Crest: The crest of the squadron was approved by the then President of India, his Excellency S Radhakrishnan on 02 Jan 1967.

The motto of the Squadron is "Shauryam Tejo Dhritih" which means ‘Valour, Energy and Firmness’.

Brief History: 220 Sqn, AF was formed at 2 Wing, Air Force Station Pure, under the command of Sqn Ldr NF Watts. Initially located at Palam as 51 Auxillary Air Force (AAF) Squadron and equipped with Vampire aircraft, it was moved to Pune by HQ, OP Command. 220 Squadron was called the "Fighting Tigers" then. From its birth till just short of 1965 Indo-Pak war, the role of the squadron was Operational Conversion onto Vampire aircraft of the freshly commissioned pilots. The squadron, later re-equipped with the ‘Indigenous HF-24 Marut’ in Apr 1969 and flow the Marut in the 1971 Indo-Pak War. In June 1981, the squadron converted onto the MiG-23BN.

OPERATIONS

KUTCH OPERATIONS : The Kutch operations during the summer of 1965 saw the squadron move to Ambala and Pathankot to man two detachments. However, it was not called upon to undertake any active service during this period.

Indo-Pak Operation – 1965 : During the conflict with Pakistan in September 1965, the squadron in co-ordination with 45 Sqn, AF moved to Pathankot under the command of Sqn Ldr Dhar of 45 Sqn AF. The squadron fought the War under the insignia of 45 Sqn AF.

The task allotted to the squadron was three fold :

• Fighter Offensive / Close Air Support
• Ground Attack
• Air Defence

The squadron initiated a fighter offensive by sending 12 aircraft, seven of which belonged to 220 Sqn to the Chamb-Jaurian sector in support of the armoured corps. Four aircraft were short down by intense ground fire. Flt Lt SV Pathak, the only supervisor, bailed out safely. However, the losses suffered were not in vain, as this mission played a major role in thwarting the enemy advance and boosting the morale of our own ground forces immensely. The squadron moved to Ambala for two days on 03 Sep 65 to fly night CAP sorties. Two day later the squadron moved to Hindon. From 11 to 15 Sep 65, four pilots from the squadron were sent to Adampur to carry out Air Defence duties.

The squadron later moved to Palam where it stayed on till the end of Ops. Some pilots were sent to Sirsa from were four strikes were carried out against Suleimanke Headworks. After the Ops, the squadron moved back to Pune and resumed its training role under the command of Flt Lt Lewis.

Indo-Pak War – 1971 : The squadron moved to Utarlai in Sep 1971. On 04 Dec 71 at 0730 hrs, the first mission, a counter Air Offensive to Nawabshah airfield was launched. No enemy aircraft were sighted on the ground but secondary targets were attacked with rockets. Flt Lt Apte was shot down over the target area in the next mission on the same day. He ejected safely but was shot while trying to escape.

For the next four days Tigers flew TAC ‘R’ and CAS missions in general area Chor-Dera Maro & Longewala. On 05 Dec 71, Flt Lt Bhargawa’s aircraft was hit by ground fire. On 06 Dec 71, Sqn Ldr KK Bakshi shot down one Sabre aircraft. On 14 Dec 71, an early morning strike of four aircraft led by Wg Cdr R Dhawan, shot up and destroyed four trains at Mirpurkhas Rly Stn thus disrupting the supply lines in this Sector.

The was came to an end on 17 Dec 71. During the 14 days war, the squadron had flown a total of 33 missions and 68 sorties.