No. 8 Squadron IAF

Last updated

No. 8 Squadron
Active1 December 1942 – present
Country Flag of India.svg Republic of India
BranchAir Force Ensign of India.svg  Indian Air Force
Role Fighter
Garrison/HQ Bareilly AFS
Nickname(s)"Eight Pursoots"
Motto(s)Surakshya Va Akraman
Offense is Defence
Aircraft flown
Fighter Sukhoi Su-30MKI

No. 8 Squadron (known as the Eight Pursoots) is an Indian Air Force fighter squadron and is equipped with Su-30MKIs and based at Bareilly AFS. [1]

Contents

History

No. 8 Squadron were formed in 1943 at Tiruchirapalli and were trained at Peshawar and Bhopal. On 2 December 1943, they were moved to Doublemooring in Chittagong (now in Bangladesh) to work closely together with No. 82 Squadron RAF in the Burma Campaign. Equipped with Spitfires they had significant success against the Japanese Imperial Army.

While No. 8 Squadron is officially celebrated as having been raised on 1 March 1943, archival evidence suggests that its personnel and aircraft movements, as well as initial operational readiness, began as early as late 1942. The discrepancy between ceremonial and operational formation dates has been explored in a detailed historical analysis. [2]

Assignments

Aircraft

AircraftFromToAir Base
Pre-Independence (1942–47)
Vultee A-31 Vengeance 1A August 1943November 1944 Tiruchirappalli [3]
Supermarine Spitfire V December 1944January 1945
Harvard IIB July 1944January 1951
Supermarine Spitfire XIV November 1944June 1946
Post-Independence (1947–Present)
Hawker Tempest II April 1947December 1951
Vampire FB52 December 1951June 1953
Vampire T55 June 1953February 1957
Dassault Ouragan November 1953February 1957
Dassault Mystère IV February 1957February 1969
MiG-21 FL February 1969February 2010Bagdogra, Tezpur
Sukhoi Su-30 MKI February 2010Present AFS Bareilly

References

  1. ↑ "Squadrons and Helicopter Units". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  2. ↑ Gupta, Anchit (9 November 2022). "The Curious Case of 8 Sqn IAF's March 1st Anniversary". IAFHistory. Retrieved 5 May 2025.
  3. ↑ "No.8 Squadron Eight Pursoots". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 22 June 2021.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.