11 Forward Base Support Unit Date Raised : 1975-10-27 Disbanded : 1980-02-17 Location : Suratgarh The site selected for the airfield was an open area around the village of Karnisar. Work commenced in Aug 1973 with the clearing and levelling of the sand dunes. In the absence of any other local army Unitss, the personnel survived on a diet consisting of canal fish since the construction plans of airfield were a top secret matter. The Commanding Officer had to sleep every night guarding the papers, locked in a box that was chained to his wrist. Thus originated 11 Forward Base Support Units on 27 Oct 1975, which moved to its present location in Jan 1976. The base became operational on 02 May 1976 with 17 Squadron (MiG-21) and 20 Squadron (Hunters) moving in and was converted to 35 Wing on 18 Feb 1980 with the aim to enhance the operational flexibility on the Western Front. Since Oct 1975, the Wing has seen a steady induction of various aircrafts, SAMs, Radars signal and other operational Unitss.
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Commanding Officers | |||||
Dates | Rank & Name | Number | Remarks | Location | Photo |
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27 Oct 75 to 20 Nov 76 | Wing Commander Shashikant Ramchandra Paranjpe | 4992 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Suratgarh | |
21 Nov 76 to 19 Apr 78 | Wing Commander Ranjit Singh Bedi | 5120 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Suratgarh | |
Unknown to 13 Apr 80 | Wing Commander Narinder Jit Singh | 6131 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Suratgarh | |
14 Apr 80 to 04 Sep 83 | Group Captain Herbert Moel David | 5179 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Suratgarh | |
05 Sep 83 to 23 Apr 85 | Group Captain Sharadkumar Ramakrishna Deshpande | 5694 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Suratgarh | |
30 Sep 85 to 03 Aug 87 | Group Captain Sanjeeva Sahay | 6139 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Suratgarh | |
31 Aug 87 to 26 Feb 89 | Group Captain Sunil Kumar Malik | 9002 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Suratgarh |