page_title: Philippine Air Force
section_title: Post-WWII and AFP restructuring
hierarchical_section_title: Philippine Air Force / History / Philippine Commonwealth and Independence / Post-WWII and AFP restructuring
caption_attribution_description: P-51 Mustangs of the Philippine Air Force circa 1950's. The PAF had problems with the plane's retracting rear wheel and finally modified the mechanism into a fixed "down" position even in flight.
context_page_description: The Philippine Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Initially formed as part of the Philippine Army, the PAF is responsible for both defending the Philippine Airspace, and conducts close air support, combat air patrols, tactical operations and other aerial operations throughout the Philippines.
  The PAF has an estimated strength of over 16,000 personnel and operates 193 aircraft.
context_section_description: The PAF became a separate military service on July 1, 1947, when President Manuel Roxas issued Executive Order No. 94.  This order created the Philippine Naval Patrol and the Air Force as equal branches of the Philippine Army and the Philippine Constabulary under the now Armed Forces of the Philippines becoming Southeast Asia's third air force as a result.
  The main aircraft type in the earlier era of the PAF was the P-51 Mustang, flown from 1947 to 1959. Ground attack missions were flown against various insurgent groups, with aircraft hit by ground fire but none shot down. In the 1950s the Mustang was used by the Blue Diamonds aerobatic display team. These would be replaced by the jet-powered North American F-86 Sabres in the late 1950s, assisted by Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star and Beechcraft T-34 Mentor trainers.
  The PAF saw its first international action in the Congo under the UN peacekeeping mission in 1960.
caption: PAF P-51 Mustang
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