Fighter Training Wing


Date Raised : 1968-01-15 Disbanded : 1983-09-30 Location : Hakimpet
Hakimpet was first revived as a training airfield in the Autumn of 1951 with the establishment of the Conversion Training Units (CTU). The CTU operated Spitfire T Mk IX s , Spitfire XVIIIs and Tempest IIs to impart fighter conversion training to newly commissioned pilots of the IAF (Starting with the 55th Pilots Course (PC)). CTU was re-designated as Jet Training Wing (JTW) in 1958 with the phasing out of all Piston engine fighters in the IAF. A second JTW was set up in Bidar after the Indo-China border conflict and both JTWs at Hakimpet and Bidar were redesignated as No.1 JTW and No.2 JTW respectively. But by 1968, Jet training was again bought under the sole purview of Hakimpet and both JTWs were merged together to form the 'Fighter Training Wing' (FTW). In July 1975 12 Kiran aircraft arrived at the station and these were supplemented by Polish Iskra in October that year. Starting from 1951 till 1976 the Station had six aircraft on its inventory- Vampire, Iskra, Spitfire, Tempest, Alouette and Kiran. A milestone in the annals of Hakimpet was the arrival of Helicopter Training School (HTS) in 1973. In September 1976, a detachment of 36ED and Iskra MCF commenced at the station. In 1983, FTW Hakimpet was redesignated as a full fledged station and renamed Air Force Station Hakimpet (AFS Hakimpet) to be commanded by an Air Commodore. The Detachment of 26 ED which had replaced 36ED in October 1990 was upgraded to a full-fledged Units and was renamed as 43 ED in November 1996.The station also houses Technical Type Training (TETTRA) School to provide technical type of training to the prospective Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force pilots prior to commencing their flying training. Air Force Station Hakimpet also houses a training facility for the training of Non-Technical Air Warriors in the Non Technical Training Institute (NTTI). The NTTI is also headed by a Chief instructor and provides training for over 200 airmen trainees in Administrative Assistant trade.

Aircraft Types operated over the years:
Unit previously existed as 1 JTW

Commanding Officers

View in Grid

DatesRank & NameNumberRemarksLocationPhoto
15 Jan 68 to 29 Dec 70Group Captain Reginald John Manual Upot3599 GD(P)COHakimpet
30 Dec 70 to 24 Dec 73Group Captain Surendra Nath Kawlra3945 GD(P)COHakimpet
07 Jan 74 to 26 Oct 75Group Captain Bakhshish Singh3948 GD(P)COHakimpet
27 Oct 75 to 18 Dec 77Group Captain Cecil Vivian Parker4346 GD(P)COHakimpet
13 Mar 78 to 10 Oct 80Group Captain Edwin Godfrey Salins4796 GD(P)CmdtHakimpet
21 Oct 80 to 12 Sep 82Group Captain Tehmurasp Ratanshaw Patel5192 GD(P)CmdtHakimpet
13 Sep 82 to 16 Jul 83Group Captain Krishen Kumar Bakshi5012 GD(P)CmdtHakimpet
18 Jul 83 to 30 Sep 83Group Captain Sherwin Derek Leslie Tully5270 GD(P)CmdtHakimpet
Unit continued existence as 408 AFS Hakimpet

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.