No.104 Helicopter Unit Firebirds

Motto : Apatsu Mitram (A friend in time of need)
Date Raised : 1958-05-01 Disbanded : 1992-08-24
104 Helicopter Sqn, AF, known as the "Firebirds" was raised as a Helicopter Flight at Palam on 10 March 1954 and became the first Units of the IAF to be equipped with rotary wing aircraft. it was upgraded to a Units on 01 May 1958 and a Squadron on 25 August 1992. The Units changed bases to Hindan in March 1965 and Saharanpur in May 1976. At this point the role of the Units was changed to ATGM (Anti- Tank Guided Missile) Units and all aircraft were modified to carry four AS11B wire command guided missiles. in April 1990 Units shifted to Bhatinda and was re-quipped with the Mi-35. It moved to its current location in may 1994. Since its inception the squadron has operated the Sikorsky S-55, S-62, Bell 47-G, Mi-4, Alouette-III (Chetak) and the Mi-25/35 attack helicopters.

Aircraft Types operated over the years:
Unit previously existed as 104 HF

Commanding Officers


01 May 58 - 31 Aug 58
Flight Lieutenant
Sudhindra Kumar Majumdar
3484 GD(P)
CO
Palam

01 Sep 58 - 11 Oct 59
Squadron Leader
Sudhindra Kumar Majumdar
3484 GD(P)
CO
Palam

12 Oct 59 - 19 Oct 62
Squadron Leader
Vinod Kumar Sahgal
3853 GD(P)
CO
Palam

01 Jan 63 - 31 Jul 63
Squadron Leader
Sudhindra Kumar Majumdar
3484 GD(P)
CO
Palam

01 Aug 63 - 21 Jan 65
Squadron Leader
Krishan Kant Saini
4436 GD(P)
CO
Palam

22 Mar 65 - 05 Nov 67
Squadron Leader
Bobby Johnson Berry
4826 GD(P)
CO
Hindon

06 Nov 67 - 31 Jan 71
Squadron Leader
Rakesh Tandon
5391 GD(P)
CO
Hindon

01 Feb 71 - 02 May 74
Squadron Leader
Subhash Madanmohan Hundiwala
6351 GD(P)
CO
Hindon

03 May 74 - 04 May 76
Squadron Leader
Chetan Swaroop Kataria
7605 GD(P)
CO
Hindon

05 May 76 - 24 Sep 78
Squadron Leader
Ashok Anand Thosar
8209 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

25 Sep 78 - 01 May 79
Squadron Leader
Manohar Pandurang Rane
9763 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

09 May 79 - 28 Oct 79
Squadron Leader
Gurdip Singh
9395 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

29 Oct 79 - 23 Dec 79
Squadron Leader
Avinash Chander Chopra
7604 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

24 Dec 79 - 15 Mar 81
Wing Commander
Avinash Chander Chopra
7604 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

16 Mar 81 - 29 Dec 82
Wing Commander
Nimai Krishna Rudra
6861 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

30 Dec 82 - 17 Jun 84
Wing Commander
Baldev Singh
8694 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

08 Oct 84 - 13 Jan 87
Wing Commander
Mohinder Kumar Saini
9779 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

14 Jan 87 - 14 Feb 89
Wing Commander
Jai Kishen Kaushik
10524 GD(P)
CO
Sarsawa

15 Feb 89 - 09 May 91
Wing Commander
Unnikrishnan G Kartha
12959 F(P)
CO
Sarsawa/ Bhatinda

10 May 91 - 09 Feb 92
Wing Commander
Soumitra Shankar Bose
12769 GD(P)
CO
Bhatinda

10 Feb 92 - 24 Aug 92
Wing Commander
Pradeep Kumar Mulay
12935 F(P)
CO
Bhatinda
Unit continued existence as 104 HS

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.