Gp. Capt (Retd.) Safdar Qureshi - Late

Late Gp. Capt (Retd.) Safdar Qureshi was born on 22 October 1944. He joined PAF in July 1965 in the electronics engineering branch and retired in July 1993. During service he worked on various weapons systems of PAF and worked relentlessly for this potent force. He was known as a genius in his work and for that reason he also worked on some very sensitive projects during his career.

His father also happened to be in air force and served in the education branch from 1954 to 1963 and taught mathematics in PAF College at Rislapur. And it was in Risalpur where young Safdar Qureshi took up aeromodelling as a hobby and designed a free flight model named PARAGON and got its plan published in UK aeromodelling magazine, AEROMODELLER in APRIL 1960. He participated in many competitions held in the PAF College during those years along with cadets and won most of them. It was at this place where he fell in love with aviation and brought him to serve the nation in this fighting force.

Safdar Qureshi always had a passion of seeing an aviation museum of international standards in Pakistan, that was accessible by the masses of the country, and this passion was fueled further when he had visited UK for some courses in early 1970's. During the last five years of his service he planned and put up a proposal to the higher command of PAF about this idea and offered to make models of various aircrafts that PAF had operated. He convinced the Chief of the Air Staff with his passion for the project and was given a go‐ahead in late 1988‐89 after making a model of Supermarine Attacker. Then there was no stopping and he never looked back. It took almost seven and half year for gathering historic data, model making and planning for the museum. He moved to Karachi in August 1996 for the execution of all the activities starting from building renovation to landscaping, display aircraft color schemes to repairing of wooden aircraft damaged airframe, display galleries and theme planning throughout the museum premises etc. etc. It was because of his sincere and devoted commitment that he almost single handedly got all the things moving through the paces and phases as envisioned. He worked tirelessly to make his dream a reality and it all culminated with the inauguration of the PAF Museum at PAF Base Faisal Karachi, on 15th August 1997 as part of Golden Jubilee celebrations of Pakistan Independence.

Mr. Humayun Qurishi s/o  late Gp. Capt (Retd.) Safdar Qureshi provided the contents of this article and have been published in the original form.

After making a humble home in Rawalpindi for his family and himself, Gp. Capt Safdar Qureshi fell sick in June 1999, and was diagnosed with cancer in September 1999. He underwent a number of surgeries and bouts of chemo and radio therapy but finally lost the battle and passed away on 26 August 2001 in Rawalpindi. He is buried in PAF graveyard at Chakala Cant. Because of his immense obsession with Supermarine Spitfire, the plaque on his grave has a silhouette of one of the most beautiful aircraft ever designed as desired by him.

He was a loving husband, a great father, who was always there to support and guide us through thick and thin of life. Apart from his passion with aviation he had a number of other hobbies like wood working, painting, music, model railroad, collecting models of antique cars, books and magazines, sports etc… He was a GOD gifted person as he enjoyed life to the fullest and was successful in finding time for his family, hobbles, friends other than total commitment to his service.