16 Wing Date Raised : 1963-04-07 Location : Hashimara Air Force Station Hashimara is located in West Bengal, close to the Buxa Tiger Reserve and the Jaldapara Sanctuary. It provides air defence cover over a narrow land corridor stretching from Bangladesh to Nepal and Bhutan. The air power from this base can be projected over entire Bangladesh and some major Chinese airfields in Tibet Autonomous Region. Hasimara wasn't always an air force base. It started as a private air strip used by Dakota aircraft of Jam Air and Kalinga Air. After the 1962 Sino Indian war, Air Force Station Hasimara was set up on April 7, 1963. The pioneers of the Station literally lived in jungles and virtually shared space with wild animals. In those days, a single metre gauge railway line was the only link between Hasimara and rest of the country. Road links were non-existent. By September 1963, the base had two squadrons of Toofani aircraft. In January 1964, a helicopter Units with Mi-4 helicopters also moved into Hasimara. By the mid 1970s the base came to be called the House of Hunters' hosting three squadrons of Hunter aircraft. During the decade, MiG-21 fighters also operated from the base for five years. The MiGs were back for another stint at the base between 1985 to 1987.
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Commanding Officers | |||||
Dates | Rank & Name | Number | Remarks | Location | Photo |
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07 Apr 63 to 06 Apr 65 | Wing Commander Douglas George King-Lee | 3040 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
05 Apr 65 to 01 Aug 65 | Wing Commander Shamrao Ramrao Powar | 3100 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
01 Aug 65 to 31 Jul 66 | Group Captain Anthony Ignatius Kenneth Suares | 2773 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
01 Aug 66 to 13 May 69 | Group Captain Lakshman Madhav Katre | 3117 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
14 May 69 to 04 Jun 71 | Group Captain William Macdonald Goodman | 3571 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
02 Feb 73 to 14 Nov 74 | Group Captain Harendra Narain Bysak | 3857 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
02 Dec 74 to 25 May 76 | Group Captain Denzil Edward Satur | 4339 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
26 May 76 to 04 Sep 77 | Group Captain Kanwal Krishan Malik | 4335 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
05 Sep 77 to 20 Oct 80 | Group Captain Trilochan Singh | 5043 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
21 Oct 80 to 22 Jun 82 | Group Captain Madhabendra Banerji | 4898 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Hashimara | |
23 Jun 82 to 23 Dec 83 | Air Commodore Madhabendra Banerji | 4898 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
24 Dec 83 to 18 Aug 85 | Air Commodore Amrit Mohan Mehta | 5051 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
19 Aug 85 to 28 Sep 87 | Air Commodore Ranbir Singh Rana | 5106 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
29 Sep 87 to 21 Apr 90 | Air Commodore Ajai Kumar Brahmawar | 5858 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
22 Apr 90 to 05 Apr 92 | Air Commodore Syed Shahid Hussain Naqvi | 7193 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
06 Apr 92 to 07 Jan 94 | Air Commodore Manek Bomanshaw Madon | 7681 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
08 Jan 94 to 07 Jan 96 | Air Commodore Manpreet Singh Brar | 8715 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
08 Jan 96 to 30 Dec 96 | Air Commodore Subhash Chandra Rastogi | 8999 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
03 Feb 97 to 30 May 99 | Air Commodore Jagdish Singh Grewal | 10866 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
31 May 99 to 20 Dec 00 | Air Commodore Ashok Dharam Chhibbar | 12118 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
04 Jan 01 to 18 Mar 02 | Air Commodore Pramod Kumar Mehra | 11581 GD(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
19 Mar 02 to 26 Jan 04 | Air Commodore Krishan Kumar Nohwar | 13132 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
27 Jan 04 to 01 Jan 06 | Air Commodore Virender Nath Kalia | 13568 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
02 Jan 06 to 01 Jul 07 | Air Commodore Rajesh Rao Pandurangi | 13811 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
02 Jul 07 to 24 May 09 | Air Commodore Ravinath Gururaj Burli | 14667 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
25 May 09 to 26 Sep 10 | Air Commodore Rakesh Marwaha | 15865 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
27 Sep 10 to 27 Dec 12 | Air Commodore Tejinder Pal Singh | 16781 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
28 Dec 12 to 28 Dec 14 | Air Commodore Navish Bahri | 16605 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
29 Dec 14 to 10 Jul 17 | Air Commodore Viswajit Vasudev Dedgaonkar | 18813 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara | |
11 Jul 17 to | Air Commodore Jasvir Singh Mann | 20491 F(P) | AOC | Hashimara |