The Air Force Record Office (AFRO), which began its journey in Ambala in 1939, celebrated its 80th anniversary on September 13 in New Delhi, during which a history cell and museum were also inaugurated.

A coffee table book titled ‘AFRO Through The Ages’ by Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar was also released.

During AFRO’s eight decades of existence, its growth has been closely interlinked with that of the IAF, officials said.

Initially handling the end-to-end human resource management of only 14,100 Hawai Sepoys in 1947, today it has grown into a mammoth institution looking after nearly 143,000 Air Warriors.

Background

At the beginning of World War II, in September 1939, a separate section was formed at the No. 1 Technical Training Unit in Ambala to maintain the records of airmen, which were till then maintained by the Air Headquarters, India.

In December 1941, this section moved to Walton, Lahore. In February 1942, the IAF Record Section was merged with the Base Personnel Office formed in Bombay.

After the war, in 1945, the Record Office was named as IAF Record Office and in 1946 moved as an independent unit to Red Hills Lake, Madras.

A need was felt for the Record Office to be closer to Air Headquarters and therefore the unit was moved to New Delhi in October 1947.

In June 1958, for better control, AFRO was merged with the Directorate of Personnel Airmen in New Delhi. At the time of merger, the expansion of the IAF was not envisaged.

To improve the overall efficiency of the expanded IAF, it was necessary to revert to forming a separate Record Office. Thus, the AFRO moved to its current location at Subroto Park, New Delhi, in August 1966 as an independent unit.

This office is responsible for all aspects of personnel management of airmen and non-combatants (enrolled), from the date of their entry in the Air Force till release of pensionary benefits, including family pension in required cases.

In addition, efforts are made to provide assistance in providing re-employment opportunities.

The personnel management aspect looked after by the office covers a wide spectrum of activities such as forecasting posting and placements, training requirements, career planning and advancement and pensions.

These functions are discharged with a judicious balance between organisational requirement and individual needs being maintained at all times.

Its aim now is to automate all manual processes and reduce paper movement between outlying field units and AFRO, thereby enhancing transparency and accountability.