From ‘Winged Swords’ to ‘Flying Daggers’, the Tejas Squadron

| Chethan Kumar | TNN | Jul 2, 2016, 17:49 IST

IAF Squadron number 45, the Flying Daggers is now officially squa... Read More

BENGALURU: IAF Squadron number 45, the Flying Daggers is now officially squadron for the light combat aircraft (LCA) Tejas aircraft.
However, when it was first raised on February 13, 1957 (some 26 years before Tejas was even conceived), it was called the ‘Winged Swords’ and flew the British-built ‘De Havilland Vampire’ aircraft.

It first participated in the 1965 Indo-Pak War and was, in fact, tasked with the first strike mission of the conflict in Chhamb Sector.
Following this war, the squadron was equipped with the ‘Gnat’ aircraft, which earned itself the name ‘Sabre Slayer’ by the end of the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

From there, the squadron evolved and become the main MiG 21 Bison Squadron, which saw action in Kargil (1999). The squadron was number plated (as 45) in 2002.

Top Comment

Nemam Natarajan Pasupathy

3064 days ago

I hope this Squadron is equipped with actual fighter aircraft which are combat ready by 2020 and IAF gets adequate spares and subsystem backing for its maintenance. Pray it does not end up like the Arjun tanks / Insas system for the Army. The 2000 hours of flight including were mostly done by test pilots who are experts in flying machines even in adverse conditions. how easy or difficult it will be for new inductees is to be seen. MiG aircraft is most unforgiving even if there is a minor lapse. No one except those few test pilots who have flown this aircraft can say how easy or difficult in executing difficult maneuvers how many hours it has flown at supersonic speed etc. All this hype on Tejas all of a sudden , with two aircraft which are not combat ready gives an eerie feeling that IAF is perhaps forced to accept them and a raise a squadron in HAL!

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