Chief of Air Staff
Which position did Idris Hasan Latif hold from Sep 1978 to Aug 1981?
Idris Hasan Latif Air Chief Marshal Idris Hasan Latif ( 9 June 1923 – 30 April 2018 ) was a former Air Officer in the Indian Air Force . He served as the 10th Chief of Air Staff ( CAS ) of the Indian Air Force ( IAF ) from 1978 to 1981 . Born in an affluent family in Hyderabad , he joined the Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve ( IAFVR ) during World War II . After joining the Coastal Flight at Karachi , he spent a year in the United Kingdom with the Royal Air Force . As part of the No . 3 Squadron IAF , he served in the Burma Campaign . After the partition of India , he chose to stay with the IAF . He commanded the No . 4 Squadron IAF and led the squadron in the fly-past during the first Republic Day parade in 1950 . He commanded a squadron at the Joint Services Wing , the precursor to the National Defence Academy . As a Wing Commander , he advised the Indonesian Air Force and helped them induct jet fighters in 1955 . After attending the Defence Services Staff College in 1957 , he served as the Senior Air Staff and Administrative Officer of the Maintenance Command . Promoted to Group Captain , he served as the Station Commander in Hyderabad , commanding the airbases at Begumpet and Hakimpet . Latif served as the Air Attaché at the Embassy of India , Washington , D.C . from 1961 to 1965 . From 1965 to 1966 , Latif served as the Air Defence Commander and the Senior Air Staff Officer of the Eastern Air Command . In 1967 , he attended the National Defence College . He subsequently commanded the Lohegaon airbase from 1968 to 1970 . In August 1970 , he was promoted Air Vice Marshal and took over as the first ACAS ( Plans ) at Air HQ . He was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal in 1971 . He served in this appointment during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 . In the rank of Air Marshal , from 1974 to 1978 , he served as the Air Officer-in-Charge Administration at Air HQ and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief ( AOC-in-C ) of the Central Air Command and the Maintenance Command . In 1977 , Latif was posted as Vice Chief of Air Staff and took over as Chief of Air Staff on 1 September 1978 . After retirement from military service , Latif served as the Governor of Maharashtra from 1982 to 1985 . He also held additional charge as Administrator of Goa , Daman and Diu and Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli . From 1985 to 1988 , he served as the Indian ambassador to France . Early life and education . Latif was born on 9 June 1923 in the princely state of Hyderabad into an educated and affluent Sulaymani Bohra Muslim family , a large family of seven siblings . His father , Hasan Latif , was a civil engineer who was educated at the Kings College London and in Heidelberg . Joining the engineering department of the Nizams government as an assistant engineer , he rose to become the chief engineer of Hyderabad State . His mother , Leila Hydari was the niece and adoptive daughter of Akbar Hydari , former Prime Minister of Hyderabad . His maternal great-grandmothers brother was the barrister Badruddin Tyabji . He spent his early years in Warangal , where his father was posted , and later moved to Khairtabad in Hyderabad . He attended the St . Georges Grammar School and the Madrasa-i-Aliya . All the siblings loved horse riding , having been trained at a Hyderabad State Forces training institution at Masab Tank . After his matriculation , he attended the Nizam College . His ambition was to join the Hyderabad Forest Service ; however , after seeing World War II recruitment posters , he decided to join the Air Force . After being interviewed by the British Resident at the Residency House ( now Rashtrapati Nilayam ) in Bolarum , Latif was selected to join the Indian Air Force volunteer Reserve ( IAFVR ) . He was sent to the Madras Flying Club to complete 25 hours of flying on the de Havilland Tiger Moth . He was then trained at the Initial Training Wing at Walton , Lahore and at the No.1 Elementary Flying Training School ( EFTS ) at Begumpet . Subsequently , he attended the Advanced Flying School at Ambala where he flew the Hawker Hart and Audax . Military career . World War II . Latif was commissioned into the Indian Air Force on 26 January 1942 as an acting Pilot Officer . He joined the No . 6 Coastal Flight based out of RAF Drigh Road . Flying the Westland Wapiti and Audax , he conducted anti-submarine patrols off Karachi . In 1943 , Latif promoted to the rank of Flying Officer and posted to the No . 3 Squadron IAF , commanded by Squadron Leader DAR Nanda , based at RAF Station Kohat . The airbase was commanded by Wing Commander ( later Air Marshal & CAS ) Subroto Mukerjee , the first Indian officer to command an airbase . He flew operational missions in the North-West Frontier Province , periodically flying to the advance base at Miramshah . Later in the year , he was among the few Indian pilots to be seconded to the Royal Air Force ( RAF ) . He was trained on the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire along with the operational squadrons of the RAF . He returned to India in May 1944 and joined the No . 3 Squadron , flying the Hawker Hurricane during the Burma Campaign on the Arakan Front during World War II where he distinguished himself . He subsequently joined the No . 9 Squadron IAF commanded by Squadron Leader Asghar Khan , who later rose to become the Commander in Chief of the Pakistan Air Force . In early 1947 , he was posted to the Air Force Selection Board in Dehradun . Post-Independence . Latif was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader and appointed Commanding Officer of No . 4 Squadron IAF . The squadron was equipped with the Hawker Tempest . He led his squadron during the first fly past over during the Delhi Republic Day parade in January 1950 . 23 aircraft were part of the flypast in formation of the letters I , A and F . In 1951 , he was posted to the Joint Services Wing ( JSW ) ( later National Defence Academy , Pune ) at Dehradun . At JSW , there were four squadrons - A , B , C and D . He commanded the Charlie squadron while Major ( later General and COAS ) K . V . Krishna Rao commanded D squadron . In July 1952 , Latif was promoted to the acting rank of Wing Commander and appointed Deputy Director Weapons at Air headquarters . He was also appointed Deputy Director Operations shortly afterwards . He was promoted substantive Wing Commander on 1 October 1954 . After a three-year stint at Air HQ , in late 1955 , he was deputed as an Advisor to the newly-created Indonesian Air Force . He was part of the team which helped induct the de Havilland Vampire jet fighters . He worked closely with the Chief of Staff of the Indonesian Air Force Air Marshal . In September 1957 , Latif was selected to attend the Defence Services Staff College at Wellington . He was the senior-most IAF officer in the batch which also included future CAS Lakshman Madhav Katre . After the year-long staff course , he was appointed Senior Air & Administration Staff Officer ( SAASO ) of the Maintenance Command , which was commanded by the legendary Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh , at Kanpur . In June 1959 , Latif was promoted to the acting rank of Group Captain and appointed Station Commander in Hyderabad commanding Hakimpet Air Force Station and Begumpet Air Force Station . The Transport Training Wing ( TTW ) equipped with English Electric Canberras and the Navigation and Signals School ( N&SS ) equipped with Dakotas were based at Begumpet while the Fighter training Wing was based at Hakimpet . During this tenure , he was the senior-most air force officer in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad . Latif was appointed the air attaché at the Embassy of India , Washington , D.C . in early 1961 . The Ambassador of India to the United States was B K Nehru . He simultaneously held the office of Air adviser to the High Commissioner of India to Canada . On 1 October 1962 , he was promoted substantive Group Captain . After a three-year term as Air attache , he was asked by the CAS Air Marshal Arjan Singh to continue on an extended term in the acting rank of Air Commodore . Air rank . Latif returned to India in June 1965 and appointed the first Air Defence Controller of the Eastern Air Command in Shillong . He served in this appointment during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 . In June 1966 , he took over as the Senior Air Staff Officer ( SASO ) of the Eastern Air Command . After a year-long tenure as SASO , he was selected to attend the National Defence College ( NDC ) in early 1967 . He was promoted to the substantive rank of Air Commodore on 1 April 1967 when he was attending the NDC course . In January 1968 , he took over as the Air Officer Commanding Jammu and Kashmir at Udhampur Air Force Station where he served a very short stint . In March , he took over as Air Officer Commanding Air Force Station Lohegaon in Pune . He had a varied inventory of fighters , bombers , four-engined transport aircraft and Consolidated B-24 Liberator of World War II vintage at the airbase . In August 1970 , Latif was promoted to the acting rank of Air Vice Marshal and appointed to the newly-created position of Assistant Chief of Air Staff Plans ( ACAS ( Plans ) ) at Air HQ under CAS Air Chief Marshal Pratap Chandra Lal . During this tenure , he assessed the modernisation plans o the IAF . He made first-hand observations of the frontline combat squadrons across the country . He was awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal on 26 January 1971 . He was promoted to substantive Air Vice Marshal on 1 April 1971 . He served in this appointment during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war and was in the eastern sector when the Pakistani Instrument of Surrender was signed by Lieutenant General A . A . K . Niazi in Dacca and the war ended . Latif was promoted to the acting rank of Air Marshal in January 1974 and posted as Air Officer-in-charge Administration ( AOA ) at Air HQ . After a short stint , he was promoted substantive Air Marshal and appointed Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief ( AOC-in-C ) Central Air Command in Allahabad . As the AOC-in-C , he led the Air Force relief operations during the Patna floods in 1975 . The floods were the worst that hit Patna . The Central Air Command , under Latif , flew as many as 20 helicopter sorties per day carrying out humanitarian tasks . On 1 March 1976 , he took over as AOC-in-C of the Maintenance Command , where he had served as SAASO two decades ago , in Kanpur . After a year at the helm of the Maintenance Command , Latif moved to Air HQ as Vice Chief of the Air Staff in May 1977 . Chief of Air Staff . In May 1978 , the Government of India appointed Latif the next Chief of Air Staff . He took command of the IAF from Air Chief Marshal Hrushikesh Moolgavkar on 31 August 1978 . He oversaw the induction of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 and the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 into the IAF . Under him , the SEPECAT Jaguar was procured by the IAF , among the largest defence acquisitions of the country . He also flew the aircraft at one of the frontline air bases after its delivery to the IAF . With the retirement of General Om Prakash Malhotra in May 1981 , Latif took over as the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee . Just before retiring from the Air Force , he flew the MiG-25 , which was then just assembled from a semi-knocked down condition by IAF personnel . Latif relinquished command of the IAF on 31 August 1981 , handing over to Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh . Diplomatic and political career . After retirement from active military service , Latif was appointed as Governor of Maharashtra , on 6 March 1982 . He also had the additional charge as the Administrator of Union territory of Goa , Daman and Diu and the Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli on two occasions , serving from August 1982 to February 1983 and from July 1984 to September 1984 . He completed his tenure as Governor of Maharashtra on 16 April 1985 . In March 1985 , Latif was appointed Indias Ambassador to France . He carried the rank of Minister of State in this appointment . He served as the Ambassador till August 1988 . Personal life , later life and death . He was married to Bilkees Latif , a noted social worker , and daughter of Ali Yavar Jung . The couple had three children , a daughter – Mariam and two sons – Asad and Asgar . For her work in the Dharavi slum of Mumbai , Bilkees was awarded the Padma Shri in 2009 . She also penned multiple books including the biography of her husband , The Ladder of His Life ( Biography of Air Chief Marshal Idris Hasan Latif , PVSM ) , which was published in 2013 . She died in 2017 , a year before her husbands death in 2018 . Latifs health started deteriorating after the death of Bilkees . He was ailing for some time before dying at a private hospital on 30 April 2018 , at the age of 95 . Awards and decorations . - Source :