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BASE REPAIR DEPOTS Technical activities undertaken by Maintenance Command units are effected today in Base Repair Depots - BRDs, Air Defence Ground Environment Systems – ADGES,  Maintenance Support Establishment – AMSE, Regional ADGES and Maintenance Establishments – RAMEs and numerous other smaller units. The present structure of Maintenance Command, however, had its modest beginning in post-independence Kanpur. To support air operations in the Far East during World War II, No. 322 Maintenance Unit was formed in 1940 in the 21 TATA hangars at Chakeri, Kanpur. The functions of the unit included arming of bomber and fighter aircraft like Liberator, Lancaster, Hurricane, Tempest and Dakota. The genuinely unique crest depicts the mythical bird Phoenix rising out of the flames with a gear wheel encircling its head. The motto inscribed on the insignia is ‘Kaya Kalpa’ which indicates rejuvenation of the body and explains the role of the BRDs where aircraft, aero engines

MAINTENANCE COMMAND Maintenance Command was formed at Kanpur on January 26, 1955, with Air Vice Marshal Harjinder Singh MBE PVSM as its first Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief. Kanpur was the hub centre of maintenance activities even before independence. The only Base Repair Depot - BRD of the Indian Air Force existed at Kanpur, along with a Repair and Manufacturing Depot - RMD. A unit called Aircraft Manufacturing Depot - AMD, was subsequently added to undertake manufacture of the AVRO aircraft. In the perspective of the industrial revolution in India, when the role of IAF was more clearly defined, the AMD was transferred to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited - HAL. This division of HAL is today known as Transport Aircraft Division, or HAL(TAD) and is based at Chakeri, Kanpur. Its insignia has a micrometre screw gauge with an eagle in the centre in a circle which is topped by India’s national emblem. Its motto in Sanskrit  ‘Sarvada Gagane Charetu’ meaning  ‘Always Flying