No. 3 Squadron (IAF): Second World War

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No.3 Squadron, IAF, served on the North West Frontier for most of the Second World War, only spending two months early in 1945 operating over Burma.

No.3 Squadron was the last Indian Air Force squadron to be formed before the Japanese entry into the Second World War, coming into existence on 1 October 1941, six months after No.2 Squadron. It was formed as an Audax equipped fighter-reconnaissance unit to serve over the North West Frontier, a role it continued to perform for almost the entire war.

In September 1943 the Audax was replaced with the Hawker Hurricane IIC fighter-bomber after a period of training with No.151 OTU. The squadron finally moved to the Burma front in January 1945, but only spent two months on operations before it was withdrawn to convert to the Spitfire. The new aircraft didn't arrive until November, and so the squadron didn't return to the front.

The Spitfires were replaced with Hawker Tempests in September 1946, and these aircraft were retained until the squadron was transferred to the independent Royal Indian Air Force in the summer of 1947.

Aircraft
October 1941-September 1943: Hawker Audax I
November 1943-November 1945: Hawker Hurricane IIC
November 1945-January 1947: Supermarine Spitfire VIII
September 1946-August 1947: Hawker Tempest II

Location
October 1941-February 1942: Peshawar
     November 1942-April 1942: Detachment to Miranshah
February 1942-September 1943: Kohat
     July-August 1942, August 1942-August 1943: Detachment to Miranshah
September-November 1943: Risalpur
November 1943: Phaphamau
November 1943-January 1944: Bairagarh
January-February 1944: Ranchi
February-April 1944: Kohat
April-July 1944: Miranshah

January-March 1945: Bawli North
March-April 1945: Dabaing 1
April 1945: Alipore
April-July 1945: St. Thomas Mount
July 1945-February 1946: Risalpur
February 1946-April 1947: Kolar
April 1947: Kohat
April-August 1947: Risalpur
     May-July 1947: Detachment to Miranshah

Squadron Codes: -

Duty
1941-1944: Tactical Recon, North West Frontier
1945: Fighter-bomber squadron, Burma

Books

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How to cite this article: Rickard, J (9 November 2009), No. 3 Squadron (IAF): Second World War, http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/IAF/3_wwII.html

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