A cadet is lucky to get an excellent instructor who takes him through various stages of flight training in the air force. I was one such cadet. Air Commodore Syed Mansur Ahmed Shah (r) was my flight instructor over 63 years ago in the then RPAF College, Risalpur.

Affectionately known by his colleagues as ‘’Polly’’, he was an officer widely respected for his professionalism and conscientious devotion to duty. His penchant for detail helped him in successfully implementing plans and strategy of the Pakistan Airforce.

I consider myself very fortunate to have ‘Polly’ Shah as my flight instructor. His greatest asset was that he never ‘rode’ the flying controls but was always ready to try his hand at them at a moment’s notice if he noticed slackness on the part of his student.

This worked greatly to the advantage of the student. Polly was a great role model. He was slim, smart and energetic and bold. He was also modest about himself. It’s only after his passing away that I came to know about his academic achievements, despite the fact that we had become best of friends over the years.

Syed Mansoor Shah had his early schooling at Sherwood College Nanital and St Anthony’s High School Lahore. He became the first Muslim in the whole of Punjab to have topped the senior Cambridge examination in 1943, whilst at the Government College Lahore he joined the Royal Indian Airforce in 1944 in the GDP branch and got his commission in 1945.

He was the first cadet in his batch to do solo during his training. His departure from this world to his heavenly abode is a loss to PAF of one of its pioneers who contributed to building the PAF from scratch to what it is now. Few would be able to match the rich legacy left behind by him.

M. RASHEED KHANKarachi