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: |
Commanding Officers | |||||
Dates | Rank & Name | Number | Remarks | Location | Photo |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
30 Sep 83 to 19 Apr 84 | Group Captain Rama Nand Gautam | 5275 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Bidar | |
19 Apr 84 to 27 Jan 86 | Group Captain Debatosh Banerjee | 5800 GD(P) | Stn Cdr | Bidar | |
29 Mar 86 to 26 Oct 88 | Air Commodore Manjunath Sadanand | 4994 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
28 Nov 88 to 13 May 91 | Air Commodore Manjit Singh Sekhon | 6756 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
13 May 91 to 12 Nov 92 | Air Commodore Swaran Singh Banga | 8100 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
12 Nov 92 to 31 May 94 | Air Commodore Eapen Mathulla | 8365 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
01 Jun 94 to 26 Dec 94 | Air Commodore Narayan Menon | 9005 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
02 Jan 95 to 30 Dec 95 | Air Commodore Nirmal Thusu | 9033 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
01 Feb 96 to 04 Jan 98 | Air Commodore Avinash Deodata Joshi | 10886 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
05 Jan 98 to 04 Jan 00 | Air Commodore Kanwar Dalinderjit Singh | 12403 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
04 Jan 00 to 03 Dec 01 | Air Commodore Pradeep Vasant Naik | 12005 GD(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
03 Dec 01 to 09 Jan 03 | Air Commodore Randhir Pratap | 13146 F(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
09 Jan 03 to 01 Feb 05 | Air Commodore Ajit Singh | 13147 F(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
01 Feb 05 to 01 May 07 | Air Commodore Jatinder Singh Dhillon | 13764 F(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
01 May 07 to 01 Jun 09 | Air Commodore Ramesh Rai | 14669 F(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
01 Jun 09 to 30 Dec 10 | Air Commodore Rajeev Hora | 17141 F(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
30 Dec 10 to 16 Jun 13 | Air Commodore Sujeet Pushpakar Dharkar | 17841 F(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
17 Jun 13 to 20 Dec 15 | Air Commodore Manish Khanna | 18554 F(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
21 Dec 15 to 02 Jan 18 | Air Commodore Kirti Khajuria | 19538 F(P) | AOC | Bidar | |
03 Jan 18 to 05 May 19 | Air Commodore Ashutosh Dixit | 18558 F(P) | AOC | Bidar |