s arrived in April 1958 in crates and were assembled under the care of an American Mobile Assembly Team at Chaklala. The Army hangar was used to assemble these birds. PAF technicians were conditionally made available. GHQ at that point decided to train its own EME personnel to maintain this expanding fleet. Two American flying instructors, Captains Thomas and Brake started the instructor cadre for Pakistani pilots. This short course was termed as the “Pilot Conversion / Instructor Standardization Course”. It was run in April-May 1958 with total flying of 60 hours.
Right to Left: Staff Officer, Major General Yahya, Captains Brake, Thomas and Lieutenant Colonel Awan
General Ayub inspecting newly arrived L-19s on Dhamial Air Field
L-19 Training in USA Initial phase of four months was conducted at Camp Gary Texas, under US Army training detachment. Instructors were civilians including Mr Avill, Mr King, Mr Cuthhart, and Mr Green, supervised by an army team including Captain Rudder, Lieutenant Passano and Captain Feurest. Under-training pilots got solo after 4-5 hours of flying. These pilots flew navigation missions between Camp Gary and Clear Springs. 25 hours check was given by Captain Rudder which included stall. Later 50 hours check was given by Mr Coleman. Flight Commander at Camp Gary was Edward King. Night flying, instrument flying, powered approaches, advance stalls, steep turns, night navigation were all carried out before 90 hours check. Students flew 90 hours on L-19 and 32 hours of instrument flying on TL-19. Pakistani Aviators holding instructor rating on Auster were also trained here on similar pattern. There were approximately fifty students including Americans. Pakistani students were being inducted at the rate of one new batch every four weeks, thus at one time there were twenty pilots from Pakistan Army. Classes were divided into two shifts, morning and evening.
L-19 Formation of 31 Aircraft led by Lt, Col M M Karim on 23rd March Parade - 1964
Advance Flying Training It was conducted at Army Aviation Fixed Wing Department, Fort Rucker, Alabama. Instructors included Mr Lewis, Mr Rowlette, Lieutenant Hayes, Lieutenant Oneil, and Lieutenant Crusson. Tactical flying was conducted which included powered approaches to the panel, strip work, photo and surveillance missions, route reconnaissance, artillery shoots, message pick and drop. Night navigation to Mariana and back of two hours duration was an excellent experience. Students were also oriented with helicopter flying.
The Maintenance Setup Along with the raising of three aviation squadrons, a plan of action for maintenance of air machines was also conceived. To start with, integral light aid detachments (LAD) were raised with the squadrons. American experts advised, to have separate maintenance units and also to have engineers qualified as pilots. In 1958 along with the pilots a sizeable number of technicians were also sent to USA for maintenance training on L-19. Initially apart from LADs, 199 Aircraft Workshop Company was raised and on 31st December 1963 all these LADs and 199 Company were amalgamated to raise 199 Aviation Engineering Battalion. In the initial days PAF and PIA Workshop facilities located at Karachi were also utilized as Base Repair Workshops.
1 Squadron Moves To Dhamial-1959 Chaklala was now humming with all kinds of flying activities and became over crowded. The expansion of Air OP units now demanded a permanent home and Dhamial was the natural choice. Dhamial was earlier earmarked for housing the Air OP outfit and essential repair work was already in hand. In 1959, 1 Air OP Squadron moved from Chaklala to this deserted looking airfield with only sketchy facilities but soon it got shaped into a worthwhile flying base. The Army had to build three hangars to accommodate No 1 Air OP Squadron. The allied facilities like Air Traffic Control, Meteorology and Fire Fighting Section were provided by the PAF.
Dhamial In The Yester Years Dhamial in 1959 was occupied by 11 Engineers Battalion which was tasked for construction of three hangars and some other buildings. The runway was damaged. The only structure which was intact, was the ATC building. The commanding officer, second in command and adjutant offices were set up in the ground floor of this building. The area in front of ATC was grassy and was used for aircraft parking. In May 1959 the construction of glass structure on top of ATC building was undertaken and renovated by 11 Engineers Battalion. The domestic camp had a number of mud plastered bamboo huts. The quarter guard was located in front of the present day canteen. A mud track opposite the quarter guard was the main entry into the technical camp. The area around was occupied by the villages, who would cultivate their land next to the aircraft. A major graveyard was situated at the present day site of ordnance depot. Army Dog Breeding Centre was also located at Dhamial where the present day post office is housed.
Raising Of The Second Air OP Squadron – 1959 On 20th June 1959, 2 Air OP Squadron was raised at Dhamial. The date coincided with the raising day of the first Air OP Squadron, which was exactly three year earlier. There was, however, a major difference, while the first squadron had five flights under its wings, the second squadron had only three to start with. Major M. Zaffar Khan became the Officiating Commanding Officer till replaced by Lieutenant Colonel P. J. Blaker on 6 August 1959.
Dhamial is for Army In 1962, there was a high-powered meeting in the Ministry of Defence on the allocation of the airfields to various users. The Chief of General Staff detailed Major Saleem Ullah GSO-2 Aviation to attend this meeting. Since Pakistan International Airlines was shifting its operations to Islamabad from Karachi, it needed space. The proposal under consideration was that PAF should continue using Chaklala, Dhamial should be given to Pakistan International Air Lines and the army should shift to Fateh Jang. It was very disturbing news since the army had done a heavy investment in developing facilities at Dhamial. In the meeting, no one paid any attention to the army point of view. It was decided to meet again to resolve the issue. Major Saleem briefed the Chief of General Staff(CGS) and requested him for the intervention of Commander in Chief in this matter. CGS took him along to General Musa,who after listening rang up Secretary Defence and told him that army will not vacate Dhamial, both PAF and PIA should share the facilities at Chaklala as in vogue in many countries.
The First Army Aviation Base By the beginning of 1962, Dhamial was buzzing with all sorts of flying and maintenance activities. Two Air OP Squadrons and the Air OP School made sleepy Dhamial, look like a beehive with busy bees all over. To establish a proper command structure for coordination of all flying and logistic requirements, the idea of raising a base at Dhamial was envisaged. This became a reality in October 1962 when Dhamial was initially raised as the Army Air Base with Lieutenant Colonel G. Jabbar as the first base commander. In February 1964 the designation was changed to Army Aviation Base. The post was upgraded to the rank of brigadier in July 1969.
Meteorology: The base also created a skeleton meteorological facility to keep in touch with other agencies and brief the pilots about the daily vagaries of weather. For the job came Flying Officer Majeed from the Air Force. In October 1963 added meteorological facilities at base were installed thus enabling it to provide local forecast on its own to the pilots. Similarly two teleprinter sets were also added in the same year.
Medical Setup: Initially a medical officer, Captain Khattak, nominated from the medical establishments of Rawalpindi Garrison, used to visit Dhamial for few hours on every working day to take care of the sick. Then came Captain Tufail Qureshi in May 1964 as an assistant medical officer while senior medical officer was Major A. Q. Nazar (later lieutenant colonel) who with his disciplinarian approach organized the whole affair on strict lines. He was the first qualified Flight Surgeon to look after the peculiar problems of air jockeys. When Major Nazar was posted out in June 1966 and Major Tufail Qureshi again came back, with him around, the tea bar became a seat of learning for the most profound remedies of all sorts of ailments, both actual and imaginary.
Captain Dr. Tufail Qureshi, Major Masoom,W/C MM Ch & Captain Kureishy
Ordnance Support: An ordnance support section (Air) called the OSS (Air) was initially raised with CMTSD, Chaklala (CMTSD later shifted to Golra) with Capt. Asghar as the first OC (Capt. Asghar, a 10th PMA Engineers officer who later shifted to Ordnance.
Capt. Asghar
He retired as a Major and lives in Chaklala Scheme II). This section moved with I Air OP Squadron and in 1959 Lt. Iftikhar Hussain Shah took over as the 2nd OC. Lt. Iftikhar later rose to the rank of Colonel and lives a retired life in Nazir Apartments in Rawalpindi. In 1961 he brought this section to Dhamial and started construction of first three sheds. Capt. Aman Ullah was the next OC followed by Capt. Latif Ch, Capt. M L Niazi and Maj. Yousaf. During the early sixties another Ordnance Section was raised with COD Karachi to handle arriving US Aid and repair of assemblies with PIA workshop. One of the OCs, Maj. Yousaf-A World War II Veteran is still remembered for his interesting war stories which he so fondly narrated in his peculiar style in the Dhamial Tea Bar.
The “SATCO” Of Dhamial: Late Flight Lieutenant Farooq was the first qualified Senior Air Traffic Control Officer (SATCO) at Dhamial. He was a fighter pilot grounded for the sin of beating up over his native town and pushed into this oblivion. His friendliness and charm made him a popular member of the flying family in no time. His initial contribution laid the foundation of ATC at Dhamial on firm footing. Captain Irshad Gull was the first Army Pilot who underwent Air Traffic Course at Karachi and performed the duties of SATCO.
Pakistan Army Aviation’s first twin engine aircraft was inducted in May 1963. Major Zaffar Khan was the first twin engine pilot of the Army followed by Major Mohammad Khan (Brigadier retired) and Captain Shams Ul Haq Kureishy(Lieutenant Colonel retired). Both went to America in February 1961. Pilots flew thirty hours on U8-D, (the training version) and later flew another thirty hours on L-23F.
Training was conducted in the United States Army Aviation Centre, Fort Rucker, Alabama. L-23F is the military version of Queen Air 65. It is also known as U8-F and Seminole. This aircraft was shipped to Karachi. From Karachi, the American crew flew it to Dhamial. Initially it was in grey colour and later it was painted green by the Pakistan International Airlines. In the begining, there was no formal set up and the aircraft was operated by these two pioneer pilots. Later Major Mushtaq Madni underwent conversion along with Major Amanullah of EME in USA. Crew was designated as Commander-in-Chief’s Pilots. This arrangement continued till 1965 War. VVIP Flight was formally raised in 1966 under Lieutenant Colonel Zaffar. L-23F remained in use of subsequent Commander in Chiefs namely General Musa, General Yahya and General Tikka, before it was forced landed on 4th February 1983 near Okara with Major Ayaz and Major Javeed on controls (this aircraft met with a very unfortunate ending-though having survived the forced landing it was written off during sling lifting from the site by a helicopter having gone into oscillation).
General Musa with American Training Team for U-8 F
Post World War II period saw the vertical lift machines making serious debut in the world conflicts. The British used helicopters in the jungle warfare raging in Malaya and the French used these in their counter insurgency operations in Algeria. Americans fielded the Bird Dog and along with the newly developed Bell OH-13S (Sioux) popularly called “The Bubble” in the Korean conflict. The Bubble proved so useful in various combat roles, especially the casualty evacuation that it was aptly called “The Flying Angel”.
Planning For The Helicopters When sizeable L-19 fleet was operational and the army pilots had attained reasonable experience, it was considered prudent by GHQ to usher into yet another dimension of aerial support - the helicopter. Americans responded positively to the idea and promptly offered training assistance Three batches of eight pilots each were sent to USA for helicopter training during the year 1962-63. The eighty hours course was conducted at Fort Wolters, Mineral Wells, Texas, USA. Initial seventy hours training was conducted on OH-23(D) Hiller helicopter at Camp Wolters Texas under “Southern Airways School” a civilian contractor, who was training the Army Pilots. Followed by ten hours of conversion and advance training at Fort Rucker Alabama on OH-13. Out of the twenty four pilots sent for helicopter conversion, only one pilot i.e. Captain Anwar Hussain was unlucky not to qualify and was dropped. Remaining twenty three completed their conversion successfully and returned to Pakistan as trained helicopter pilots.
Training At Fort Wolters, Mineral Wells, Texas The class comprised of eighty five students of various nationalities, with 50% Americans. The entire Pakistani contingent passed well above the class average. The average flying experience of Pakistani pilots was about 300 hours on L-19. Nevertheless, Captains Sajjad and Bajwa scored second position in the class, while the American who topped with a margin of only 1% overall marks, was a master aviator with 3500 hours and had gone through a helicopter pre-course training in Vietnam. Most of the Pakistanis had not even seen a helicopter from close quarters.
Allied Rotary Pilots including Pakistani Pilots (last five on the right standing)
The Maintenance Crew During the second half of 1963, the maintenance crew was also being trained. Batch of technicians including Fazal Karim, Bakhtiar, Malang Shah were sent to USA from 20th July to September 1963. Original duration of this qualification course was six months but due to Vietnam involvement, the US Army was running short courses of three months duration. There were a total of twenty four students in each class. Fazal Karim and Bakhtiar both retired as honorary captains, while Malang Shah retired as a major.
Malang Shah Bukhari
3 Squadron is Raised 3 Squadron was raised on 1 January 1964 at Dhamial and OH-13s were inducted under the command of Lieutenant Colonel N.U.K. Babar with Major Faizuddin Brandon as second in command. The induction of helicopters was expected to enhance the operational capabilities of the Army Aviation in peace and war.
OH-13 Helicopters Arrive In Pakistan The crated helicopters arrived in Dhamial on 27 June 1964 and were assembled by an American team during September 1964. American test pilot carried out the air test and also gave currency checkouts to the already trained pilots. The flying started on 24 September 1964 and the CGS was present to witness its inaugural flight. The addition of eighteen noisy choppers at Dhamial Base created a lot of commotion in the air on radio transmission and on ground as well. Few realized at that time that this would be the beginning of a long and meaningful relationship between the helicopters and Pakistan Army.
The Pioneer Days Of Helicopter Flying (Babar Trains the Force) The initial days of helicopter operations were very challenging and adventurous. Pakistan Army had made an excellent choice of appointing Lieutenant Colonel Naseer Ullah Khan Babar as the first commanding officer of 3 Squadron which was to train and operate the newly arrived helicopters. One most memorable long training navigation was flown from Dhamial to Quetta from 5 – 13 March 1965. Eight choppers took over six hours to reach Quetta with refuelling stops at Daud Khel, Manzai, Fort Sandeman (now Zhob) and Hindu Bagh( now Muslim Bagh). From Quetta these eight Choppers flew short navigations to Ziarat, Chaman and some other locations.
Lieutenant Colonel Babar along with Major Tirmizi on first cross country heli navigation
Immediately on return from Quetta, 3 Squadron got on with the task of preparing for the 23 March formation flying. On the final day Lieutenant Colonel Babar achieved, what he was trying for weeks, to put up in air the entire fleet of eighteen OH-13 helicopters.
