PSO: Operations, Air HQ


Date Raised : 1919-07-26
The post of VCAS (Vice Chief of the Air Force) can be traced back to 1920 at which point it was called SASO (Senior Air Staff Officer) reporting to the AOC-in-C, India. The SASO had sections comprising Ops, Intelligence, Training, Personnel, Equipment, Signals, Armament and Engineering. In 1940, a new role of SOA was created and SASO was responsible only for Ops, Int, Plans and Training. This system continued till 31 Jan 1949, when the SASO post was redesignated as Deputy Chief of Air Force (DCAS). Numerous changes in directorates under DCAS took place but the broad role of managing Ops and related directorates remained unchanged. on 1 April 1977, to align with the nomeclature followed by Army and Navy, the designation of DCAS was changed to VCAS and remains the same till date.

Commanding Officers

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DatesRank & NameNumberRemarksLocationPhoto
26 Jul 19 to 01 Aug 22Wing Commander Reginald Percy MillsRAFSnr Air Staff Offr - G/C before leavingAmbala
19 Sep 22 to Wing Commander Cuthbert Trelawder MacLeanRAFSnr Air Staff OffrAmbala
23 Feb 23 to 20 Sep 26Group Captain John Adrian ChamierRAFSnr Air Staff Offr
21 Sep 26 to 30 Jun 29Group Captain Reginald Percy MillsRAFSnr Air Staff Offr
01 Jul 29 to 16 Dec 30Air Commodore Reginald Percy MillsRAFSnr Air Staff Offr
17 Dec 30 to 09 Sep 32Air Commodore Patrick Henry Lyon PlayfairRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
10 Sep 32 to 03 Oct 34Air Commodore Arthur Sheridan BarrattRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
04 Oct 34 to 12 Mar 36Air Commodore Bertine Entwistle SuttonRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
13 Mar 36 to 13 Jan 39Air Commodore Richard Hallam PeckRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
14 Jan 39 to 28 Feb 40Air Commodore Harold Alfred WhistlerRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
29 Feb 40 to 29 Aug 41Air Commodore Arthur Claud WrightRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
30 Aug 41 to 30 Sep 42Air Commodore John Lyne VachellRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
07 Feb 43 to 15 Nov 43Air Vice Marshal John Wakeling BakerRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
20 Dec 43 to 07 May 44Group Captain D M FlemingRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
08 May 44 to 10 Mar 45Group Captain J WhiteheadRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
11 Mar 45 to 01 Jul 45Air Commodore F W LongRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
01 Apr 46 to Air Vice Marshal Edgar James Kingston McCloughryRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
27 Nov 46 to 30 Nov 47Air Vice Marshal Robert Stewart BluckeRAFSnr Air Staff OffrDelhi
15 Aug 47 to 14 Nov 47Air Commodore Subroto Mukerjee1551 GD(P)Snr Air Staff OffrDelhi
15 Nov 47 to 31 Jan 49Air Vice Marshal Subroto Mukerjee1551 GD(P)Snr Air Staff OffrDelhi
01 Feb 49 to 16 Dec 52Air Vice Marshal Subroto Mukerjee1551 GD(P)DCASDelhi
17 Dec 52 to 30 Apr 58Air Vice Marshal Aspy Merwan Engineer1554 GD(P)DCASDelhi
01 May 58 to 31 Dec 62Air Vice Marshal Diwan Atma Ram Nanda1562 GD(P)DCASDelhi
01 Jan 63 to 04 Aug 63Air Vice Marshal Arjan Singh1577 GD(P)DCASDelhi
05 Aug 63 to 30 Sep 64Air Vice Marshal Ramaswami Rajaram1573 GD(O)DCASDelhi
01 Oct 64 to 29 Feb 68Air Vice Marshal Minoo Merwan Engineer1614 GD(P)DCASDelhi
01 Mar 68 to 04 Aug 69Air Marshal Minoo Merwan Engineer1614 GD(P)DCASDelhi
07 Aug 69 to 28 Feb 71Air Marshal Om Prakash Mehra1639 GD(P)DCASDelhi
30 Mar 71 to 31 Mar 72Air Marshal Hirendra Nath Chatterjee1620 GD(P)DCASDelhi
03 May 72 to 31 Mar 73Air Marshal Yeshwant Vinayak Malse1616 GD(P)DCASDelhi
01 Apr 73 to 18 Oct 73Air Marshal Hari Chand Dewan1598 GD(P)DCASDelhi
12 Nov 73 to 27 Jun 74Air Marshal Sarosh Jehangir Dastur1792 GD(O)DCASDelhi
27 Jun 74 to 31 Mar 77Air Marshal Devaiah Subia1866 GD(P)DCASDelhi
01 Apr 77 to 19 May 77Air Marshal Devaiah Subia1866 GD(P)VCASDelhi
20 May 77 to 31 Aug 78Air Marshal Idris Hasan Latif1804 GD(P)VCASDelhi
04 Sep 78 to 31 Jan 80Air Marshal Edul Jahangir Dhatigara1899 GD(O)VCASDelhi
01 Feb 80 to 31 Dec 80Air Marshal Lal Singh Grewal2337 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jan 81 to 31 Aug 81Air Marshal Dilbagh Singh2998 GD(P)VCASDelhi
22 Sep 81 to 30 Jun 83Air Marshal Trilochan Singh Brar2884 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jul 83 to 31 Oct 84Air Marshal Jagdish Raj Bhasin3591 GD(P)VCASDelhi
06 Nov 84 to 07 Jan 86Air Marshal Prem Pal Singh3871 GD(P)VCASDelhi
08 Jan 86 to 29 Feb 88Air Marshal Subramaniam Raghavendran3840 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Mar 88 to 31 Jul 91Air Marshal Nirmal Chandra Suri4236 GD(P)VCASDelhi
14 Oct 91 to 28 Feb 93Air Marshal Palamadai Muthuswamy Ramachandran4973 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Mar 93 to 30 Apr 94Air Marshal Pondicherry Jayarao Jayakumar5037 GD(P)VCASDelhi
06 Jun 94 to 31 Jul 95Air Marshal Pratap Rao5188 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Aug 95 to 31 Dec 95Air Marshal Satish Kumar Sareen5370 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jan 96 to 31 Mar 97Air Marshal Trevor Raymond Joseph Osman6005 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Apr 97 to 31 Dec 98Air Marshal Anil Yeshwant Tipnis5859 GD(P)VCASDelhi
04 Jan 99 to 31 Jul 00Air Marshal Prithvi Singh Brar6007 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Aug 00 to 31 Jul 01Air Marshal Vinod Patney6125 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Aug 01 to 31 Dec 01Air Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy6338 GD(P)VCASDelhi
14 Jan 02 to 31 Jan 03Air Marshal Satish Govind Inamdar7189 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Feb 03 to 30 Sep 04Air Marshal Michael McMahon7399 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Oct 04 to 31 Jul 05Air Marshal Sunil Kumar Malik9002 GD(P)VCASDelhi
22 Aug 05 to 31 Oct 06Air Marshal Ajit Bhavnani10440 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Nov 06 to 31 Dec 07Air Marshal Bhushan Nilkanth Gokhale11630 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jan 08 to 31 May 09Air Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik12005 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jun 09 to 31 Dec 10Air Marshal Pranab Kumar Barbora12375 GD(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jan 11 to 31 Jul 11Air Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne13129 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Aug 11 to 31 May 12Air Marshal Krishan Kumar Nohwar13132 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jun 12 to 30 Jun 13Air Marshal Dinesh Chandra Kumaria13366 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jul 13 to 31 Dec 13Air Marshal Arup Raha13910 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jan 14 to 31 May 15Air Marshal Ravi Kant Sharma14088 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jun 15 to 31 Dec 16Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa15405 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jan 17 to 30 Sep 18Air Marshal Shirish Baban Deo15681 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Oct 18 to 30 Apr 19Air Marshal Anil Khosla15871 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 May 19 to 30 Sep 19Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria16026 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Oct 19 to 30 Jun 21Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora16557 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Jul 21 to 30 Sep 21Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari16978 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Oct 21 to 31 Jan 23Air Marshal Sandeep Singh17312 F(P)VCASDelhi
01 Feb 23 to Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh17695 F(P)VCASDelhi

Note: All the data available here is publicly available in the Gazette of India, published by the Indian Government, or from public domain sources, press releases about Awards and Right-To-Information (RTI) Requests. Additionally data shared by veterans is added to the page with permission. No data with respect to serving officers below the rank of AVM is displayed. Information in Gazette of India and Award citations and photographs as released by the Indian Air Force are the only details displayed.