No. 1 Squadron (''The Tigers''), the oldest squadron of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...

operates as a multirole (

air superiority Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of c ...

and

electronic warfare Electronic warfare (EW) is any action involving the use of the electromagnetic spectrum (EM spectrum) or directed energy to control the spectrum, attack an enemy, or impede enemy assaults. The purpose of electronic warfare is to deny the opponen ...

) unit. Part of 40 Wing of the Indian Air Force under

Central Air Command ''Nigrahya Rasava shastrava'' , colors = , colors_label = , battles = 1962 Sino-Indian War, East Pakistan Operations 1971, Operation Meghdoot, Orissa Super-Cyclone Relief, 1999 , anniversaries = , commander1 = Air Marshal Amar Preet Si ...

, it is based at Maharajpur in

Gwalior Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...

History

The squadron was established at Drigh Road, Karachi on 1 April 1933, with four

Westland Wapiti The Westland Wapiti was a British two-seat general-purpose military single-engined biplane of the 1920s. It was designed and built by Westland Aircraft Works to replace the Airco DH.9A in Royal Air Force service. First flying in 1927, the Wa ...

s and five pilots: the sixth was deemed too short. The pilots included

Subroto Mukerjee Air Marshal (India), Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee Order of the British Empire, OBE (Bengali Language, Bengali: সুব্রত মুখোপাধ্যায়) (5 March 1911 – 8 November 1960) was an Indian military officer who was the ...

. The squadron successfully test fired a BVR MICA missile from a Mirage-2000 aircraft on 24 September 2016.

Aircraft

Commemorative Postal Stamp

Commemorative stamp was released by

India Post India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ha ...

in 1993.

References

{{Indian Air Force 001 Gwalior Military units and formations of India in World War II 1933 establishments in India