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


15 Jan 68 - 29 Dec 70
Group Captain
Reginald John Manual Upot
3599 GD(P)
CO
Hakimpet

30 Dec 70 - 24 Dec 73
Group Captain
Surendra Nath Kawlra
3945 GD(P)
CO
Hakimpet

07 Jan 74 - 26 Oct 75
Group Captain
Bakhshish Singh
3948 GD(P)
CO
Hakimpet

27 Oct 75 - 18 Dec 77
Group Captain
Cecil Vivian Parker
4346 GD(P)
CO
Hakimpet

13 Mar 78 - 10 Oct 80
Group Captain
Edwin Godfrey Salins
4796 GD(P)
Cmdt
Hakimpet

21 Oct 80 - 12 Sep 82
Group Captain
Tehmurasp Ratanshaw Patel
5192 GD(P)
Cmdt
Hakimpet

13 Sep 82 - 16 Jul 83
Group Captain
Krishen Kumar Bakshi
5012 GD(P)
Cmdt
Hakimpet

18 Jul 83 - 30 Sep 83
Group Captain
Sherwin Derek Leslie Tully
5270 GD(P)
Cmdt
Hakimpet
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.