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The Royal Air Force established RAF Station Korangi Creek in
1923. The primary role of this beach station on the
outskirts of Karachi was to provide embarkation and
disembarkation facilities to RAF and other British personnel
arriving by civil or military amphibious aircraft, and also
to handle receipt and dispatch of cargo on these aircraft.
For this purpose, a jetty was built with complete refueling
facilities; the aircraft used to alight on the shallow The
water in the creek and taxi up to the jetty. Large mooring
blocks and picketing points were built for anchorage of the
aircraft. Six Nissen huts were erected for storage of cargo
and one block known as the Halton Block was built to serve
as customs office and passenger lounge. Twelve bungalows
were built for married officers and 3 blocks for bachelors.
Lord Mountbatten while commanding South East Asia Command
during WW II visited this station and stayed in the VIP
suite of the present base commander's house. SNCOs and
airmen's messes were also constructed together with 20
living-in barracks for airmen and 120 one-room houses for
the followers. An aboveground sewerage system was installed
and the entire sewerage was ejected into the sea through
large cement pipes. Electrical power was provided by 3
engine driven generators located in the station power house;
two of these generators are still working (1988) as standby
power supply to the base! In 1942, the RAF leased an area of
1,007 acres from the provincial government 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 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 India. After
independence, the station continued to be commanded and
manned by RAF personnel till 1949. In December 1949, the
first RPAF station commander was Wing Commander A K Malik.
At this stage it was decided to make Korangi a technical
training base for officers and airmen of the RPAF. 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 of Pakistan,
Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan. The SOA soon established its
reputation in the PAF and abroad and a large number of
foreign countries started sending their air technicians 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.
The need for training PAF engineering officers within the
country had been felt immediately after the establishment of
the SOA in 1951. However, it was not until the mid-1960s
that it became feasible to budget for a PAF college of
aeronautical engineering. Consequently the CAE was
established at PAF Korangi Creek on 1 March 1965. The
college remained at Korangi Creek for over 21 years till it
was shifted to PAF Academy Risalpur in May 1986.
Subsequent to CAE's departure three major units of the PAF
have been located at Korangi which have enhanced the
training role of the base. A premier institution for
training selected SNCOs, the JCOs' Academy was established
in 1986, and the College of Education, dedicated to
instructors' training was set up in the same year. Also the
Central Trade Testing Board (CTTB), for many years a
Faisal-based unit, was moved to Korangi Creek.
To equip this base more comprehensively with the training
aids, methods and environment necessary for the PAF's
aerospace technicians of the year 2000, Air Headquarters
drew up a multi-staged modernization plan for Korangi Creek
in 1986, which is gradually taking shape. New equipment to
introduce state-of-the-art technologies to young trainees
has been ordered and the old, makeshift class rooms and labs
are being torn down to make place for a completely
transformed training base. |