Air Force Station Agra Agra Airport Kheria Airport
IATA: AGR – ICAO: VIAG
Summary
Airport type		Military / Public
Operator		Indian Air Force / Airports Authority of India
Location		Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India
Elevation AMSL		551 ft / 167.94 m
Coordinates		27°09′27″N 077°57′39″E / 27.1575°N 77.96083°E / 27.1575; 77.96083
Website		airportsindia.org.in/...
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	ft	m
05/23	9,000	2,743	Concrete
12/30	5,964	1,818	Concrete

Air Force Station Agra, also known as Agra Airport or Kheria Airport (IATA: AGR, ICAO: VIAG), is a military airbase and public airport serving the city of Agra, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The air force station is one of the largest airbases of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and has been synonymous with the Taj Mahal for over half a century. On 15 August 2007, the airbase celebrated its sixtieth anniversary.

History

Air Force Station Agra was established on 15 August 1947 and placed under the command of Wing Commander Shivdev Singh, who was the incumbent commander of the No. 12 Sqn. Based on the then present system of Commands, the base fell under the responsibility of the Western Air Command (WAC). The base remained under this Theatre Command for the next two decades. In July 1971 it was transferred to the Central Air Command (CAC), where it remains today.

The base has remained unchanged, although many of the aircraft, squadrons, officers, and men have come and gone. During it’s sixty year history with the IAF, the base has seen the likes of C-47 Dakotas, C-119 Packets, HS 748 'Avros', AN-12s, AN-32s, IL-76s, Canberras, IL-78 MKI and now the AWACS. Today, it is hard to find a transport pilot who has not been at Air Force Station Agra at least sometime during his career; this trend will undoubtedly continue well into the future.

The base now has the honor of holding the first inflight refueling aircraft Squadron in IAF service, the 78 ‘Mid Air Refuelling Squadron’(MARS) Squadron flying the IL-78MKIs. This is indeed an honor considering that it’s also a first for the whole of the Indian Sub-Continent region.

During World War II, the United States Army Air Force Air Technical Service Command established a major maintenance and supply facility at Agra, being named "Agra Air Depot". The 3d Air Depot Group serviced a wide variety of fighter, bomber and transport aircraft being used by Tenth Air Force and the Allied ground forces in Burma and Fourteenth Air Force in China. The depot stockpiled large amounts of materiel for shipment over the Himalayan Mountains ("The Hump") by Air Transport Command cargo aircraft flying to forward airfields in China. It also was a major stopover point on the ATC Karachi-Kunming air transport route.

Airlines and destinations

Developments

The 50 Squadron has been tasked with the operations of the newly inducted AWACS. The AWACS has been mounted on a specially designed IL-76 with advanced avionics & telecommunication system.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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