![]() No.3 Squadron Cobras Motto : Lakshya Ved (Destroy target with Precision) Date Raised : 1941-10-01 Location : Nal No. 3 squadron was formed at Peshawar on 1st October 1941 as a fighter reconnaissance squadron with the motto ' ba himmat ba murad' which was later changed to 'lakshya vedh'. The squadron took an active part in operations against militant tribes of the northwestern frontier province and later in the second world war, against the Japanese troops during the Burma campaign in 1945. During the 1965 and 1971 indo-pak conflicts the Cobras then equipped with Mysteres, fought gallantly in the highest traditions of the service and were awarded six vir chakras, three vishisht seva medals, and eight mention-in-dispatches. In March 1975 , No. 3 squadron had the proud privilege of being amongst the first few units in the IAF to receive the 'president’s standards' and in December 1994, the squadron received 'battle honours' for the 1965 indo-pak war. Initially starting with Audax aircraft the squadron has been constantly upgrading its armor and in 2002 the cobras were honoured to be the first unit in the IAF to convert to the upgraded MiG-21 'Bisons'. The Cobras hold the distinction of being the oldest un-number platted squadron in the IAF, thus having the honour of continuous service from the squadron's inception. Read Detailed History
Aircraft Types operated over the years: |
Commanding Officers | |||||
| 14 Apr 42 - 15 Aug 42Squadron LeaderMehar Singh1559 GD(P)COPeshawar | 16 Aug 42 - 25 Aug 42Flight LieutenantDiwan Atma Ram Nanda1562 GD(P)COPeshawar | 26 Aug 42 - 12 Sep 43Squadron LeaderDiwan Atma Ram Nanda1562 GD(P)COPeshawar | 13 Sep 43 - 06 Jan 45Squadron LeaderPrithipal Singh1578 GD(P)COPeshawar | |
08 Jan 45 - 27 Dec 45Squadron LeaderShivdev Singh1595 GD(P)COPeshawar | 28 Dec 45 - 27 Mar 46Squadron LeaderOm Prakash Mehra1639 GD(P)COKohat | 01 Apr 46 - 30 Dec 46Squadron LeaderRamchander Atmaram1583 GD(P)COKohat | 31 Dec 46 - 28 Aug 47Squadron LeaderMohan Dev Suri1655 GD(P)COKohat | 28 Sep 47 - 09 Dec 47Squadron LeaderAnand Ramdas Pandit1707 GD(P)COPune | |
10 Dec 47 - 11 Feb 49Squadron LeaderKasargod Sadanand Bhat1747 GD(P)COPune | 12 Feb 49 - 28 Apr 50Squadron LeaderKenneth Merals David1863 GD(O)COPune | 11 May 50 - 14 Jul 52Squadron LeaderJohn Ivor McKenzie1806 GD(P)COPune/ Halwara/ Ambal | 15 Jul 52 - 29 Dec 53Squadron LeaderAnant Vemanrao Samsi1865 GD(P)COAmbala | 30 Dec 53 - 15 Apr 55Squadron LeaderJohn Jasper Bouche2938 GD(P)COAmbala | |
16 Apr 55 - 21 Oct 55Squadron LeaderSuranjan Das3175 GD(P)COAmbala | 22 Oct 55 - 30 Apr 57Squadron LeaderMaheshwar Das Khanna2776 GD(P)COAmbala | 01 May 57 - 14 Apr 59Squadron LeaderSubhas Ranjan Bose3152 GD(P)COAmbala/ Kalaikunda | 15 Apr 59 - 13 Dec 61Squadron LeaderOm Prakash Taneja3843 GD(P)COKalaikunda | 14 Dec 61 - 21 Nov 62Squadron LeaderPatrick Russell Earle3965 GD(P)COKalaikunda | |
22 Nov 62 - 03 Apr 65Wing CommanderRegionald Louis Sayce3086 GD(P)COKalaikunda/ Pathanko | 05 Apr 65 - 11 Sep 65Wing CommanderPaul Cecil Roby3479 GD(P)COPathankot | 12 Sep 65 - 25 Sep 67Wing CommanderSurapati Bhattacharya3974 GD(P)COPathankot | | 17 Aug 69 - 11 Jun 71Wing CommanderPattathil Venugopal4431 GD(P)COPathankot | |
12 Jun 71 - 04 Dec 73Wing CommanderRabindar Nath Dogra4725 GD(P)COPathankot/ Hindan | 01 Feb 74 - 11 Apr 75Wing CommanderTekkidath Vijayan Nair Vijayan5009 GD(P)COPathankot | | 21 Aug 76 - 20 Jan 79Wing CommanderDinanath Ramchander Nadkarni5587 GD(P)COPathankot | | |
22 Jun 81 - 29 May 83Wing CommanderAnil Kumar Trikha8436 GD(P)COPathankot | 30 May 83 - 19 May 85Wing CommanderGurumurthy Balasubramanian8445 GD(P)COPathankot | | | 17 Oct 89 - 02 Dec 91Wing CommanderAnup Kumar Shyam12065 GD(P)COPathankot | |
03 Dec 91 - 26 Dec 93Wing CommanderBidanda Chengapa Nanjappa13246 F(P)COPathankot | 27 Dec 93 - 16 Jul 95Wing CommanderTejender Pal Singh Gill13767 F(P)COPathankot | | 14 Jul 97 - 29 Aug 99Wing CommanderAnup Ghosh15563 F(P)COAmbala | 30 Aug 99 - 22 Jul 01Wing CommanderKalianda Appaya Muthana16372 F(P)COAmbala | |
23 Jul 01 - 08 Dec 02Wing CommanderRavinder Kumar Dhir15678 F(P)COAmbala | 09 Dec 02 - 06 Mar 05Wing CommanderHarish Nayani17135 F(P)COAmbala | 07 Mar 05 - 06 May 07Wing CommanderDhananjai Vishnu Wani18568 F(P)COAmbala | |