The facility was established by the Royal Air Force in 1923. Located in a beach area of Karachi, the primary role of the facility was to provide the embarkation and disembarkation facilities to the RAF and other British personnel arriving by civil or military amphibious aircraft, and also to handle receipts and dispatch of cargo on these aircraft.
In 1942, the RAF leased an area of 1,007 acres (4.08 km2) from the Government of Sindh 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 ( now Shara-e-Faisal) 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 British Raj. After the independence of Pakistan, the station continued to be commanded and manned by RAF personnel till 1949.[citation needed]
Pakistan Air Force
In December 1949, the first RPAF station commander was Wing Commander A.R.K. Malik.[citation needed] At this stage, it was decided to make Korangi a technical training base for officers and airmen of the PAF. 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 MinisterLiaquat Ali Khan. The SOA soon established its reputation as a successful training program in the PAF and abroad, and a large number of foreign countries started sending their air technicians to the base 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.
