No.1
Squadron Air Force was raised on 1 April 1933 at Drigh Road, Karachi and
equipped with 04 Westland Wapiti aircraft. The Indian element consisted of 06
officers and 09 technicians then known as Hawai Sepoys.
The early history of 1
Squadron is synonymous with the history of the Indian Air Force. It was formed
on the day the Indian Air Force received its first batch of trained pilots from
RAF Cranwell. The first batch of Indians at Cranwell were HC Sircar, Subroto
Mukherjee (later Air Marshal and the first Indian Chief of the Air Staff), AB
Awan, Bhupendra Singh, Amarjit Singh and J N Tandon. They had started training
in 1930 and were commissioned in late 1932. Plt Offr Tandon was too short to
qualify for flying training and joined as the Equipment officer. Flt Lt CA
Bouchier, DFC from the RAF was the first Commanding Officer of the Squadron.
The first batch were
later joined by AM Engineer, DFC (later Air Marshal and the Chief of the Air
Staff), KK Majumdar, DFC & Bar, Narendra, R H D Singh, Prithipal Singh,
"Baba" Mehar Singh, SN Goyal and Arjan Singh (Later Marshal of the Air Force).
No. 1 Squadron (The Tigers) is
the oldest squadron of the Indian Air Force. It operates
as a multirole (air
superiority, precision
strike, and electronic
warfare) unit. Based at Gwalior AFB,
No. 1 Squadron falls under the Central Air Command, and along
with No.
7 Squadron (Battle Axes), No.
9 Squadron (Wolf Pack), and
"TACDE", forms a part of 40 Wing of the Indian Air Force.
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