Nur Khan

Air Marshal
Malik
Nur Khan
HJ HQA SQA SPk
Air Marshal; Malik Nur Khan HJ HQA SQA SPk
نور خان
	Portrait, c. 1965
Member of the 7th; National Assembly of Pakistan
	In office; 20 March 1985 – 29 May 1988
Constituency	NA-43 (Attock-III)
6th Governor of West Pakistan
	In office; 1 September 1969 – 31 January 1970
Preceded by	Tikka Khan
Succeeded by	Attiqur Rahman
3rd Commander-in-Chief; Pakistan Air Force
	In office; 23 July 1965 – 31 August 1969
Deputy	See list Mohammad Akhtar (1966); S.A. Yusaf (1966-67); Abdul Qadir (1967-69); Khyber Khan (1969);
Preceded by	Asghar Khan
Succeeded by	Abdur Rahim Khan
Appointed by
Other offices
Chairman; Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan
	In office; 10 February 1980 – 2 February 1984
Appointed by	General Zia-ul-Haq
Preceded by	Khwaja Mohammad Azhar Khan
Succeeded by	Safdar Butt
7th, 10th President of the Pakistan Hockey Federation
	In office; 1976 – 2 February 1984
Preceded by	Sadiq Hussain Qureshi
	In office; 1967–1969
Chief Administrator Civil Aviation Authority and Tourism (Pakistan)
	In office; February 1964 – 22 July 1965
President Peshawar Club Limited
	In office; March 1968 – March 1969
	In office; April 1959 – June 1961
Managing Director; Pakistan International Airlines
	In office; 6 March 1959 – 22 July 1965
Preceded by	Zafar-ul-Ahsan
Succeeded by	Asghar Khan
Commander PAF Station Mauripur
	In office; August 1956 – October 1957
Commander PAF Station Peshawar
	In office; December 1955 – August 1956
2nd Commandant RPAF College
	In office; 15 September 1948 – October 1949
Preceded by	Asghar Khan
Succeeded by	M. A. Rahman
Air attaché to High Commission of Pakistan, London
	In office; January 1948 – September 1948
Preceded by	Office established
Commander PAF Station Lahore
	In office; August 1947 – December 1947
Flight Commander Squadron Leader Operations 3; (Headquarters BCAIR)
	In office; 14 June 1945 – 30 September 1946
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Personal details
Born	Malik Nur Khan Awan; 22 February 1923; Tamman, Chakwal District, British India
Died	15 December 2011 (aged 88); CMH Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Resting place	Tamman, Talagang, Pakistan
Party	Pakistan Peoples Party (1988–89)
Other political; affiliations	Council Muslim League (1970-71); Independent (1985-88)
Spouse	Begum Farhat (m. 1952)
Children	4
Relatives	Amir Mohammad Khan; Sardar Mumtaz Khan; Malik Sher Bahadur (nephew)
Education	Colonel Brown Cambridge School; Chief's College, Lahore; Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (B.A.); No. 1 (I) SFTS; Joint Services Staff College (UK); RAF Staff College, Andover; PAF Staff College
Civilian awards	Hilal-e-Shujaat (1978); Midalja għall-Qadi tar-Repubblika (1979)
Nickname	Nuroo
Military service
Branch/service	Royal Indian Air Force (1941); Pakistan Air Force (1947)
Years of service	1941–1970
Rank	Air Marshal
Commands	See list PAF Station Chaklala; RPAF College; PAF Station Peshawar; PAF Station Mauripur;
Battles/wars	World War II Burma campaign (1944); Burma Campaign 1944–1945; ; Indo-Pakistani War of 1947; Waziristan rebellion (1948-1954); Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 Indo-Pakistani Air War of 1965; ; Six-Day War;
Military awards	See list

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Malik Nur Khan Awan (22 February 1923 — 15 December 2011) known as the Man of Steel, The Man With The Midas Touch, and informally, Nuroo, was a three-star rank officer who led the Pakistan Air Force in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, a politician, sports administrator, airline executive and statesman who served as the third Commander-in-Chief of the PAF from 1965 to 1969 and sixth Governor of West Pakistan from 1969 to 1970.

Born in the Punjab Province, Khan graduated from Chief's College, Lahore and Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College. At the college, he gained fame for his boxing skills and joined the Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve in 1940. At the age of 17, he was commissioned into the Royal Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in 1941 and trained with the Royal Air Force as a gunner and bomber pilot. He was later deployed to Burma and flew sorties against Imperial Japan in World War II. In May 1944, he conducted a dive-bombing mission on a bridge at the Arakan front.

In 1945, Khan served as Flight Commander. After the Partition of British India in 1947, Khan opted for the Royal Pakistan Air Force and commanded PAF Station Chaklala. Subsequently, he became the first air attache of Pakistan to London and later the second commandant of the RPAF College. In 1958, Flight highlighted Air Commodore Nur Khan's leadership of No. 1 Group PAF and described him as "probably the youngest air officer anywhere in the world" at the age of 35.

Widely regarded as Pakistan's greatest administrator, Khan was known for his intellect and management abilities, which largely benefited the country in both sports and aviation. As managing director of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) from 1959 to 1965, he transformed the airline into one of the world's frontline carriers. During this period, he acquired several properties for the airline, including the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, the Scribe Hotel in Paris, the Central Hotel in Abu Dhabi, and the Minal Hotel in Riyadh. He also set up the intercontinental chain of hotels in Pakistan and the Malam Jabba ski resort. His tenure, along with that of his successor Asghar Khan, is often referred to as the "golden years of PIA" in the aviation community. PAF Base Nur Khan is named after him.

Shortly before the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Nur Khan succeeded Air Marshal Asghar Khan as Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force.