No. 8 Squadron IAF

No. 8 Squadron
Active	1 December 1942 - Present
Country	Republic of India
Branch	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

Military unit

No. 8 Squadron (Eight Pursoots) is a fighter squadron and is equipped with Su-30MKIs and based at Bareilly AFS.^[1]

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.

Assignments

Burma Campaign
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Aircraft


Aircraft	From	To	Air Base
Pre-Independence (1942–47)
Vultee A-31 Vengeance 1A	August 1943	November 1944	Tiruchirappalli^[2]
Supermarine Spitfire V	December 1944	January 1945
Harvard IIB	July 1944	January 1951
Supermarine Spitfire XIV	November 1944	June 1946
Post-Independence (1947–Present)
Hawker Tempest II	April 1947	December 1951
Vampire FB52	December 1951	June 1953
Vampire T55	June 1953	February 1957
Dassault Ouragan	November 1953	February 1957
Dassault Mystère IV	February 1957	February 1969
MiG-21 FL	February 1969	February 2010	Bagdogra, Tezpur
Sukhoi Su-30 MKI	February 2010	Present	AFS Bareilly

References

^ "Squadrons and Helicopter Units". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
^ "No.8 Squadron Eight Pursoots". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 22 June 2021.

Indian Air Force

Leadership

Minister of Defence
Chief of the Air Staff
Vice Chief of the Air Staff
Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
AOCs-in-C (Commander-in-Chief)
Serving air marshals

Components
& commands

Air Force commands

Operational	Central Air Command Eastern Air Command Southern Air Command South Western Air Command Western Air Command
Functional	Training Command Maintenance Command
Joint	Andaman and Nicobar Command Strategic Forces Command Defence Cyber Agency Defence Space Agency Armed Forces Special Operations Division

Air bases

Western Air Command	Adampur Ambala Amritsar Awantipora Bathinda Chandigarh Faridabad Gurugram Halwara Hindan Leh Palam Pathankot Sarsawa Siachen Glacier Sirsa Srinagar Udhampur
Eastern Air Command	Agartala Bagdogra Barapani AFS Barrackpore Chabua Dum Dum Hasimara Jorhat Kalaikunda Kumbhigram Mohanbari Mountain Shadow Tawang Tezpur Panagarh
Central Air Command	Agra Bihta Darbhanga Bakshi Ka Talab Bamrauli Bareilly Chakeri Gorakhpur Maharajpur
Southern Air Command	Car Nicobar Coimbatore Madurai Port Blair Tambaram Thanjavur
South Western Air Command	Bhuj Jaisalmer Jamnagar Jodhpur Lohegaon Nal-Bikaner Naliya Phalodi Uttarlai Makarpura
Training Command	Begumpet Bidar Dundigal Hakimpet Yelahanka Belgaum
Maintenance Command	Nagpur Ojhar
Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs)	Along Chinyalisaur Chushul Daulat Beg Oldi Fukche Hayuliang Mechuka Nyoma Pasighat Airport Tawang Thoise Tuting Vijaynagar Walong Ziro

Squadrons

Combat

No. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
14
15
16
17
18
20
23
24
27
29
30
31
45
47
101
102
106
220
221
222
223
224

Transport

No. 11
12
19
25
33
41
43
44
48
49
59
77
78
81
87

Helicopters

Squadrons	No. 104 125
Units	No. 105 107 109 110 111 112 114 115 116 117 118 119 127 128 129 130 143 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159
Flights	No. 121 122 126 131 132

Acrobatic display

Communication

AHQCS

EW/AWS

RPA

No. 3001
3002
3003
3004
3005

Number plated

No. 10
21
22
26
28
32
35
37
51
108

Aircraft

Military
academies

Education & training	Sainik School Armed Forces Medical College Ajmer Military School Bangalore Military School Belgaum Military School Chail Military School Dholpur Military School Rashtriya Indian Military College
Schools & colleges	Air Force Academy Air Force Administrative College Air Force School, Coimbatore Air Force School, Jodhpur Flying Instructors School Indian Air Force Test Pilot School Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment Air Defence College College of Air Warfare
Tri-service institutions	Defence Services Staff College National Defence Academy National Defence College College of Defence Management Military Institute of Technology