No. 6 Squadron (IAF): Second World War

Aircraft - Locations - Group and Duty - Books

No.6 Squadron, IAF, served as a tactical reconnaissance and ground-attack squadron for five months over the winter of 1943-44, before moving to the North West Frontier for the rest of the war.

No.6 Squadron was formed on 1 December 1942 by the merger of No.1 (Madras) and No.2 (Bombay) Coast Defence Flights. After a period of training with No.151 OTU the squadron received its own Hawker Hurricane fighter-bombers, and in September 1943 it took them to the Burma front.

For the next five months the squadron flew a mix of tactical reconnaissance and ground-attack missions in support of the Allied invasion of Burma, before in February 1944 being withdrawn from the front. In June 1944 the squadron moved to the North West Frontier to conduct policing operations.

In November 1945 the squadron converted to the Supermarine Spitfire. While many Indian Spitfire squadrons received the Hawker Tempest before independence No.6 Squadron was disbanded on 30 April 1947, reforming on 1 May as a Dakota equipped transport squadron. This version of the squadron was then disbanded before reforming as part of the new Royal Pakistan Air Force.

Aircraft
February 1943-January 1944: Hawker Hurricane IIB
February 1943-November 1945: Hawker Hurricane IIC
November 1945-January 1946: Supermarine Spitfire VIII
November 1945-May 1947: Supermarine Spitfire XIV
May-August 1947: Douglas Dakota III and IV

Location
December 1942-March 1943: Trichinopoly
March-June 1943: Bairagarh
June-August 1943: Cholavarum
August-September 1943: Kajamalai (Trichinopoly)
September-November 1943: Kalyan
November 1943-February 1944: Cox's Bazaar
February-June 1944: Ratnap
June-August 1944: Risalpur
August 1944-January 1946: Kohat
January 1946-April 1947: Ranchi
May-August 1947: Mauripur

Squadron Codes: -

Duty
July 1944: No.167 Wing, No.224 Group, Third Tactical Air Force, Eastern Air Command

Books

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How to cite this article: Rickard, J (9 November 2009), No. 6 Squadron (IAF): Second World War, http://www.historyofwar.org/air/units/IAF/6_wwII.html

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