RAF Kohat - 1941 (Frank Powley's Collection)

The RAF commissioned Kohat as an airfield for operational purposes in 1922 to meet the threat posed by tribesmen of the northern and western areas of the Frontier Province.
Kohat was one of the three stations in the region, the other two being Peshawar and Risalpur. In the 20s, Kohat was The administrative wing, maintenance wing fighter-bomber base with two squadrons of Westland Wapitis - Nos. 27 and 60 RAF Squadrons.

According to records , the headquarters building, aircraft and supply hangars, Ml room, armory, swimming pool and many other buildings were erected in 1925. Double storey barracks Nos 90 and 95, and living out JCOs' accommodation were built in 1940. In 1938 there were two different squadrons at the station, Nos 16 and 17 Squadrons RAF with three flights each and with each flight comprising 8 aircraft. The aircraft were mainly Wapitis and Audaxes, with a few Blenheims. All pilots and airmen were British.

During WWII, several RAF and IAF squadrons staged through Kohat as part of their cycle of rest periods between deployments on the Burma front. Kohat was the first ever 'Station' to be commanded by an Officer of the Indian Air Force, when in Aug 43, Subroto Mukerjee took over command. He was suceeded by Wg Cdr Aspy Engineer in January 1945.

As with the photographs on the No.1 SFTS Page, The photographs on this page are taken from the album of an ex-RAF airman C.Hutt. Hutt's Album is currently in the collection of Frank Powley, whose namesake uncle, Wg Cdr Powley, was the CO of one of the Squadrons in No.1 SFTS.

photos are from a WW2 album belonging to "C. Hutt 12222516 RAF" and the album was titled "Ambala India 1941". The album is currently in the possesion of Mr. Frank Powley, who has very kindly allowed the photographs to be displayed on the website at www.bharat-rakshak.com, which the current webmaster also manages.

Thanks also goes to Don Clark for providing the individual aircraft histories of some of the aircraft on this page. Don maintains the definitive website to 211 Squadron at http://www.211squadron.org/

If you have any information related to the photographs in this page, please do email us, so that it can be included in these pages.

All Images on this page are the Copyright © Frank Powley unless mentioned otherwise.