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No.43 Squadron Ibex

Motto : Nabhasa Jivan Dhara ( Lifeline through the skies)
Date Raised : 1958-01-20 Location : Jorhat
The chequered history of the IBEXES dates back to 20 Jan 58 when it was first formed at Barrackpore. The squadron was then equipped with Dakotas fondly nicknamed as the "GOONEY BIRD". The first Commanding Officer was Wg Cdr MK Nerurkar. The squadron chose for its emblem the IBEX, which is undeterred by the jagged rocks, steep cliffs, inhospitable terrain and forbidding shows of the challenging Himalayas.
Aircraft Types operated over the years:

Commanding Officers

View in Grid

DatesRank & NameNumberRemarksLocationPhoto
20 Jan 58 to 20 Apr 59Wing Commander Mohan Krishnarao Nerurkar1925 GD(P)COBarrackpore
28 Apr 59 to 05 Jul 61Wing Commander John Francis Lazaro2944 GD(P)COBarrackpore/ Srinaga
06 Jul 61 to 23 Jul 62Wing Commander Damodar Madhao Oka1813 GD(P)COSrinagar
01 Feb 63 to 03 Dec 65Wing Commander Hardyal Singh Dhillon3237 GD(P)COSrinagar/ Sarsawa
04 Dec 65 to 15 Jan 68Wing Commander Ranjit Singh Uberoi3522 GD(P)COSarsawa/ Jorhat
16 Jan 68 to 15 Jun 70Wing Commander Kapil Dev Chadha3845 GD(P)COJorhat
16 Jun 70 to 09 Oct 73Wing Commander Kailash Chandra Sharma4412 GD(P)COJorhat
10 Oct 73 to 30 Apr 75Wing Commander Vaidyanathan Krishnamurthy4487 GD(P)COJorhat
01 May 75 to 05 Jul 77Wing Commander Gurmohan Singh Dhingra4903 GD(P)COJorhat
06 Jun 77 to 16 Jun 79Wing Commander Puthettu Kurien Mani5666 GD(P)COJorhat
17 Jun 79 to 26 Oct 80Wing Commander Om Kumar Chhabra5675 GD(P)COJorhat
27 Oct 80 to 16 Jan 83Wing Commander Inder Puri6499 GD(P)COJorhat
17 Jan 83 to 18 Nov 84Wing Commander Raj Kumar Saini7694 GD(P)COJorhat
19 Nov 84 to 02 Dec 84Wing Commander Gurdarshan Singh Brar6146 GD(P)COJorhat
03 Dec 84 to 09 Mar 88Group Captain Gurdarshan Singh Brar6146 GD(P)COJorhat
25 Apr 88 to 30 Jun 91Group Captain Harkirat Singh Sekhon9512 GD(P)COJorhat
01 Jul 91 to 27 Feb 94Group Captain Surjeet Singh Bhatti10945 GD(P)COJorhat
28 Feb 94 to 13 Nov 96Group Captain Keshav Rangachary Narayan12960 F(P)COJorhat
14 Nov 96 to 05 Jul 98Group Captain Vinod Kumar Sood13781 F(P)COJorhat
15 Sep 98 to 26 May 02Group Captain Arun Gopinath13397 F(P)COJorhat
27 May 02 to 13 Jun 04Group Captain Rajiv Gaur15196 F(P)COJorhat
28 Jun 04 to 23 Oct 05Group Captain Kishore Dhami15556 F(P)COJorhat
24 Oct 05 to 17 Jun 07Group Captain Nabodh Kumar Mahto16405 F(P)COJorhat
09 Jul 07 to 05 Jul 09Group Captain Tarun Kumar Sinha18084 F(P)COJorhat
06 Jul 09 to 31 Mar 10Group Captain Jagbir Singh Johar18254 F(P)COJorhat
01 Apr 10 to 22 Jan 12Group Captain Shekher Chauhan18550 F(P)COJorhat
23 Jan 12 to 24 Nov 13Group Captain Hemant Priyadarshi Kumar19563 F(P)COJorhat
25 Nov 13 to 15 May 16Group Captain Nongthombam Lokendro Singh22714 F(P)COJorhat
16 May 16 to 08 Jul 18Group Captain Saroj Kumar Panda23554 F(P)COJorhat
The URL for this page is http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Database/Units/43 Sqn
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.