The Indian Air Force (IAF) was established on 8th October, 1932 as auxiliary air force of Britain.
As of 2017, IAF was the 4TH largest Air Force in the world with 139,576 personnel.
Motto of the IAF “TOUCH THE SKY WITH GLORY” which is taken from Bhagavad Gita. Recently integrated Rafale jets to feature in the 2020 Air Force parade at Hindon air base in Ghaziabad - the largest air base in Asia.
FORMATION AND WW2 CONTRIBUTION
IAF was initially formed as auxiliary of the then Royal Air Force of Britain with name ‘Royal Indian Air Force’. IAF aided UK in World War II. KK Majumdar from the IAF was rated “one of the 12 best pilots of the Allied Air Forces”.
823 Officers and Airmen of the IAF martyred between 1st Sept 1939 and
31st Dec 1947. Includes casualties of the 1947-48 Jammu-Kashmir operations.
Prefix ‘Royal’ removed in 1950, and became IAF. 1 April, 1954: Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee became the first Indian Chief of Air Staff.
DID YOU KNOW?
In 2002, Arjan Singh became the first and so far, only marshal of the Indian Air Force.
Marshal of the Air Force is a five-star rank and the term for the most senior rank in many air forces - equal to the army rank of Field Marshal.