Asghar Khan

Who is Asghar Khan?

Asghar Khan is a Pakistani veteran aviation historian, peace activist, and retired military figure— a three star rank air marshal— who served as the first native Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force from 1957 until resigning in 1965 prior to the start of the air operations of the PAF during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Initially commissioned in the Indian Army, Asghar Khan was drafted into Royal Air Force in 1940, seeing actions in Burma Campaign and later acceded to United Kingdom where he graduated from RAF Staff College at Bracknell, completing his collegiate courses from Joint Service Defence College, and completed his post-graduate studies from Imperial Defence College. Upon return to British Indian Empire, Asghar Khan resumed his active duty with the Royal Air Force and opted for Pakistan following the Indian partition in 1947, and settled in West-Pakistan. Asghar Khan became first commandant of Pakistan Air Force Academy in 1947 and was also the first to head the Directorate-General for Air Operations in 1950. Finally in 1957, Asghar Khan became the youngest to-date and the first native Air Force Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Air Force. His tenure as air commander saw the extensive modernization of PAF, in terms of both technical and military equipment, but controversially he was not taken in confidence prior to launch of Operation Gibraltar by the president which led to his resignation. After retiring from air force, Asghar Khan became president of civilian national flag carrier, the Pakistan International Airlines which he led until 1968.