No.104 Helicopter Squadron Firebirds

Motto : Apatsu Mitram (A friend in time of need)
Date Raised : 1992-08-25 Location : Suratgarh
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.
Unit previously existed as 104 HU

Commanding Officers

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DatesRank & NameNumberRemarksLocationPhoto
25 Aug 92 to 31 Oct 93Wing Commander Pradeep Kumar Mulay12935 F(P)COBhatinda
01 Nov 93 to 30 Mar 97Wing Commander Sudhir Hooda14095 F(P)COBhatinda/ Suratgarh
31 Mar 97 to 04 May 97Squadron Leader Jacob James16233 F(P)COSuratgarh
05 May 97 to 14 Feb 99Wing Commander Jacob James16233 F(P)COSuratgarh
15 Feb 99 to 16 May 99Squadron Leader Yogendra Rajora17327 F(P)COSuratgarh
17 May 99 to 17 Jun 01Wing Commander Arun Tillay Samtani17002 F(P)COSuratgarh
18 Jun 01 to 26 Jun 03Wing Commander Sunil Kumar17713 F(P)COSuratgarh
30 Jun 03 to 07 Mar 06Wing Commander Sandesh Prabhakar Wagle17710 F(P)COSuratgarh
08 Mar 06 to 28 Mar 07Group Captain Atanu Guru16794 F(P)COSuratgarh
29 Mar 07 to 28 Mar 08Wing Commander Sanjay Kumar Mittal17472 F(P)COSuratgarh
29 Mar 08 to 28 Jun 09Group Captain Sunil Kumar17713 F(P)COSuratgarh
29 Jun 09 to 29 Jul 10Group Captain Tejinder Singh Sareen17138 F(P)COSuratgarh

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