style="font-size: larger;" | MAAF (Singapore Wing)

Squadron Crest Click on the "Crest" for a larger image.
Service:	Malayan Auxiliary Air Force (Singapore Wing)
Commanding Officer:	Wing Commander Tan Kay Hai, DFC
Motto:	Usque Ad Astra
Formed:	June 1950
Disbanded:	23 September 1960

The Singapore Wing, Malayan Auxiliary Air Force (MAAF) was active from its formation in 1950 until its disbandment in 1960.

Squadron

The Singapore Squadron was formed in 1950 to train volunteers to fly to RAF wings standard. There were two other squadron

Squadron (aviation)

A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...

s, one at Kuala Lumpur and the other at Penang. Flying training was carried out at weekends and this took place at RAF Tengah. Initially, the Singapore Squadron was equipped with four Tiger Moths and these were supplemented with four North American Harvards

T-6 Texan

The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...

 a type which was to remain in MAAF service up to 1957. During 1957, MAAF saw the introduction of a more modern training aircraft, namely the de Havilland Chipmunk, which was to replace the Tiger Moths and Harvards. In between the years, three Mk.24s Spitfires were received from the RAF. In 1952, due to age and structural limitations the Spits were withdrawn before any of the locally trained pilot

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

s could have a chance to fly them.

Fighter Control Unit (F C U)

In 1954, the RAF conducted a recruitment exercise for volunteers to serve in the Fighter Control Unit as Fighter Plotters and Radar Operators. Their role was somewhat quite similar to those personnel who manned the "CHAIN HOME"

Chain Home

Chain Home was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the British before and during the Second World War. The system otherwise known as AMES Type 1 consisted of radar fixed on top of a radio tower mast, called a 'station' to provide long-range detection of...

 (CH) System in U.K. They helped to man the RAF Control and Reporting System for the defence of the island. The ground syllabus was taught at the HQ in Beach Road on two evenings a week whilst a "live" training session was conducted on alternate Sundays at RAF Tengah. A two weeks Annual Camp was arranged each year. This gave the opportunity for the volunteers to have two weeks full time training. There were occasions when the Singapore Squadron went up country to join up with the Kuala Lumpur & Penang Squadrons for their Annual Camp.

Aircraft operated

RAF Tengah was home to the Malayan Auxiliary Air Force (Singapore Squadron) from Jun 1950, where it supported the MAAF fixed wing training. From the Squadron's beginning in 1950 to its disbandment in 1960, MAAF operated the following types of aircraft

Aircraft

An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...

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The Fleet

Aircraft Type	Role	Number	Dates
De Havilland Tiger Moth De Havilland Tiger Moth The de Havilland DH 82 Tiger Moth is a 1930s biplane designed by Geoffrey de Havilland and was operated by the Royal Air Force and others as a primary trainer. The Tiger Moth remained in service with the RAF until replaced by the de Havilland Chipmunk in 1952, when many of the surplus aircraft...	Trainer	4	1950–1957
North American Harvard T-6 Texan The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...	Trainer	4	1951–1957
North American Harvard T-6 Texan The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...	Trainer	2	1954–1957
Supermarine Spitfire Mk.24 Supermarine Spitfire variants The British Supermarine Spitfire was facing several challenges by mid-1942. The debut of the formidable Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in late 1941 had caused problems for RAF fighter squadrons flying the latest Spitfire Mk Vb...	Fighter	3	1951–1952
DHC Chipmunk T10 De Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk The de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk is a tandem, two-seat, single-engined primary trainer aircraft which was the standard primary trainer for the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Air Force and several other air forces through much of the post-Second World War years...	Trainer	4	1957–1960

Of the three Spitfires operated, one PK683 is the only known survivor of all ex-MAAF aircraft and is on display at the Solent Sky Museum in Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

.

DHC-T.10 Chipmunk WP977 which served with MAAF 1957-60 survives as a cockpit section only(under-long term restoration Cambridge,United Kingdom)

Disbandment

On 16 June 1960, the Fighter Control Unit was disbanded. The commander, Malayan Auxiliary Air Force, Air Vice-Marshall Ronald Ramsay Rae, O.B.E. took the salute at the farewell parade held at the unit's headquarters at the old Kallang Airport. Air Vice-Marshall Ramsay Rae was also the Air Officer Commanding, 224 Group, R.A.F.
Three months later on 23 September 1960, a final parade was held at Kallang again, this time to mark the disbandment of the Singapore Wing of the MAAF. Wing Commander K.H. Tan, D.F.C., the unit's Commanding Officer and Squadron Leader Jimmy K.T. Chew came in for special mention.

Wing Commander

Wing Commander (rank)

Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...

 Tan was one of the 114 Singapore wartime pilots who were sent to Canada under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

British Commonwealth Air Training Plan

The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , known in some countries as the Empire Air Training Scheme , was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War...

 (BCATP). Shot down over France in June 1944 after the Normandy D-Day Landings, he was captured but escaped within eight months and made his way to England. His operations with the R.A.F. won him the Distinguished Flying Cross

Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...

.

Squadron Leader Jimmy Chew also saw service with the RAF during the war. He was a prisoner of the Japanese in Java for three and a half years.

The disbandment of the Singapore Wing brought to a close the short but colorful existence of this volunteer organisation.

External links

• The Malayan Auxiliary Air Force (Singapore Wing) - website by Teo Chan Seng
• We Were There - website by Ministry of Defence (UK)