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Chief of Air Staff (India)

The head of the Indian Air Force is known as the Chief of the Air Staff (currently Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major). 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.

Air chiefs

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.

Air officers commanding / commanders in chief

1931 - 1935 Air Vice-Marshal, later Air Marshal Sir John Steel
1935 - 1937 Air Marshal Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt
1937 - 1939 Air 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 Sir Richard Pierse
1943 - 1944 Air Marshal Sir Guy Garrod (Deputy Air Officer Commanding in Chief)
1944 - 1946 Air Vice-Marshal M Thomas
1946 Air Marshal Sir Roderick Carr
1946 - 1947 Air Marshal Sir Hugh Walmsley

Post-independence commanders in chief

1947 - 1950 Air Marshal Sir Thomas Elmhirst
1950 - 1951 Air Marshal Sir Ronald Ivelaw-Chapman
1951 - 1954 Air Marshal Sir Gerald Gibbs

Chiefs of the air staff

1954 - 1960 Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee
1960 - 1964 Air Marshal Aspy Engineer
1964 - 1969 Air Marshal 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 - Present Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major

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.