No. 4 Squadron IAF
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No. 4 Squadron | |
---|---|
Active | 1 February 1942 - Present |
Country | Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 |
Aircraft flown | |
Fighter | Su-30 MKI |
No. 4 Squadron IAF (Oorials) is a fighter squadron of the
Crest
The squadron adopted the 'Oorial head' as its emblem in December 1944 shortly before the Supreme Allied Commander of
History
No. 4 Squadron of the
In 1942 the squadron moved on a detachment to
During 1942, the squadron also operated Lysander detachments from
In June 1942, the squadron moved to the RAF station at Risalpur, near Rawalpindi, for converting onto the Hawker Hurricane fighter bombers. The conversion training was completed by August 1942 and No. 4 Squadron moved to Phaphamau to collect its branch new Hurricane IIC aircraft.[3]
In September 1943 the squadron moved from Phaphamau to Bhopal for air-to-air armament training. It was a disastrous move, as out of the 12 Hurricanes that took off, 3 crashed due to bad weather.
On completion of armament training, the squadron moved to Sulur in November 1943 to practice for eventual operations in Burma. In February 1944, the squadron moved to Ranchi to carry out special low flying and ground attack training before moving to the front for its operational tour to Burma.
In March 1944, the squadron moved to
From August 1944 to January 1945, the squadron was based at Cox's Bazar to relieve No. 6 Squadron RAF and carried out close air support, interdiction and tactical reconnaissance operations.
As the British
In December 1944, the
In April 1945, No. 4 Squadron was transferred back to India, ferrying back 9 Hurricanes for conversion onto
In August 1945, the squadron was intimated of the possibility of the Oorials moving to Japan as part of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force. This was a singular honour for the Royal Indian Air Force and for No. 4 Squadron in particular. Short take off and landing procedures were practiced in preparation for the move to Japan as it was envisaged that the aircraft would be flown off the aircraft carrier onto onshore airfields. The Spitfire had pneumatically operated flaps which could be lowered fully for landing or raised fully up. The squadron devised a method of getting 15 degrees of flaps by inserting wooden wedges.
On 8 April 1946, HMS Vengeance sailed with 22 aircraft of No. 4 Squadron, berthed at Singapore for refueling and set course for Iwakuni, a port of Kyushu island. The aircraft carrier finally arrived at Air Station Iwakuni and was anchored midstream. The decision taken earlier to fly the aircraft off the carrier was changed since excellent facilities were provided for off-loading and transporting the aircraft.
The squadron was given a temporary base at Air Station Iwakuni until the rest of the personnel arrived. Shortly thereafter, the squadron moved to its permanent location at Miho on Sloustin Island. From here the squadron undertook various flying tasks which were mainly maritime patrol over the sea to ensure there was no subversive activity or smuggling. The stay at Miho was an interesting one and a lot of extracurricular functions were undertaken.
The flight commanders Flight Lieutenant Nur Khan and Flight Lieutenant Shirpurkar evolved a pattern of formation flying depicting the letters "IAF". This being the first time such letters were seen in the sky. There were occasional exercises carried out to display the air strength to the local populations while large formations were flown over the big cities.
The squadron returned to India in February 1947 and was located at Kanpur. They were here when the country achieved independence. In October 1947, the squadron was re-equipped with Hawker Tempest IIs and became the training squadron for the Indian Air Force.[4]
The squadron phased the
Assignments
- Burma Campaign
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
Aircraft
Aircraft | From | To | Air Base |
---|---|---|---|
Pre-Independence (1942–47) | |||
Westland Lysander | March 1942 | July 1943 | Peshawar[7][8] |
Hawker Hurricane Mk IIC | October 1943 | May 1945 | Risalpur |
Spitfire VIII | July 1945 | March 1946 | Cox's Bazar |
Post-Independence (1947–Present) | |||
Hawker Tempest II | November 1947 | October 1955 | AFS Pune |
Vampire FB52 | October 1955 | February 1957 | AFS Halwara |
Dassault Ouragan | February 1958 | 1960 | AFS Palam |
1960 | February 1966 | AFS Tezpur | |
MiG-21FL |
February 1966 | February 1980 | |
MiG-21bis |
February 1980 | February 2004 | AFS Uttarlai |
MiG-21 Bison |
February 2004 | 31 October 2023[6] | |
Su-30 MKI | 31 October 2023 | Present[6] |
References
- ^ "No. 4 Squadron IAF". FamousFix.com. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
- ^ "Squadrons and Helicopter Units". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
- ^ a b c d e Pillarisetti, Jagan. "No.4 Squadron". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 30 June 2020.
- ^ a b No.4 Squadron, Bharat Rakshak
- ^ a b c Mohan, PVS Jagan (2010). "No.4 Squadron (Feb 1942-June 1943)". The Westland Lysander in Indian Air Force Service. Hydrabad: Jagan Pillarisetti. pp. 21–32.
- ^ a b c Singh, Rahul (31 October 2023). "Indian Air Force phases out another MiG-21 squadron". Hindustan Times.
- ^ "No.4 Squadron". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Pillarisetti, Jagan (14 June 2017). "No.4 Squadron". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 21 June 2021.