Geoffrey Sinclair
2017-05-11 14:36:56 UTC
From post war listing, with then current place names.
The Indian Air Force was officially constituted on 10 October 1932.Number 1 squadron was officially formed at Drigh Road, Karachi
on 1 April 1933, but in reality it was a squadron headquarters
plus a flight with 4 Wapati aircraft. On 1 April 1936 B flight was
formed, with a single Wapati and in mid June 1938 C flight was
officially formed but with few personnel and no aircraft.
Frontier operations in North Waziristan occurred September to
November 1937. Further operations in the North West Frontier
were undertaken June to November 1938 and March to June
1939, using the airfield at Miranshah on the Afghan border,
around 100 miles from Kabul. In mid 1939 the squadron was
based at Ambala, north of Delhi.
In June-July 1939 the squadron cast off the obsolete Wapati
and started flying Hawker Hart. On 28 August 1939 it moved
to Drigh Road as the local air defence of Karachi. The usual
summer operations on the North West Frontier meant the
squadron was split, A flight at Drigh Road, C flight to Sandeman,
about 180 miles due south of Kabul in June 1940, while B
flight was at Miranshah July to September 1940.
North West Frontier operations again occupied the summer
of 1941, then in August the squadron was at Drigh Road to
convert to Lysanders. At the end of December 1941 the
squadron went to Burma, remaining there until the fall of
Rangoon on 7 March 1942. It looks like at some time in
the 1942/43 period C flight was disbanded.
In June 1942 it began equipping with Hurricanes while
based at Risalpur, around 130 miles east of Kabul and
continued the usual frontier air operations for the rest of
1942 and 1943, basing a flight at a time at Miranshah
and using other airfields like Kohat, 120 miles ESE of
Kabul.
On 3 February 1944 the squadron was transferred to
Imphal and remained on the Burma front until April 1945
when it returned to frontier operations at Kohat.
Number 2 squadron formed on 1 April 1941 at Peshawar,
the last airfield on the Indian side on the road/rail through
the Khyber pass, equipped with Wapati. A two flight
squadron, it spent the summer of 1941 on the usual
frontier operations, rotating through the usual airfields.
These duties continued until 7 October 1944 when it was
moved to Burma, remaining there until 17 May 1945 when
it returned to the North West Frontier.
It converted to Hawker Audax in June 1941, Westland Lysander
in December 1941 and Hawker Hurricane in December 1942.
Number 3 squadron formed at Peshawar on 1 October 1941,
with Hawker Audax, and again was used over the North West
Frontier until January 1945. Hurricane fighter bombers replaced
the Audax in November 1943. The tour in Burma lasted until the
middle of April 1945 after which the squadron returned to the North
West Frontier.
Number 4 squadron formed at Peshawar on 1 February 1942
with Lysanders, Hurricanes arriving from June 1943. North West
Frontier operations continued until February 1944 when the
squadron went to Burma, initially at Feni. On 19 April 1945 the
squadron moved to Yalahanka, Bangalore for conversion to
Spitfires.
Number 5 squadron not formed as RAF number 5 squadron
was in India.
Number 6 squadron formed at Trichinopoly near Madras on 1
March 1943 with Hurricanes. The squadron flew operations
over Burma from 30 November 1943 to early June 1944 after
which it went to the North West Frontier, Miranshah.
Number 7 squadron formed at Vizagaptam near Madras on
8 March 1943 with Vultee Vengeance. On 10 March 1944 it
moved to Kumbhirgram to conduct operations over Burma.
it returned to India in mid June 1944 and in November began
converting to Hurricanes.
A second tour of Burma was undertaken from March to 22
May 1945 after which the squadron moved from Magwe to
Kohat on the North West Frontier.
Number 8 squadron was formed at Trichinopoly on 21 June
1943 with Vultee Vengeance. In mid December 1943 the
squadron moved to Double Moorings, 3 miles from Chittagong,
for operations that continued until 7 July 1944 after which it
withdrew to India to convert to Spitfire VIII.
On 28 December 1944 the squadron returned to an airfield
near Cox's Bazaar, then to Akyab until 23 February 1945
when the squadron was moved to the defence of Calcutta.
On 1 August 1945 the squadron commenced operations
from Mingaloon, Rangoon.
Number 9 squadron was formed at Lahore on 16 December
1943 with Hurricanes, it moved to Kulaura on 29 March 1944
for operations, which continued to April 1945 after which it
was withdrawn to Ranchi for conversion to Spitfire VIII.
Number 10 squadron was formed at Lahore on 29 February
1944 with Hurricanes. In early December it moved to Ramu
in Arakan for operations, which continued until 18 April 1945
when it was withdrawn for conversion to Spitfires.
8, 9 and 10 squadrons were part of the post war air force
in Burma until early 1946.
There were also 5 Volunteer Reserve Coastal Defence Flights,
formed at the end of 1940, 2 at Bombay (1 moved to Cochin),
1 each at Karachi, Calcutta and Madras, formed out of the
existing flying clubs. They disbanded towards the end of 1942,
with 3 and 4 flights seeing action in Burma, 3 flight from January
to March 1942 and 4 flight from December 1941 to January 1942.
Geoffrey Sinclair
Remove the nb for email.