The site selected for the airfield was an open area around the village of Karnisar. Work commenced in Aug 1973 with the clearing and levelling of the sand dunes. In the absence of any other local army Unitss, the personnel survived on a diet consisting of canal fish since the construction plans of airfield were a top secret matter. The Commanding Officer had to sleep every night guarding the papers, locked in a box that was chained to his wrist. Thus originated 11 Forward Base Support Units on 27 Oct 1975, which moved to its present location in Jan 1976. The base became operational on 02 May 1976 with 17 Squadron (MiG-21) and 20 Squadron (Hunters) moving in and was converted to 35 Wing on 18 Feb 1980 with the aim to enhance the operational flexibility on the Western Front. Since Oct 1975, the Wing has seen a steady induction of various aircrafts, SAMs, Radars signal and other operational Unitss.