Losing out on (IAF) History ?

Even as some new aircraft types are being inducted by the Indian Air Force, notably the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules, the Service has ignored its own history and the ‘right’ of certain Squadrons to be resurrected after suffering from ‘number plating’ some years back. In particular, Nos.19 and 42 Squadrons, which had a distinguished record of service in war and peace, including during the 1962 China war and the IPKF years in Sri Lanka but had the ignominy of being ignored even as new squadrons were created for new aircraft types, namely Nos. 77 and 81…

As a side observation, and as this Issue goes to press, the platinum jubilees of Nos. 6, 7 and 8 Squadrons have been relatively low key, even though the Golden Jubilees of these highly acclaimed formations had been marked in major manner, also with comprehensive histories published which will be their proud record for posterity … till then.