List of historical aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Aircraft

Consolidated-Vultee B-24 Liberator heavy bomber over the Deccan plateau in the early 1950s

Name	Origin	Primary role(s)	Year introduced	Year retired	# used	Notes
Pre World War II
Westland Wapiti	United Kingdom	Liaison	1933	1942	28	^[1]
World War II
Armstrong Whitworth Atalanta	United Kingdom	Transport	1941	1944	5
Avro Anson I	United Kingdom	Basic trainer	1942	1945	7	^[2]
Boulton Paul Defiant TT.III	United Kingdom	Target tug	1944	1945	?
Bristol Blenheim I	United Kingdom	Bomber	1941	1942	5
de Havilland D.H.86B	United Kingdom	Transport	1940	1942	2
de Havilland Dragon Rapide	United Kingdom	Transport	1941	1945	4
de Havilland Tiger Moth	United Kingdom	Basic trainer	1939	1957	192
Douglas Dakota	United States	Transport	1944	1987	206
Fairchild PT-19	United States	Basic trainer	1943	1946	40	^[3]^[4]
Harlow PC-5A	United States	Transport	1941	1942	4
Hawker Audax	United Kingdom	Liaison	1939	1945	7
Hawker Hart	United Kingdom	Bomber	1939	1942	7
Hawker Hind	United Kingdom	Bomber	1939	1941	6
Hawker Hurricane	United Kingdom	Fighter-bomber	1942	1945	?
North American Harvard Mk.II and 4	Canada	Basic trainer	1942	1973	?
Supermarine Spitfire Vc & VIIIc	United Kingdom	Fighter/Reconnaissance	1943	1948	19	^[5]
Vickers Valentia	United Kingdom	Transport	1942	1944	1
Vultee Vengeance	United States	Bomber	1942	1945	35	^[6]
Westland Lysander II	United Kingdom	Liaison	1941	1943	25	^[7]
Westland Lysander III.T	United Kingdom	Target tug	1941	1942	48	^[7]
Post World War II
Airspeed Oxford	United Kingdom	Transport	1946	1949	5
Auster AOP.6	United Kingdom	Liaison	1946	1970	20
Hawker Tempest II	United Kingdom	Fighter	1945	1955	235	^[8]
Supermarine Spitfire FR.XIVE & FR.XVIII	United Kingdom	Fighter/Reconnaissance	1945	1957	120	^[5]
Post independence acquisitions
Aero Ae-45	Czechoslovakia	Transport	1955	1957	1
Antonov An-12	Soviet Union	Transport	1961	1993	65
Auster AOP.9	United Kingdom	Liaison	1955	1981	35
Bell 47G-2	United States	Helicopter	1957	1979	15
Consolidated B-24J Liberator	United States	Bomber	1948	1967	45	^{[note 1]}^[9]
Dassault Ouragan	France	Fighter	1953	1967	104	^{[note 2]}^[10]^[11]
Dassault Mystère IV	France	Fighter	1957	1973	104
de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter	Canada	Transport	1956	1998	36
de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou	Canada	Transport	1963	1991	26	^[12]
de Havilland Devon	United Kingdom	Transport	1947	1991	22
de Havilland Vampire F.3	United Kingdom	Fighter	1948	1955	3
de Havilland Vampire FB.52	United Kingdom	Fighter-bomber	1950	1974	286	^{[note 3]}
de Havilland Vampire NF.10	United Kingdom	Fighter	1953	1955	30
de Havilland Vampire NF.54	United Kingdom	Fighter	1953	1966	30
de Havilland Vampire PR.55	United Kingdom	Reconnaissance	1954	1965	5	^{[note 4]}
de Havilland Vampire T.11	United Kingdom	Basic trainer	1963	?	7
de Havilland Vampire T.55	United Kingdom	Basic trainer	1953	1982	124	^{[note 5]}
English Electric Canberra	United Kingdom	Bomber/Reconnaissance	1957	2007	150	^[13]
Fairchild C-119G Flying Boxcar	United States	Transport	1953	1984	89
Folland Gnat	United Kingdom	Fighter	1958	1978	?	^{[note 6]}
HAL HF-24 Marut	India	Fighter-bomber	1961	1985	147	^[14]
HAL HT-2	India	Basic trainer	1953	1998	169
Hawker Hunter FGA.56	United Kingdom	Fighter-bomber	1957	1996	167
Hawker Hunter T.66	United Kingdom	Basic trainer	1959	1992	40
Ilyushin Il-14	Soviet Union	Transport	1955	1981	29
Lockheed Super Constellation	United States	Transport	1961	1981	9
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21FL	Soviet Union	Fighter	1964	2013	332	^{[note 7]}^[15]
North American T-6G Texan	United States	Basic trainer	1973	?
Percival Prentice T.3	United Kingdom	Basic trainer	1947	1963	62	^{[note 8]}
Supermarine Spitfire PR.XI & XIX	United Kingdom	Reconnaissance	1947	1959	15	^[5]
Supermarine Spitfire T.IX	United Kingdom	Basic trainer	1947	1955	10
Vickers Viscount	United Kingdom	Transport	1955	1971	2
Sikorsky S-55	United States	Helicopter	1954	1966	8	^{[note 9]}
Sikorsky S-62B	United States	Helicopter	1960	1979	2
Mil Mi-4	Soviet Union	Helicopter	1960	1988	121
Acquisitions after 1965 war
Sukhoi Su-7 Fitter	Soviet Union	Fighter-bomber	1968	1986	140	^[16]
Tupolev Tu-124	Soviet Union	Transport	1966	1981	3
HAL Krishak	India	Liaison	1965	1988	68
Hawker Hunter F.56	United Kingdom	Fighter	1966	1992	55
HAL Pushpak	India	Basic trainer	1965	1967	25
Acquisitions after 1971 war
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23BN	Soviet Union	Fighter-bomber	1981	2009	95	^[17]
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23MF	Soviet Union	Fighter	1982	2007	40
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25RBK & RU	Soviet Union	Reconnaissance	1981	2006	10	^{[note 10]}^[18]
Mikoyan MiG-27	Soviet Union	Fighter	1985	2019	165	^[19]
PZL TS-11 Iskra bis D	Poland	Basic trainer	1975	2004	76	^{[note 11]}^[20]
SEPECAT Jaguar GR.I	United Kingdom/France	Ground attack	1979	1984	16	^{[note 12]}
HAL Ajeet	India	Fighter	1977	1991	89	^{[note 13]}

References

Notes

^ ex-RAF World War Two lend-lease bombers refurbished by HAL.
^ Target tug from 1965, retired in 1967.
^ 247 built under licence by HAL.
^ PR.55 were T.55s converted to photo reconnaissance.
^ 60 T.55s built under licence by HAL.
^ licence built by Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL)
^ other variants remain operational.
^ includes 42 built by HAL.
^ Some sources indicate that the S-55 was in use until 1968
^ 6 MiG-25RBK and 2 MiG-25RU
^ 26 aircraft bought in the 1990s.
^ Other variants still operational
^ improved Folland Gnat, includes 10 upgraded Gnats.

Citations

^ The Westland Wapiti in Indian Air Force Archived 2013-07-28 at the Wayback Machine
^ "No. 1 Service Flying Training School (India)". Archived from the original on 3 August 2012.
^ Andrade 1979, p. 239
^ "Indian Air Force Gallery :: Training in the IAF".
^ ^a ^b ^c IAF-Spitfire Archived 2007-12-06 at the Wayback Machine
^ "History of IAF". Archived from the original on 9 April 2009. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
^ ^a ^b Westland Lysander in Indian Air Force Service Archived 2008-01-15 at the Wayback Machine
^ IAF-Tempest Archived 2014-08-24 at the Wayback Machine
^ Consolidated B-24 Liberator [https://web.archive.org/web/20120112225702/http://bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Images/Vintage/Fighters/Liberator/ Archived 2012-01-12 at the Wayback Machine. Bharat-rakshak.com (2007-01-18). Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
^ Jackson 1988, pp. 76–77.
^ Jackson 1988, pp. 78
^ "De Havilland DHC-4 Caribou". Archived from the original on 27 September 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
^ Canberra Farewell - Revell 1/72 B(I) 58. Bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
^ Donald 1997, p.523.
^ "MiG-21 FL flies into history today after serving the IAF for 50 years". ibnlive.in.com. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
^ A Whale Of A Fighter: The Su-7 In IAF Service Archived 2009-12-30 at the Wayback Machine. Bharat-rakshak.com (1971-12-12). Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
^ Last Flight of the MiG-23 BN [https://web.archive.org/web/20110609205352/http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/IAF/Images/Special/PRO/2009/LastFlight_MIG_23.jpg.html Archived 2011-06-09 at the Wayback Machine. Bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved on 2010-09-08.
^ Pradhan & Chavan 2007, p. xiv
^ "MiG-27 goes into history: Legacy of Indian Air Force's bahadur valiant". India Today. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
^ Swansong of the Iskaras Archived 2007-11-18 at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

Andrade, John, U.S.Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909 Midland Counties Publications, 1979, ISBN 0 904597 22 9.
Green, William, The Indian Air Force and its Aircraft Ducimus Books, London, 1982, ASIN B004YXNILM
Pradhan, R. D.; Chavan, Yashwantrao Balwantrao (2007). 1965 War, the Inside Story: Defence Minister Y.B. Chavan's Diary of India-Pakistan War. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 978-81-269-0762-5.
Sapru, Somanth, Combat Lore: Indian Air Force 1930-1945 K W Publishers, 2014, 978-9383649259
Singh, Pushpindar, Aircraft of the Indian Air Force 1933-1973 English Book Store, New Delhi, 1974, ASIN B00K0Q8MX6