No. 2 Squadron IAF

No.2 Squadron (Winged Arrows), Indian Air Force is a unit dedicated to CAS. Based at Kalaikunda AFS, it forms, along with No. 18 Squadron IAF, No. 5 Wing IAF. No. 2 Sqn falls under the Eastern Air Command.^[1]

No. 2 Squadron has as its emblem an arrow with unfolded wings, with the symbolic number 2 attached to the shaft. Below this crest, on a scroll is inscribed Amogh Lakshya" (Lit: Unwaivered Aim).

History

Though the Indian Air Force was born with the raising of No.1 Squadron in 1933, it was to take another eight years before the second squadron could be raised. The outbreak of the second world war and the rapid influx of trained pilots and personnel saw to the availability of enough aircrew to equip a second squadron. Accordingly on 1 April 1941, No.2 Squadron, IAF was raised at Peshawar under the command of Flt Lt AB Awan.

Equipped with the Westland Wapiti, the same aircraft on which No.1 was raised, it had a unit establishment of 20 officers and 164 men. Six officers from No.1 were seconded to the squadron and another seven arrived from No.1 SFTS Ambala. Flt Lt SN Goyal and Flt Lt MK Janjua were the flight commanders of 'A' and 'B' flights respectively. the Adjutant was Flt Lt HU 'Bulbul' Khan. Flt Lt Aspy Engineer took over command of the squadron in Jun 41 and soon a detachment was sent to Miranshah to provide operations in the Tochi Valley in the NWFP. The remaining part of the squadron continued training at Peshawar before moving to Kohat in September 41, where they were joined by the Miranshah Detachment which has completed its tour of operations. Meanwhile the Squadron has given up its Wapitis to the Coastal Defence Flights and requipped with Audax aircraft. Towards the end of 1941, No.2 received relatively modern aircraft in the form of the Westland Lysander, which was also the equipment of No.1 Squadron. For the whole of 1942 the unit was involved in Army Cooperation exercises and moved over parts of Southern India over the course of its operations. In Sep 42, the unit was tasked to move to Risalpur to convert itself to the Hawker Hurricane IIc aircraft. The conversion being finished by December and the unit proceeded to Ranchi for advanced fighter tactics. The unit was moved to Kohat in the NWFP in 1946 where it re-equipped with the Spitfire VIII and was still based there in Sep 47, by which time it had converted to the Hawker Tempest II under the command of Sqn Ldr A Murat Singh. Due to the division of assets during partition after independence, the Squadron left its assets to the newly born Pakistan Air Force and was promptly number-plated in Dec 1947. It was ironic that No.2 Squadron would join No.1 in being disbanded

Rebirth 1951
No.2 was re raised again at Palam on 15 Jul 51 under the command of Sqn Ldr Randhir Singh VrC. The unit was now equipped with Spitfire XVIIIs and a Harvard trainer. For about two years, the activity was run of the mill, flying normal sorties, including dive bombing with 250 pounders. Lot of photo work was done by the unit. Several young pilots were posted about this time to convert to operational flying. Plt Offr NC Suri being one of them. In October 1953, the unit converted to the De Havilland Vampire FB52 single seater jet fighter. At that time Sqn Ldr Rointon Engineer DFC was the CO. The Vampires were with the squadron for a short period. Another three years later in May 1956, the Winged Arrows converted to the Dassault Ouragan fighter, also known as the Toofani in the IAF service.In April 1962, the Squadron received its first Folland Gnat fighter. The unit now shed its Ouragans to become the 'real fighter' squadron.

1965 WAR
When the outbreak of the 1965 conflict was imminent, the Squadron was distributed between Ambala and Agra. A detachment under Wg Cdr Bharat Singh soon moved to Halwara airbase on the flare-up of the hostilities. Another detachment was flown to Adampur while a third was maintained at Ambala under Sqn Ldr Jit Dhawan. Throughout the war, the Squadron was involved in not only flying escort missions to Canberra and Hunter raids, but also in close support missions in the aid of the army. The first encounter with the enemy was on 13th September, when a section of Gnats were bounced by Sabres. Flt Lt AN Kale found himself behind a Sabre, but his guns jammed at the right moment.The Winged arrows drew first blood on Sept 14th, when a Canberra formation being escorted by the Gnats were bounced by Sabres. Wg Cdr Bharat Singh chased one Sabre at low level. The Sabre pilot tried various maneuvers in trying to escape the Gnat, but crashed in his attempt to do so. This chalked up the first combat kill for No.2 Squadron.

Several escort missions were flown by the Gnats of No.2. These included Hunters of No.7 as well as Canberras of No.5 Squadron undertaking day light raids over the Lahore Kasur front.

This was followed by a major action on Sept 20th. Flt Lt AK Majumdar and Fg Offr K C Khanna took off with a mixed formation of Hunters over the Lahore sector. In the ensuing aircombat with Sabres, two of the Hunters were hit and shot down. However, Mazumdar scored against the Sabres by shooting down one aircraft flown by Flt Lt AH Malik of the PAF.

1971 India Pakistan War
When the 1971 War broke out on 3rd Dec 71, the entire squadron was moved to Amritsar airfield. The task being to defend the airfield which has become a major launching pad for Ground Attack and Counter Air Missions. The PAF fighters on many occasions refused to put up a fight against the doughty little fighters of No.2. The first interception occurred on 4 Dec, when Wg Cdr Johnny Green on a dawn patrol at 0645 Hours intercepted an incoming F-104. The F-104 punched its tanks and sped away with afterburner with Greene chasing it futilely. Only thing that Greene could do was film the fast disappearing Starfighter.

On 7 Dec , Fg Off Rana and Fg Off AK Singh intercepted two Mirage IIIs coming in to attack. Both the Mirages declined combat , engaging reheat and flying away. There were no further interceptions at Amritsar. The only action was for the Squadron's aircraft to conduct high altitude CAPs deliberately allowing them to be noticed by the enemy radar. This deterred the enemy from sending in B-57s.

When the war ended, No.2 had flown 279 sorties. For its efforts two Vayusena Medals and four Mentions in Dispatches were awarded. The CO Johnny Greene being one of the VM recipients.

After the war
The Squadron was tasked to move to Kalaikunda in 1979, a move which was completed by October of the same year. On arrival at Kalaikunda hectic preparations were made for the presentation of colors ceremony. In Dec 79, in recognition of the outstanding service to the country, the Winged Arrows were presented with the coveted 'Presidents colors' by Mr Neelam Sanjeev Reddy, the President of the Republic of India.
In Feb 83, the Gnats of the squadron flew their lost sorties. The aircraft were due to be replaced by the Ajeet which were the upgraded version of the Gnat.
in Jun 91,the squadron was equipped with MiG-27s. The first MiG-27s arrived in Jun 91, fresh from HAL Ozhar. These consisted of four MiG-27s and one two seater MiG-23UB trainer. Fourmore fighters were collected from HAL in Sep 91, but one aircraft was lost when Fg Offr HRP Sharma during a conversion sortie had to eject from a spin. The induction of the MiG-27s was not completed till Feb 92,when the 16th aircraft arrived. The conversion to the MiG-27s now completed, the Squadron was now fully geared up to provide the teeth to the Eastern Air Command's offensive component.
No.2 Squadron was numberplated (for the second time in its existence) sometime in 2003 and it remained in limbo for about six years. In 2009, it was resurrected at Pune on the Sukhoi-30 MKI. The Squadron sent a detachment to Tezpur in June 2009. It was expected to grow to its full complement by October 2009.

References

1. ^ Dutch Aviation Society. OrBat of the Indian Air Force