Images - Pakistan Air Force in the Mirror of History.

[ghazi52]

 

[ghazi52]

 

[ghazi52]

Airship mooring mast and hangar (Kala Chapra), Karachi, in the early 1940's.

North America B-25s and other Allied aircraft at Karachi’s airport during World War II. The site developed around the huge hangar built for British imperial airships that never arrived. Civil aircraft moved here from nearby RAF Drigh Road (now PAF Faisal) during the 1930's.

Known locally as the "Kala Chapra" or "Black Shed," this enormous structure constructed in the late 1920's was considered one of the largest structures in the British Empire. It was meant to service the German Zeppelins, fueled by hydrogen, that were in vogue at the time, and Karachi was the westernmost station for British India.

It was 850 feet long and about 180 feet high and wide. Unfortunately, one of the first flights from Britain to Karachi crashed in 1930, and in 1952 this structure was taken down and the steel used for scrap.