Air Marshal Idris Hassan Latif was born on 09 June 1923 at Hyderabad. His father, Mr. Hasan Latif was a Chief Engineer. After completing his formal education from Nizam`s College, Hyderabad, he joined Royal Indian Air Force in 1941.He was commissioned in 1942 and was appointed to the No.2 Coastal Defense Flight in Karachi. During this time he flew vintage bi plane aircrafts like the Wapiti, Addaxes and Harts. In 1943 Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan move to United Kingdom and took training on Hurricane and Spitfire aircrafts. During Burma campaign he flew Hawker Hurricane for No.3 and no.9 Squadron. At the time of partition in 1947 he remained in India. After the war against Pakistan Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader and posted as the commanding officer of No.4 Oorials, flying the Hawker Tempest. He was sent to Indonesia to assist newly born Indonesian Air Force. After coming back to India joined Defence Services Staff College at Wellington. In 1961 Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan went to USA as the Air Attaché. At that time he was also the Air Attaché to Canada.

In 1965 Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan came back to India and was appointed to Eastern Air Command as the Air Defense Controller and subsequently became the Senior Air Staff Officer. Next year he was posted to Lohegaon Airbase at Pune as Station Commander. On promotion to the rank of Air Vice Marshal, he was appointed to the Air Head Quarters Assistant Chief of Air Staff. At that time he was responsible for making plan for development of Air Force. In 1971 Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan was awarded the Param Visist Seva Medal. In 1974 he was promoted as Air Marshal and became Air Officer In-Charge of Administration at Air HQ. Afterwards he was appointed as AOC-in-C at Central Air Command. In 1975 during the Patna floods he led the Air Force relief operations team. At that time Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan did outstanding performance. Before being appointed as chief staff of Indian Air Force in 1978 he was the Vice Chief of Air Staff.

Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan had very modern outlook and tried a lot for the modernization of Indian Air Force. He retired in 1981.After retirement Air Chief Marshal Idris Hassan Latif was sent to France as an Indian Ambassador.