No.7 Squadron of the Indian Air Force: Born from No.353 Squadron of the Royal Air Force, over the jungles of Burma

The crest of No.353 Squadron, Royal Air Force, carved in Eastern India, circa 1942. At its centre is a Bengal Tiger, and the story of the Indian Air Force's No.7 Squadron.

In 1942 the RAF's 353 Squadron was operating in Burma. The squadron had within it 118 Indians: 23 officers and 95 other ranks. In the desperate calculus of war, there was a need to expand the Indian Air Force from four squadrons to seven. And these 118 Indians had proven themselves to be more than capable of taking the fight to the enemy. So, they were moved out of the RAF's 353 Squadron, and became the backbone of the fledgling Indian Air Force's No.7 Squadron. Four years later, No.353 Squadron was disbanded in Manipur. But eighty years later, No.7 Squadron, based in Gwalior, still flies and fights on.