No.47 Squadron Black Archers

Motto : Karmani Vyaprutham Dhanuhu (My bow is ready for task)
Date Raised : 1959-12-18 Location : Adampur
No. 47 Squadron, Air Force was formed on 18 December 1959 at Halwara as an amalgamation of the best officers & men picked up from various Unitss of the Air Force. The Squadron adopted a kneeling Black and Archer as its Squadron Insignia. With its bow stretrched to perform the task, the Archer signifies ever ready state of the Squadron personnel to perform the task given with utmost efficiency. The squadron was first equipped with Toofani aircraft. In 1961, the Squadron moved to Kalaikunda. In August 1963 the Squadron moved to Bagdogra and also operated a detachment from Gorakhpur.In September 1964, the squadron moved to its new location at Hasimara. On 23 March 1968, the Squadron converted from the ageing Toofanis to the new thundering supersonic Mig 21 Fls. The Squadron also moved out from Hashimara to Chandigarh. In February 1969, the Squadron moved to its new location at Hindon. Having operated from Palam earlier, the air space around was not new. The Squadron stayed there for the following two years. In November 1973, Squadron moved to Halwara, its formation base. For next five years, the Squadron stayed there. In January 1978, the Squadron moved on to its new location at Chabua where it was to stay for the next seven years. In May 1985 Squadron moved to Hashimara. In May 87, the Squadron moved to Pune and converted to the Mig-29. In March 1997, the squadron moved to Adampur.

Aircraft Types operated over the years:

Commanding Officers


17 Dec 59 - 15 Apr 62
Squadron Leader
Denis Anthony Lafontaine
3844 GD(P)
CO
Halwara/ KKD

16 Apr 62 - 03 Jul 64
Squadron Leader
Charles David Fernandez
3852 GD(P)
CO
KKD/ Bagdogra

06 Jul 64 - 07 Nov 66
Squadron Leader
Pattathil Venugopal
4431 GD(P)
CO
Bagdogra/ Hashimara

06 Nov 66 - 29 Mar 68
Squadron Leader
Onkar Singh Wadhawan
4899 GD(P)
CO
Hashimara

30 Mar 68 - 29 Nov 70
Wing Commander
Tapas Kumar Sen
4475 GD(P)
CO
Chandigarh/Hindon

30 Nov 70 - 02 Mar 72
Wing Commander
Harsern Singh Gill
4657 GD(P)
CO
Hindon

03 Mar 72 - 19 May 74
Wing Commander
Sudharshan Handa
4816 GD(P)
CO
Hindon/ Halwara

20 May 74 - 31 May 76
Wing Commander
Inderjit Singh Sandhu
4790 GD(P)
CO
Halwara

01 Jun 76 - 17 Jul 77
Wing Commander
Sindhaghatta Subbaramu
5371 GD(P)
CO
Halwara

18 Jul 77 - 04 Nov 79
Wing Commander
Janak Pratap Singh
5672 GD(P)
CO
Halwara/ Chabua

05 Nov 79 - 04 Jul 82
Wing Commander
Man Mohan Singh Vasudeva
6128 GD(P)
CO
Chabua

05 Jul 82 - 26 Feb 84
Wing Commander
Manayanthara Kunjanpillai Raghava Menon
8766 GD(P)
CO
Chabua

27 Feb 84 - 04 May 86
Wing Commander
Narayan Menon
9005 GD(P)
CO
Chabua/ Hasimara

05 May 86 - 03 Jul 88
Wing Commander
Vishwanathan Pasupathi
10887 GD(P)
CO
Hashimara/ Pune

04 Jul 88 - 15 Jul 90
Wing Commander
Arun Kumar Tiwary
12194 GD(P)
CO
Pune

16 Jul 90 - 07 Jun 92
Wing Commander
Sumit Mukerji
12925 F(P)
CO
Pune

08 Jun 92 - 05 Jun 94
Wing Commander
Arup Raha
13910 F(P)
CO
Pune

06 Jun 94 - 07 Jan 96
Wing Commander
Inder Singh
14082 F(P)
CO
Pune

08 Jan 96 - 03 May 98
Wing Commander
Karath Padmadass Nair
15195 F(P)
CO
Pune/ Adampur

04 May 98 - 28 May 00
Wing Commander
Sardar Harpal Singh
16071 F(P)
CO
Adampur

29 May 00 - 11 Aug 02
Wing Commander
Praveen Bhatt
16970 F(P)
CO
Adampur

12 Aug 02 - 18 Jul 04
Wing Commander
Sanjay Nimesh
17862 F(P)
CO
Adampur

19 Jul 04 - 14 May 06
Wing Commander
Parveen Keshav Vohra
19162 F(P)
CO
Adampur

15 May 06 - 06 Apr 08
Wing Commander
Pudiapura Jawahar Mohamed
20445 F(P)
CO
Adampur

07 Apr 08 - 26 Apr 10
Wing Commander
Vikas Sharma
20757 F(P)
CO
Adampur

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.