On 15 August 1947, the historic day of India’s Independence, Wing Commander Ranjan Dutta DFC took over the command of Air Force Station, Kanpur from the Royal Air Force. Simultaneously, on this very day, No. 1 Aircraft Repair Depot for servicing and No. 10 Aircraft Storage Units for storage activities were formed at Chakeri, Kanpur. Group Captain DAR Nanda became the first Commanding Officer of both these Unitss. On 09 August 1948, the two Unitss were merged to form No. 1 Base Repair Depot and Group Captain Harjinder Singh MBE PVSM became the first Commanding Officer of this new Units. Nostalgic moments included induction of India’s first jet aircraft, the Vampire in 1954 and the Depot effecting its first major servicing in that very year. Flying Officer Gian Singh still remains a much-remembered name who used to regularly ferry in the Vampire aircraft for servicing at Hanger No.6 of the Depot. 1 BRD has a professionally rich heritage of servicing both fighter and transport aircraft of IAF like Spitfire, Prentice, Austar, Harvard, Otter, Bell Helicopter, Vampire, Toofani, Mystere, Hunter, Avro and presently An-32 aircraft.