Coll 5/73 ‘Afghan Air Force: Reports on’ [‎27r] (53/431)

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1 • G-en eral .
(a) The Afghan Air Forice has he h called on to carry
operations aga 1 1 >) "tribes during the surnr'ier,
sen d Tr 0U t. a few aircraft on reconnaissance flights from
Jalalabad^or nabul during hy and June. _ The re-organisation of
jne .iir r orce nas proceeded slowly on the lines indicated in
paragraph ± (a) of my last report, ajor Abdur hazaq Khan the
pomander of the khwa ja. Kawasn and Sherpur airfield and Kaiibullah
xvhan yinister of Education, left for Cairo in September to’
attend a Conference on Civil Aviation in Octobefc. They are
expected to return at the end oi hovenber. The absence of
major Abdur Razaq result'd in delay in reaching many decisions
regarding the reorganisation of the Air Force.
(b) The Commandant of the Air Force
is also Chief of the G-eheral Staff
acting as minister of Defence. He 1
time to devote to Air Force affairs.
, Lt-G-en, Asaduliah Khan
md since June has been
las therefore not had much
(c) The position regardiivy serviceable aircraft for o:
purposes nos improved slightly
for hind aircraft from LiKhand.
so 'viceable.
rat;
onal
the delivery of spare- propellers
17 hind aircraft are now
(d) The eighth Tiger/loth tniaer aircraft ms flown from
i eshawar to Kaoul m eu.'ust and with this arrival and the
delivery of 5 yearsa^-res for the 6 Timer Joths the Afghan Air
force has secured sufficiuit trainer aircraft to enable the
!lying training school to resume
I I c*
U b
functions.
(e)
Ti
nfghan uovtrnment made a request in the sprirp’ of this
year lor tne supply of a sample second hand Spitfire VIII aircraft
011 loan or on payment from India with the object of testing
out the performance of the Spitfire in Kabul. Should the
aircraft prove suitable for conditions in Afghanistan the
Afghan Government propose.to purchase 12 to 24 Spitfires
together witig spares for 5 years. Unfortunately owing to
certain technical alterations which have to be made before
Spitfire can be sold.to a foreign Government it has not proved
possible to comply with the request,though it is hoped that the
sample Spitfire can be delivered from Peshawar before the winter
sets in % It was decided not to proceed with the supely of a
sample hurricane C.II aircraft as the Hurricane was not considered
suitable for use m Afghanistan and the spares position was
unsatisfactory.
the
f he
(f) A firm ordc^ for
cum opere tione 1 air c ra ft
in England by the Afghan
sunply of 12 Avro XIX light transport
md sner.-s for 5 years has be-ui placed
it
a re
.an
to
cm
br
b, tween J-Anuarv
itted with dual
training Afghan pilots at Karachi.
Air Force with additional aircraft
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ana
contx
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Deliveries are
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q -a
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to be made
of.the aircraft
will be utilized for
The Avros will provide the
, . , . -r--t for use in operations against
the .tribes and whicr can also oe utilized for inaugurating "limited
civil air services in the country. ° '
Ibe Afghan crovernment.are now snowing more interest in the
establishment oi a civil air service between Persia, Herat and
i^abul, and two American
nssions, one representing Trans A.orld