During the week the Pak Air Force Museum is quiet save for
the roar of civilian jetliners and military transport planes taking off from
the nearby airport and air force base. As with military museums everywhere it
is a curious mix of obsolete hardware and perfectly manicured gardens. Two
workers are busy applying tiles to a new fountain, the lawns are even and green
and the painted benches glossy and bright.
No wonder then that the place is popular with families on
weekends and holidays
I arrive Friday morning, before the crowds, but well in time
to watch crews assembling two enormous wedding marquees and sundry stalls
selling ice cream, peanuts and souvenirs. There is almost no one else there. A
group of students from Hyderabad [pre-engineering] come to say hello and
practice their English. How many siblings do I have? Three. Including? No, four
then.
A group of Iranians is picnicking under the enormous wing of
a Russian transport plane, a four engine Antonov that looks like the less
evolved cousin of the C130s that thunder overhead. One of the fathers is
teaching English to students from the Persian International School. He has been
in Karachi on contract for nearly three years. We both smile at the contrast
between these peaceful gardens and the chaos of the city outside.
Given Pakistan's martial history the collection is good.
Russian built MiGs and their Chinese copies, delta winged Mirage fighters,
American versions of British Canberra bombers, Lockhead F104s and missiles on
static display.
But my favourites are the Antonovs, AN 12 and 26,
defected by their crews to Peshawar during the Afghanistan crisis and grounded
not long after due to lack of parts. Their wings, so heavy and improbably
suited to flight, cast shade under which children play and laugh, and men lie
around on blankets brought just for the purpose.