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: |
Commanding Officers | |||||
01 May 58 - 31 Aug 58Flight LieutenantSudhindra Kumar Majumdar3484 GD(P)COPalam | 01 Sep 58 - 11 Oct 59Squadron LeaderSudhindra Kumar Majumdar3484 GD(P)COPalam | 12 Oct 59 - 19 Oct 62Squadron LeaderVinod Kumar Sahgal3853 GD(P)COPalam | 01 Jan 63 - 31 Jul 63Squadron LeaderSudhindra Kumar Majumdar3484 GD(P)COPalam | 01 Aug 63 - 21 Jan 65Squadron LeaderKrishan Kant Saini4436 GD(P)COPalam | |
22 Mar 65 - 05 Nov 67Squadron LeaderBobby Johnson Berry4826 GD(P)COHindon | | | 03 May 74 - 04 May 76Squadron LeaderChetan Swaroop Kataria7605 GD(P)COHindon | 05 May 76 - 24 Sep 78Squadron LeaderAshok Anand Thosar8209 GD(P)COSarsawa | |
| 09 May 79 - 28 Oct 79Squadron LeaderGurdip Singh9395 GD(P)COSarsawa | 29 Oct 79 - 23 Dec 79Squadron LeaderAvinash Chander Chopra7604 GD(P)COSarsawa | 24 Dec 79 - 15 Mar 81Wing CommanderAvinash Chander Chopra7604 GD(P)COSarsawa | | |
| 08 Oct 84 - 13 Jan 87Wing CommanderMohinder Kumar Saini9779 GD(P)COSarsawa | 14 Jan 87 - 14 Feb 89Wing CommanderJai Kishen Kaushik10524 GD(P)COSarsawa | 15 Feb 89 - 09 May 91Wing CommanderUnnikrishnan G Kartha12959 F(P)COSarsawa/ Bhatinda | 10 May 91 - 09 Feb 92Wing CommanderSoumitra Shankar Bose12769 GD(P)COBhatinda | |
10 Feb 92 - 24 Aug 92Wing CommanderPradeep Kumar Mulay12935 F(P)COBhatinda |