No. 44 Squadron IAF

No. 44 Squadron is a unit of the Indian Air Force assigned to Maintenance Command. The Squadron participates in operations involving air, land and air-drop of troops, equipment, supplies, and support or augment special operations forces, when appropriate.

No. 44 Squadron
Active	April 1961 - Present
Country	India
Role	Transport
Garrison/HQ	AFS Chandigarh[1][2]
Nickname(s)	"Mighty Jets"
Motto(s)	Ishtam Yatnen Sadhyetah Achieve Goals with Perseverance
Aircraft flown
Transport	IL-76MD

History

The Squadron undertook extensive air maintenance sorties in the Ladakh and J&K Sectors. This earned the squadron the emblem of "Himalayan Geese" which was formally approved by the then President, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan on 26 May 1966.

In 1971 Indo-Pak Conflict, the squadron proved its mettle by innovating and effectively employing AN-12s in the bombing role in the Western theatre. Notably, 44 Squadron is the only transport squadron of the Indian Air Force to be conferred the Battle Honours, a feat otherwise reserved for active operational combat units.^[3] No. 44 Squadron has flown relief missions to Sri Lanka and Indonesia during the tsunami disaster, rescuing civilians, and to avalanche victims in Kashmir as well SOS missions to quake-affected Iran.^[4]

Lineage

• Constituted as No. 44 Squadron (Mighty Jets) on 6 April 1961^[5]
• Designated the emblem of "Himalayan geese" on 26 May 1966

Assignments

• Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
• Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
• 1988 Maldives coup d'état
• Battle of Jaffna (1995)
• Hurricane Katrina disaster relief
• 2020–2021 China–India skirmishes

Aircraft

• AN-12 (retired)
• IL-76