Air Marshal Asghar Khan ( ائیر مارشل اصغر خان) 17 January 1921 – 5 January 2018) was Pakistani politician, aviation historian, peace activist, and retired three star rank air force general who served as the first native Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) under President Iskander Mirza (1956–59) and under President Ayub Khan 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 Indian Air Force in 1940, seeing actions in Burma Campaign and was later sent 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 Indian Air Force and opted for Pakistan following the independence 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 (DGAO) in 1950. Finally in 1957, Asghar Khan became the youngest to-date and the first native Air Force Commander-in-Chief of PAF. His tenure as air commander saw the extensive modernization of the PAF, in terms of both technical and military equipment, after resigning he was controversially not consulted by the president prior to launch of Operation Gibraltar. After retiring from air force, Asghar Khan became president of civilian national flag carrier, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) which he led until 1968.
