Pakistan Air Force Base Masroor or more simply PAF Base Masroor is the largest airbase operated by the

Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

. It is located in the Mauripur area of

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

, in the

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

province. The base was originally known as RIAF Base Mauripur (1940-47), RPAF Station Mauripur (1947-56), and after 23 March 1956, as PAF Station Mauripur.

PAF Base Faisal Pakistan Air Force Base Faisal (Urdu: ), founded as RAF Drigh Road, previously known as PAF Station Drigh Road, and is now called Shahrah-e-Faisal. This air force base is located at Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. In 1975, it was named after the lat ...

and PAF Base Bholari are the other

bases in Karachi.

History

The airbase at Mauripur was established by the

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

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

in 1942 as a transit airfield allowing RAF Drigh Road to concentrate on maintenance. Huge numbers of aircraft staged through Mauripur during and after the end of World War II. British units continued to use the airfield after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, finally leaving in 1956. The RAF airfields at

Gan The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to: Places * Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden" China * Gan River (Jiangxi) * Gan River (Inner Mongolia), * Gan County, in Jiangxi province * Gansu, abbreviated '' ...

and

Masirah Masirah Island (), also referred to as Mazeira Island, is an island off the east coast of mainland Oman in the Arabian Sea, and the largest island of the country. Administratively, it forms one of the five provinces (''Wilayah'', plural ''Wilay ...

took over

RAF Far East Air Force The former Royal Air Force Far East Air Force, more simply known as RAF Far East Air Force, was the Command organisation that controlled all Royal Air Force assets in the east of Asia (Far East). It was originally formed as Air Command, South Ea ...

staging duties from Mauripur and Habbaniya (which became unavailable from 14 July 1958 after the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Historic units and aircraft

Post-partition era

After the

Partition of British India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Pakistan is the Islam ...

, the base became RPAF Station Mauripur. On 24 May 1968, PAF Station Mauripur was renamed to PAF Station Masroor in honor of base commander Masroor Hosain. During 1979 the base was home to 7 Squadron with the Martin B-57B Canberra. On 1 July 1970,

stations were renamed to bases.

Features

Masroor airbase has the distinction of not only being the largest base, area wise, in Pakistan but also in Asia. Before Karachi Airport, this airport had been used for domestic flights and also by

Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 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 inception of Pa ...

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 187611 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 inception of Pa ...

, the founder of Pakistan. It is of immense strategic importance considering it has been entrusted upon the task of defending the coastal and Southern region of Pakistan. It houses the 32 Tactical Attack (TA) Wing which comprises six separate squadrons. squadrons include No 2 MR squadron operating JF-17 Block 2s, No 4 AWACS Squadron operating Karakoram Eagle AWACS, No 7 TA Squadron operating Mirage 3 ROSE 1, No 8 TA Squadron operating Mirage 5PA2/3, No 22 OCU operating Mirage 3EL/D and No 84 CSS operating AW-139 Seahawk CSAR helicopters. Base is also home to College of Aviation safety management and Tactical Air Support school (TASS).Pakistan Air Force Bases (list includes PAF Base Masroor)
nuke.fas.org website, Retrieved 4 October 2021

References

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External links