AFS Bidar


Date Raised : 1983-09-30 Location : Bidar
Bidar airfield was built by the Nizam of Hyderabad during the unsettled conditions of 1943 -1947. It remained in disuse till activated by the Air Force with the location of No 2 Jet Training Wing in 1963. This was disbanded in 1965 and the airfield remained inactive till 1966. The Elementary Flying School, i.e. EFS was located at Bidar thereafter. This FTE was formed at Allahabad in 1963 to cater for the increased induction of pilots under the expansion programme of Air Force. While at Allahabad this FTE was known as Pilots Training establishment and was providing ab-initio training on HT-2 aircraft. In 1966, the establishment, after relocation at Bidar was renamed Elementary Flying School (EFS). However, the training pattern remained unchanged. In 1983, the role of EFS changed with the introduction of "All Through Jet Training" scheme for pilots (except those from Army). The Station was then tasked to undertake Stage-II (Advanced) phase of training on Kiran Mk-I A aircraft. Ab-initio training was shifted to AFA. In June 1988, Kiran Mk-II aircraft was inducted for Stage-II (advanced) phase of flying training as an additional squadron along with Mk-I As. In 1996, the Surya Kiran aerobatics team was also formed at AF Stn Bidar and in Sep 1999, the 955 sqn , a T-GCA sqn equipped with the RSP-10 Radar moved from Chandigarh to Bidar. Since January 2006 the Station has changed over to Stage Ill (F) Flying training on Kiran.

Aircraft Types operated over the years:
Unit previously existed as EFS

Commanding Officers


30 Sep 83 - 19 Apr 84
Group Captain
Rama Nand Gautam
5275 GD(P)
Stn Cdr
Bidar

19 Apr 84 - 27 Jan 86
Group Captain
Debatosh Banerjee
5800 GD(P)
Stn Cdr
Bidar

29 Mar 86 - 26 Oct 88
Air Commodore
Manjunath Sadanand
4994 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

28 Nov 88 - 13 May 91
Air Commodore
Manjit Singh Sekhon
6756 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

13 May 91 - 12 Nov 92
Air Commodore
Swaran Singh Banga
8100 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

12 Nov 92 - 31 May 94
Air Commodore
Eapen Mathulla
8365 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

01 Jun 94 - 26 Dec 94
Air Commodore
Narayan Menon
9005 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

02 Jan 95 - 30 Dec 95
Air Commodore
Nirmal Thusu
9033 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

01 Feb 96 - 04 Jan 98
Air Commodore
Avinash Deodata Joshi
10886 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

05 Jan 98 - 04 Jan 00
Air Commodore
Kanwar Dalinderjit Singh
12403 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

04 Jan 00 - 03 Dec 01
Air Commodore
Pradeep Vasant Naik
12005 GD(P)
AOC
Bidar

03 Dec 01 - 09 Jan 03
Air Commodore
Randhir Pratap
13146 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

09 Jan 03 - 01 Feb 05
Air Commodore
Ajit Singh
13147 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

01 Feb 05 - 01 May 07
Air Commodore
Jatinder Singh Dhillon
13764 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

01 May 07 - 01 Jun 09
Air Commodore
Ramesh Rai
14669 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

01 Jun 09 - 30 Dec 10
Air Commodore
Rajeev Hora
17141 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

30 Dec 10 - 16 Jun 13
Air Commodore
Sujeet Pushpakar Dharkar
17841 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

17 Jun 13 - 20 Dec 15
Air Commodore
Manish Khanna
18554 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

21 Dec 15 - 02 Jan 18
Air Commodore
Kirti Khajuria
19538 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

03 Jan 18 - 05 May 19
Air Commodore
Ashutosh Dixit
18558 F(P)
AOC
Bidar

Note: All the data available here is publicly available in the Gazette of India, published by the Indian Government, or from public domain sources, press releases about Awards and Right-To-Information (RTI) Requests. Additionally data shared by veterans is added to the page with permission. No data with respect to serving officers below the rank of AVM is displayed. Information in Gazette of India and Award citations and photographs as released by the Indian Air Force are the only details displayed.