No.48 Squadron Camels

Motto : Sahasa phalit Sarvetrah (Courageous Always Succeed)
Date Raised : 1959-11-15 Location : Chandigarh
N0. 48 Sqn, AF was raised on 19 Nov 1959, at Barrackpore and has served in all operational commands of the Indian Air Force. The Sqn has operated Dakotas, Packetts, and AN-32 aircraft. The Dakotas of the Units were the aerial lifeline in NEFA till they were eventually replaced by the Packett aircraft. The squadron was re-equipped with the AN-32 aircraft and moved to its present location, Chandigarh in May 1986. Since then it has formed an aerial bridge for the Indian Forces in J&K sector across the Himalayan Ranges.

Aircraft Types operated over the years:

Commanding Officers


05 Feb 60 - 16 Jun 61
Squadron Leader
Surjit Singh Jaspal
1808 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

17 Jun 61 - 23 Jan 62
Squadron Leader
Kaup Mohandas Kamath
3656 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

24 Jan 62 - 27 Apr 64
Wing Commander
Harish Chander Sahgal
3024 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

28 Apr 64 - 28 Feb 66
Wing Commander
Kaup Mohandas Kamath
3656 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

01 Mar 66 - 06 Nov 66
Wing Commander
Balwant Wickram Chauhan
3352 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

07 Nov 66 - 25 Dec 68
Wing Commander
Kishin Advani
4003 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

26 Dec 68 - 28 Dec 71
Wing Commander
Arjan Dev Ralli
4027 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

29 Dec 71 - 07 Feb 74
Wing Commander
Rajaram Jayaram Ambegaonkar
4622 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

08 Feb 74 - 08 Feb 76
Wing Commander
Indu Virmani
4682 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

09 Feb 76 - 14 Dec 77
Wing Commander
Sudesh Kumar Kapur
4880 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

15 Dec 77 - 09 Dec 79
Wing Commander
Krishnan Narayan Nair
6346 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

10 Dec 79 - 26 Oct 80
Wing Commander
Kota Sarvotham Karanath
6534 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

27 Oct 80 - 24 Oct 83
Group Captain
Om Kumar Chhabra
5675 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

25 Oct 83 - 18 Aug 85
Group Captain
Harwant Bir Singh
5065 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore

14 Oct 85 - 31 Aug 87
Group Captain
Harbinder Singh Sidhu
7682 GD(P)
CO
Barrackpore/ Chandig

01 Sep 87 - 22 Oct 89
Group Captain
Puzhankara Ambalavattam Hari Mohan
9723 GD(P)
CO
Chandigarh

23 Oct 89 - 19 Jun 92
Group Captain
Sajal Kumar Dutt
10106 GD(P)
CO
Chandigarh

29 Jun 92 - 26 Feb 96
Group Captain
Praveen Chander Chopra
10883 GD(P)
CO
Chandigarh

01 Mar 96 - 26 Jul 98
Group Captain
Nataraj Paul
13601 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

27 Jul 98 - 19 Aug 01
Group Captain
Mrinal Kanti Devnath
13792 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

20 Aug 01 - 06 Jul 03
Group Captain
Mukund Vedavyas Achar
15052 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

07 Jul 03 - 13 Nov 05
Group Captain
Rajeev Sachdeva
16582 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

14 Nov 05 - 01 Jan 08
Group Captain
Parag Sharma
17009 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

02 Jan 08 - 17 Nov 09
Group Captain
Suryakant Chintaman Chafekar
17013 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

18 Nov 09 - 22 Jun 11
Group Captain
Shivkumar Srinivasan
19520 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

23 Jun 11 - 02 Jun 13
Group Captain
Vijay Kumar
20508 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

03 Jun 13 - 19 Aug 15
Group Captain
Amitabh Bhalla
21006 F(P)
CO
Chandigarh

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.