抄録
This paper is a preliminary exploration of the nature and extent of U.S. aid for Pakistani civil aviation in the 1950s, and the relationship of this aid to the wider political and economic ties forged between the two countries at that time. It suggests that the United States was central in shaping the development of Pakistani civil aviation in this period, and that U.S. aerial aid was part of the wider capture of Pakistan into the U.S. military-strategic orbit in the fifties. The paper in particular posits a connection between U.S. aid for Pakistani civil aviation and the usefulness of Pakistan as a military ally in the Cold War. The paper suggests that the growth of international civil aviation in Asia was to a certain extent driven by the United States and its geopolitical and commercial concerns.