大象传媒

Regarding the Brewster Buffaloes:

I quote from Geo. Chippington鈥檚 book 鈥淪ingapore 鈥� The Inexcusable Betrayal鈥�

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鈥淭he Brewster Buffaloes the American Airforce had kindly handed over to us as their own pilots refused to fly them. Bits tended to fall off in dives. The guns didn鈥檛 fire properly and usually more than a prayer was needed to get them back on the ground safely all in one piece.

During the last day of our journey we were escorted by no less than 13 naval units i.e. over 2 escorting warships for each vessel (including cargo boats) in the convoy. This shows the importance given to our small convoy. We were the last hope.

In spite of this massing of naval forces and what help could be added by as many Brewster Buffalo fighters as could be mustered things would have gone badly for us, but for a stroke of luck with the weather.

The morning of our last day at sea we were attacked by Japanese fighters 鈥� Navy O鈥檚 for whom we conceived a far greater respect than our English newspapers and wiseacres seemed to have had. They were driven off by our defences (even the troopships and cargo boats were bristling with guns) and by the Buffaloes from Singapore.

It鈥檚 surprising how little you know of the full picture when involved in events of this kind. Another thing 鈥� it鈥檚 very different being in a city like London during an air raid, when bombs fall somewhat indiscriminately and although people are killed and injured you don鈥檛 really expect it to happen to you provided you take whatever evasive action is possible 鈥� to being THE target in a localised attack.

However, the full story got into the Australian papers, even if the English papers were completely disinterested. That morning two formations (37 in each) of Japanese bombers together with a substantial fighter escort, set off to destroy our convoy. Due to appalling weather conditions 鈥� heavy rain and a tropical storm 鈥� they had difficulty in finding us even in those narrow straits and although the fighters got through and inflicted some damage, it was negligible.

We would have stood very little chance in good conditions. This was the first of many pieces of luck that I had in the Far East. Of course the climate in Singapore is very wet. There are more days with rain than there are without but it dries up very quickly. The climate is hot and humid with average temperatures about 80degrees the year round. The annual rainfall is 96鈥� ( against 33.8鈥� in Manchester ). Still to get the weather we did at just the right time was a wonderful, unexpected bonus. The last film we saw on the ship was 鈥楾he Road to Singapore鈥�. What a sense of humour someone must have had.

In view of the opposition it was considered wisest to spread our convoy around the various harbours of Singapore as far as was possible so that any attacks may only damage one or two of our number. Anyway, we finally disembarked and the Signals personnel and a few others were transported to Seletar transit camp. This was a small camp in a quiet spot where we were accommodated in bamboo structures ( I wouldn鈥檛 really call them huts ). Each of them 鈥� there were about six 鈥� housed about six men. They were bamboo structures with overhanging roofs but open to the elements 鈥� no doors and indeed no proper front. Inside were what I can only call two shelves. The first about a foot off the ground was for our kit and the other one about 6ft up and accessible by a ladder was our sleeping accommodation. There was a native Malay servant attached to our hut who cleaned our shoes and buttons and kept an eye on things when we were away at the airdrome. We ate at Seletar airdrome where the food was good and plentiful and English cigarettes were cheap and plentiful.

For most of us it was our first taste of foreign parts and although we hadn鈥檛much free time to explore it we found Singapore fascinating. Durban had seemed to have one foot still in Europe or America.

One of the first things I did after our arrival was to send a telegram (rather dreading how Betty and Pa and Ma would feel when they knew where I was ) so that it would be apparent that I had at least survived the journey. The telegrams we sent weren鈥檛 very informative or personal. In fact, we weren鈥檛 allowed to send our own message but had to choose up to three messages from a printed list provided by the authorities, as you can see. The telegram has the three numbers which indicate the messages and doesn鈥檛 give an indication of where it was sent from.

As it was vital to get our squadron operational as quickly as possible we had to help with the unloading of the ship which carried our planes and equipment. One night in particular stands out in the memory. Bob Robinson and I were working down in the hold of the Kota Gede with bright arc lights shining down upon us. The air raid warning sounded. The work couldn鈥檛 stop which meant that the lights had to remain on. It was disconcertingly apparent that we were unloading ammunition for the guns of the Hurricanes and if anything dropped our way from above it seemed we were a poor insurance risk. I鈥檒l not pretend that I wasn鈥檛 scared, but eventually the all clear sounded and once more we had been lucky.

Let me quote Frank Olsen from his book 鈥楾he Fall of Singapore鈥�.

鈥� On January 13th there arrived in Singapore a reinforcement convoy of infantry, artillery and fighter aircraft. The greater part of it had better never been unloaded.
The artillery consisted of 6鈥� heavy and 35鈥� light British Anti Aircraft Regiments and the 85鈥橞ritish Anti Tank Regiment. They arrived without their guns.
鈥淭he aircraft were S1 Hurricanes in crates. They were not the most modern type. With them came 24 pilots, not one of whom had even had any experience of flying in Malaysian conditions. The very next day, January 14th, the struggle for Johore opened.鈥�

January 1942

In Singapore we were welcomed with relief. The island itself had hardly been touched when we arrived and the battle was still raging in Malaya. The Japanese were having it all their own way in the air against our aged aircraft. Now that we had arrived though people thought that Singapore would be safe and the papers were filled with photographs of Hurricanes and news of our squadron. We were, to some extent, affected by this optimism ourselves 鈥� but we had little need to be.

After a couple of days working continuously in shifts around the clock, the job was completed. All our personnel who had to do with assembling the planes and equipment went to Seletar to get on with the job. We Signals chaps were put to testing the wireless equipment in the planes already there. You鈥檝e no idea how uncomfortable it was climbing on the hot metal of the planes in that heat and with bare knees.

Our first morning at Seletar saw the start of the fun. A formation of Japanese planes attacked the drome. As this was our first taste of it its amusing to think of the nonchalant way we met it. We didn鈥檛 even go to the shelters but sat in the canteen listening to the racket. We were determined to show the natives that there was nothing to be frightened about.

In a mere matter of days we were reaching the shelters yards ahead of the natives and demonstrating what real running was like. Two Catalina flying boats (the most modern aircraft then operational) were machine gunned and destroyed by Navy Os that morning, but little damage was done by the bombers. Then for a few days comparative quiet ensued 鈥� but during this period we wireless operators were elsewhere.

This is probably the appropriate place to say something about Singapore at the time of the outbreak of hostilities in the Far East. RAF Seletar was like a holiday camp. It had its own 9 hole golf course, tennis courts, theatre and cinema. The accommodation was excellent and the food good and plentiful. Drink and tobacco were cheap. The officers lived a life of luxury and most of the married ones had their wives with them. Even the O/Rs did very nicely and a softness and never never land atmosphere pervaded the place. Up to the war with Japan starting, many Japanese had been employed as servant and manual workers at Seletar.

[Footnote:

From the book: Geo. Chippington鈥檚 book 鈥淪ingapore 鈥� The Inexcusable Betrayal鈥�

鈥淥n 8th December 1941 the following aircraft were usually available (in Malaya and Singapore)
- 43 Brewster Buffaloes
- 90 assorted planes:
o Blenheim MK1
o Hudsen MK2
o Wilderbeeste (maximum speed less than 100 mph)
o 3 Catalinas
all obsolete or obsolescent, and unfortunately inferior to the Japanese aircraft 鈥� an insult to the pilots who had to fly and die in them.

On the same day 23 of these Blenheims and 12 Buffaloes were destroyed by Japanese air attacks at Sunge, Patan, and Alor Star (Malaya)]

[Footnote 鈥淗URRICANE OVER THE JUNGLE鈥�

by Terence Kelly (Oldham Library 940.544 KEL)

SELETAR covered the greatest area of the four airfields in Singapore (Sembawang, Tengah, and Kallang{Civilian}). Landing field not large but vast with hangars, administration buildings, messes and billets (three floors).

Regular bomb attacks every am.
27 bombers in perfect formation escorted by Navy Os. Never in the afternoon and only once at night. Six main targets 鈥� 4 airfields, naval dockyards, and very occasionally, Teibu.

Slit trenches about 4 foot deep.

No doubt the easy going, high flying way of life of both civilians and servicemen alike in the months and years before the War has a good deal to do with the humiliations in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies and the intermingling in an active theatre of war of mainly executive class civilians and servicemen was unhelpful.]

An RAF pilot resident in Seletar with his wife wrote:

鈥淔ew of us in Singapore knew anything of the reality of war. War will never reach us, we had always thought and like ostriches with our heads in the sands of splendid isolation we enjoyed our lives. At night the clubs and restaurants were crowded with tuxedo-clad men and bare shouldered women drifting together round the dance floors. 鈥淚t can鈥檛 happen here鈥�. On Seletar aerodrome life was especially good. It was reputed to be the most comfortable of RAF stations in the Far East; it had its own gold course, its yacht club, its swimming pool and its private taxis available for all ranks at $8 ( about 拢1 ) for all day hire. The Singapore civilians accepted us with studied tolerance and most of the town鈥檚 amenities were open to us.鈥�

When he talks of the town鈥檚 amenities being open to us, he is of course referring only to the officers. Most of the haunts frequented by the civilians (white) such as the Raffles Hotel were out of bounds to other ranks. In Singapore the white civilians lived the good colonial life. They had little to do with the licentious soldiery of course, considering themselves very superior. When they decided that they did need the armed forces, it never occurred to them to do much about things themselves and not surprisingly the reaction of the forces was less than enthusiastic.

The Australians and Indians constituted the greater part of the land forces in Malaya. One of the Australians wrote:
鈥� I still have very vivid memories of my first mental reactions on our arrival in Singapore. We were equipped, even if only 59% equipped for war. Yet the first sight that met our eyes on the first evening was officers in mess dress and women in evening dress. It was not only incongruous, it was wrong. Either we were crazy or they were crazy.

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