The earliest use of aircraft by the army can be traced to the
air observation posts (Air OP), where aeroplanes were used during the
World War I to help
artillery spotters (
Forward Observation Officers) to locate and direct artillery fire to targets on the ground. This role was improved upon and further refined in the
World War II. The Army Aviation wing of the
Royal Air Force was established in India at in 1942.
No. 656 Air OP Squadron (RAF), the first Air OP unit reached the Indian subcontinent in 1943 to assist the operations in the
Burma campaign. Following the war,
659 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, which had played an important role as an air observation post unit and worked closely with Army units in artillery spotting and liaison was despatched to India on October 1945. On 14 August 1947, No.659 (Air OP) Squadron was disbanded at
Lahore (which was deployed there in support of the Punjab Boundary Commission) and partitioned between India and Pakistan. On the next day the Air OP Squadron became part of the
Pakistan Air Force as "No.1 Air Observation Post Flight". No. 1 Air Observation Post Flight was converted into a squadron, and on 20th June 1956, No. 1 Air OP Squadron was officially raised. It was commissioned in the Pakistan Army after its personnel were trained and certified in the
United States in 1958. The
Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering started to maintain the aircraft and helicopters given by the U.S. Army's
Aviation Branch, opening its own aviation school on 1 January 1959. Since the 1960s, the corps expanded in momentum, manpower, and its operational scope has widened. ==Aircraft inventory==