Post the 1962 war, the base was established as a launching base for the siliguri corridor. Once the airfield was constructed in 1963, 5 C&MU was setup under Flt Lt GS Sachdeva. The base remained as 5 C&MU till 1974. In the Indo-Pak conflict of 1971, the airfield was used for secondary diversion during the operations. On 15 July 1973, 257 SU under the command of Wg Cdr SG Manrekar moved in and remained at Purnea till 3 May 1975. Post that a small detachment of 20 Wing looked after the base till end of 1980.14 FBSU was formed on 1 Jan 1981 and was serviced by 20 Wing untill full time personnel were based on the base by June 1981. During the early 1980s some fighter flying was carried out by Gnat / Ajeet aircraft. In 1988 the Station saw active flying of Ajeet MKI, Hunters and Type 77. Once again in October 2003, 2 Sqn with MiG-27s moved to this Base due to resurfacing at Kalaikunda and operated as a full fledged Squadron detachment till February 2005. First night flying was carried out by An-32 on 19 Aug 1987.Subsequently, IL-76 and B-737 have also operated at night.