Nur Khan
Malik Nur Khan Awan known as the Man of Steel, The Man With The Midas Touch, and informally, Nuroo, was a three-star rank officer who led the Pakistan Air Force in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, a politician, sports administrator, airline executive and statesman who served as the third Commander-in-Chief of the PAF from 1965 to 1969 and sixth Governor of West Pakistan from 1969 to 1970.
Born in the Punjab Province, Khan graduated from Chief's College, Lahore and Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College. At the college, he gained fame for his boxing skills and joined the Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1940. At the age of 17, he was commissioned into the Royal Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in 1941 and trained with the Royal Air Force as a gunner and bomber pilot. He was later deployed to Burma and flew sorties against Imperial Japan in World War II. In May 1944, he conducted a dive-bombing mission on a bridge at the Arakan front.
In 1945, Khan served as Flight Commander. After the Partition of British India in 1947, Khan opted for the Royal Pakistan Air Force and commanded PAF Station Chaklala. Subsequently, he became the first air attache of Pakistan to London and later the second commandant of the RPAF College. In 1958, Flight highlighted Air Commodore Nur Khan's leadership of No. 1 Group PAF and described him as "probably the youngest air officer anywhere in the world" at the age of 35.
Widely regarded as Pakistan's greatest administrator, Khan was known for his intellect and management abilities, which largely benefited the country in both sports and aviation. As managing director of Pakistan International Airlines from 1959 to 1965, he transformed the airline into one of the world's frontline carriers. During this period, he acquired several properties for the airline, including the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, the Scribe Hotel in Paris, the Central Hotel in Abu Dhabi, and the Minal Hotel in Riyadh. He also set up the intercontinental chain of hotels in Pakistan and the Malam Jabba ski resort. His tenure, along with that of his successor Asghar Khan, is often referred to as the "golden years of PIA" in the aviation community. PAF Base Nur Khan is named after him.
Shortly before the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Nur Khan succeeded Air Marshal Asghar Khan as Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force.
Early life
Malik Nur Khan was born on 22 February 1923 in Tamman into a Punjabi Awan family with a distinguished military heritage. His father, Risaldar-Major Malik Mihr Khan served as a Viceroy's Commissioned Officer in the British Indian Army from 1911 to 1936, was deployed to France and Belgium in World War I from 1914 to 1916, and was the aide-de-camp to General Sir John S.M. Shea, the Commander-in-Chief of Eastern Command and his successor General Norman MacMullen.The family bore the title "Malik", meaning "Ruler", a designation commonly associated with Awan lineages. Among Nur Khan's relatives were the Nawab of Kalabagh and Sardar Mumtaz Khan, a politician.
Nur Khan began his education at the Government Middle School in Tamman and attended the Colonel Brown Cambridge School, where he became friends with Bikram Singh, who later became a board member of the Civil and Military Gazette. He subsequently enrolled at the Chief's College, Lahore, where he earned a diploma in science. In 1934, he joined the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College, where cadets were divided into sections known as houses. Nur Khan and Asghar Khan were members of the Rawlinson House, while Sahabzada Yaqub Khan belonged to Kitchener House.
On his entry form, Principal Malcolm Hailey, 1st Baron Hailey, remarked: "An excellent military family from a very military center. The boy has been well educated and is more advanced than many Awans of his age. He is physically fit and should make an officer anyhow, he is the right type."
At the college, Khan gained a reputation as a "killer" boxer and a devout Muslim. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts in military administration. After completing his initial training at the Initial Training Wing in Lahore by May 1941, he proceeded to No. 1 SFTS, finishing his flying syllabus by late November that year.
Khan later advanced his military education at several institutions, including the Joint Services Staff College, the RAF Staff College, Andover, and the PAF Staff College.
Service years
Royal Indian Air Force
Nur Khan joined the Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve during World War II and went for air crew training with the Royal Air Force in December 1940.After graduating from the Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College as part of the 6th Pilots Course, Nur Khan was commissioned into the Royal Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot on 6 January 1941, at the age of 17. His family paid for his flying lessons from the Northern India Flying Club in Lahore, where he learned how to fly the de Havilland Tiger Moth and received his pilot's A-license.
World War II
In the United Kingdom, Khan trained with the Royal Air Force as air crew and received additional training as a gunnery and bomber pilot. Upon returning to British India in 1942–43, he was deployed to the Burma campaign with the Royal Indian Air Force as part of the occupation forces fighting against Imperial Japan. On 20 May 1944, he dive bombed a bridge on the Arakan front.In the mid-1940s, Nur Khan was an active supporter of the Pakistan Movement, a stance that often made him the subject of teasing by his commanding officer, Flight Lieutenant Erlic Pinto. Fellow officer, Raja Gohel, fought over Khan's pro-Pakistani views, leading to a physical altercation in which Nur struck Gohel. According to Air Commodore A.C. Chacko, "Raja went literally mad with fury and we had all the trouble to prevent him bashing Nooru's head with a brick."
Pakistan Air Force
Initial years
After the Partition of British India on 14 August 1947, Nur Khan opted for the Royal Pakistan Air Force and was appointed the Commander of PAF Station Chaklala.In January 1948, Khan became the first Pakistani air attaché to the High Commission of Pakistan, London. In late 1948, he was asked to return to Pakistan and succeeded Asghar Khan as Commandant of the RPAF College on 15 September.
Khan was posted to the Air Headquarters in Rawalpindi as the Director of Organisation where he remained involved in the induction of aircraft under U.S. military aid from January 1950 until March 1951. That month, Khan was selected for a course at the RAF Staff College, Andover. Ezer Weizman in his autobiography, recalled an interaction with Khan while they were both studying at the college: "The following day I was approached by Wing Commander Nur Khan of the Pakistani air force. He was a formidable fellow and I was glad that he was Pakistani and not an Egyptian."
In the mid-1950s, Nur Khan was appointed the F-86 Sabre program director. He strongly advocated for the induction of F-86's instead of Republic F-84 Thunderjet's into the Air Force, despite opposition by many, which often caused commotion during meetings, with Nur Khan going as far as threatening to resign. Nonetheless, he maintained his stance and the RPAF received the Sabres.
Promoted to Group Captain in 1954, Nur Khan was appointed Assistant Chief of Staff under Chief of Staff Air Commodore L. E. Jarman.
In response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union, Group Captains Asghar Khan, Nur Khan, and Wing Commander Abdul Qadir developed an expansion plan for the PAF in March 1954. This plan outlined a ten-year goal from 1954 to 1964, aiming to establish the Air Force with 768 aircraft across 44 squadrons. It included ten day-fighter squadrons, five night-fighter squadrons, six bomber squadrons, one reconnaissance squadron, twelve fighter-bomber squadrons, six tactical light bomber squadrons, two twin-engine and one four-engine transport squadrons, and two maritime squadrons. In May 1954, Pakistan entered a Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement with the United States, securing substantial economic and military aid in exchange for access to PAF bases for launching reconnaissance flights into the Soviet Union.
From December 1955 to August 1956, Khan commanded PAF Station Peshawar. Afterwards, he commanded PAF Station Mauripur from August 1956 to October 1957, where he converted the aircraft of PAF fighter squadrons from reciprocating to jet engines. He served at the Air Headquarters before he was appointed as Air Officer Commanding of the No. 1 Group PAF. At the time, the RPAF was organised into two groups: No. 1 Group Headquarters for Operations, based in Peshawar, and No. 2 Group Headquarters for Maintenance, located at Drigh Road. In 1958, Flight highlighted Air Commodore Nur Khan's leadership of No. 1 Group PAF, describing him as "probably the youngest air officer anywhere in the world" at the age of 35.
In 1957, Khan was appointed Chairman of the Committee responsible for the reorganisation of the Pakistan Air Force.
Pakistan International Airlines
Air Commodore Nur Khan was appointed the head of the Pakistan International Airlines as Managing Director in the afternoon of 6 March 1959. by President Ayub Khan. Nur Khan is credited with turning the airline into a profitable, internationally recognised entity. In late 1962, Nur Khan received a two-year extension in his position of managing director by the Government of Pakistan.Commander-in-Chief (1965–1969)
On 23 July 1965, the outgoing Commander-in-Chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan handed over command of the Pakistan Air Force to Air Marshal Nur Khan. Asghar Khan did not brief him about Operation Gibraltar in Indian administered Kashmir as Asghar was not informed by the Pakistan Army either.After a hiatus of six years without flying fighter jets, Nur Khan quickly regained familiarity with the cockpit by doing quick checkouts on the Lockheed T-33 before switching to an F-104 Starfighter and F-86 Sabre.
The Air Headquarters was suspicious regarding the secret operations undertaken by the army, due to previous subsequent skirmishes on the eastern border. Nur Khan met with Commander-in-Chief General Musa Khan who admitted that "something was afoot", with Nur Khan immediately responding "this could mean war". However, Musa tried to assure Nur Khan that India would not retaliate. Very few details of the plan were conveyed to both Nur Khan and Naval Chief Afzal Rahman Khan by the Pakistan Army leadership. Still skeptical, Nur Khan was told by General Musa to meet with the General Officer Commanding of Kashmir, Major General Akhtar Hussain Malik for further details, as he was in charge of Operation Gibraltar. Reportedly, Akhtar told Nur Khan, "don't worry, because the plan is to send in some 800,000 infiltrators inside the occupied territory to throw out the Indian troops with the help of the local population", with Akhtar claiming the plan was so perfectly designed that the Indians would not be able to retaliate and therefore Nur Khan and the PAF would not need to get into war-time mode.