Chief of Air Staff (India)
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The head of the Indian Air Force is known as the Chief of the Air Staff (currently Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne)[1]. The position was held by an Air Commodore (1919-1923), by an Air Vice-Marshal (1923-1929) and by an Air Marshal (1929-1965). In 1965, the position was upgraded to that of an Air Chief Marshal. The highest rank in the IAF is Marshal of the Air Force, which is conferred by the President of India only in exceptional circumstances. It has only been given once in January, 2002 to Arjan Singh. The rank is equal to five star General and a Field Marshal in the Army.
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[edit] Air Chiefs (1919-1947)
The following list includes not only those officers who held the appointment of Chief of the Air Staff, but also the preceding commanders of the Indian Air Force.
[edit] Commander, Indian Group (1919-1922)
- 1919-1922 Air Commodore, later Air Vice-Marshal Sir Tom Webb-Bowen
[edit] Air Officer Commanding RAF, India (1922-1938)
- 1922: Air Commodore, later Air Vice-Marshal Sir Tom Webb-Bowen
- 1922 - 1923 Air Vice-Marshal Sir Philip Game
- 1923 - 1926 Air Vice-Marshal, later Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Edward Leonard Ellington
- 1926 - 1931 Air Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal Sir Geoffrey Salmond
- 1931 - 1935 Air Vice-Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal Sir John Steel
- 1935 - 1937 Air Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt
- 1937 - 1938 Air Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferté
[edit] Air Officer Commanding Air Forces in India (1938-1945)
- 1938 - 1939 Air Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferté
- 1939 - 1940 Air Marshal Sir John Higgins
- 1940 - 1942 Air Marshal Sir Patrick Playfair
- 1942 - 1943 Air Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Pierse
- 1943 - 1944 Air Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal Sir Guy Garrod (Deputy Air Officer Commanding in Chief)
- 1944 - 1945 Air Vice-Marshal M Thomas
[edit] Air Officer Commanding, Royal Indian Air Force (1945-1947)
- 1945-1946 Air Vice-Marshal M Thomas
- 1946 Air Marshal Sir Roderick Carr
- 1946 - 1947 Air Marshal Sir Hugh Walmsley (Last commander of the unified RIAF before partition)
(On 15 August 1947, the unified RIAF was separated into the Royal Indian Air Force and the Royal Pakistan Air Force)
[edit] Air Chiefs (1947-present)
[edit] Air Officer Commanding, Royal Indian Air Force (1947-1948)
- 1947 - 1948 Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst
[edit] Commander-in-Chief, Royal Indian Air Force (1948-1950)
- 1948-1950 Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst
[edit] Commander-in-Chief, Indian Air Force (1950-1955)
- 1950 - 1951 Air Marshal, later Air Chief Marshal Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman
- 1951 - 1954 Air Marshal Sir Gerald Gibbs
- 1954 - 1955 Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee
[edit] Chief of the Air Staff (1955-present)
- 1955 - 1960 Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee
- 1960 - 1964 Air Marshal Aspy Engineer
- 1964 - 1969 Air Chief Marshal, later Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh
- 1969 - 1973 Air Chief Marshal Pratap Chandra Lal
- 1973 - 1976 Air Chief Marshal Om Prakash Mehra
- 1976 - 1978 Air Chief Marshal Hrushikesh Moolgavkar
- 1978 - 1981 Air Chief Marshal Idris Latif
- 1981 - 1984 Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh
- 1984 - 1985 Air Chief Marshal Lakshman Katre
- 1985 - 1988 Air Chief Marshal Denis La Fontaine
- 1988 - 1991 Air Chief Marshal Surinder Mehra
- 1991 - 1993 Air Chief Marshal Nirmal Chandra Suri
- 1993 - 1995 Air Chief Marshal Swaroop Kaul
- 1995 - 1998 Air Chief Marshal Satish Sareen
- 1998 - 2001 Air Chief Marshal Anil Tipnis
- 2001 - 2004 Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy
- 2004 - 2007 Air Chief Marshal Shashindra Pal Tyagi
- 2007 - 2009 Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major
- 2009 - 2011 Air Chief Marshal Pradeep Vasant Naik
- 2011 - present Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne
Air Marshal N A K Browne replaced Naik on 31 July 2011.[2]
[edit] Marshal of the Air Force
Only once has this rank ever been given:
- Arjan Singh - Marshal of the Air Force in January, 2002 (the highest rank ever given in the history of the Indian Air force). It is equal to a five star General a Field Marshal in an Army.
