Elementary Flying School Date Raised : 1966-11-07 Disbanded : 1983-09-29 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 | |||||
07 Nov 66 - 31 Mar 68Group CaptainKrishan Lal Suri2907 GD(P)CmdtBidar | 01 Apr 68 - 13 Jun 71Group CaptainKottavathukal Thomas Abraham3600 GD(P)CmdtBidar | 14 Jun 71 - 16 Sep 73Group CaptainWilliam Macdonald Goodman3571 GD(P)CmdtBidar | 08 Oct 73 - 31 May 75Group CaptainRathnaker Sarvotham Sanadi3849 GD(P)CmdtBidar | 01 Jul 75 - 24 Jul 77Group CaptainManish Kumar Rudra4358 GD(P)CmdtBidar | |
25 Jul 77 - 15 Nov 80Group CaptainDushyant Singh5048 GD(P)CmdtBidar | 22 Dec 80 - 29 Sep 83Group CaptainRama Nand Gautam5275 GD(P)CmdtBidar |