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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0880.PDF
886 FLIGHT, 28 June 1957 Venom fighter/bombers in a formation turn over one of the airfields on Singa- pore island symbolize the striking power of the Far East Air Force. FAR EAST AIR FORCE . . . small bill, to the west of the airfield, and looking out from theircool comfort towards the green mountains in the early evening one's first impression is of a peaceful, ordered existence such ashas traditionally surrounded the Englishman sipping his Scotch on some Far East verandah of an evening. Such an illusion, however, is quickly shattered by the experi-ence of a supply-drop in a Valetta, with its R.A.F. crew of three and its team of four dispatchers from No. 55 (Air Dispatch)Coy., R.A.S.C. There are 13 forts in Malaya, 11 of them sup- plied by Pioneers (each of which is named after a fort and in therniifsc of these Operations lands on strips the length of a rugby pitch); but in addition to the forts there are many "droppingzones"—given to the Valetta crews as a map reference and then identified as small clearings, and by smoke or balloons put upfrom the ground. The security forces depend almost solely on the R.A.F. not only for their food and fighting equipment butalso for their survival when operating in deep jungle. Flying through the "waterworks gap" from Kuala Lumpur,with the Valetta just finding sufficient clearance between cloud and mountain, one entered on a world of untamed jungle wheresecurity forces hunt terrorists and both fight the jungle for sur- vival. Climbing to 3,500ft on the altimeter we looked down onsharply undulating terrain as thickly forested as Nature's most luxuriant prodigality could make it. Here and there were smalltowns or settlements (possibly rubber plantations) and here and there an aborigine village of wooden houses built up on stilts; buteverywhere, trees by the million. We reached our first "port of call", Fort Sinderut in theCameron Highlands almost due north of Kuala Lumpur, after about 25 minutes' flying. The aircraft captain called over theR/T, "Good morning; we've seven chutes for you." Sinderut— from which two Sycamores were departing when we arrived—isbuilt by a mountain river (as most of these forts are) and lies in a steep-sided valley. We first did a dummy run, flying downwindthrough a neighbouring valley, then turning on to our run-in over a steep ridge. Meanwhile a smoke candle had been lit on theground to give us an accurate idea of the wind strength and speed. There was also a windsock for the benefit of the helicopters. TwoD.Z.s had been clearly marked out and the fort's buildings lay between them and the river. As we turned in on our firstdropping run, throttling back completely to reduce speed, the captain called over the R/T, "Turning in, dispatcher," and the dis-patcher answered, "Turning in, sir." As we neared the D.Z. the captain said, "Prepare to drop." and when we got over it he calledout, "Now!" As we pulled away the dispatcher said excitedly in a strong Yorkshire accent, "On the D.Z., sir; just landedto the port side of the letter." We dropped 2,155 lb of supplies at Sinderut that morning,in seven packing-cases weighing between 270 lb and 460 lb, each with a different-coloured parachute. The drops were made'atabout 800ft at an I.A.S. of 125 kt. We then flew to a D.Z. which, though only about three minutes' flying time away, was extremelyhard to find despite an excited Malayan voice from it over the R/T which kept saying, "You are approaching our D.Z., you areover our D.Z." When we at last found it—after tracking several times along a small river where the map reference told us it wassituated—it proved to be a tiny clearing from which a rather ineffective smoke signal rose limpidly, rather like Cain's sacri-fice. However, we dropped three packs of 270 lb, 250 lb and 185 lb, and the quick Malayan accents said gratefully, "Thankyou very much; very good drop." From this D.Z. we flew to have a look at Fort Sheen, wherethere is a landing strip and where the approach has to be made through a saddle in the mountains, which all the time seemedto be getting higher while the cloud got thicker in the increasing morning heat. We then went on to another D.Z. which provedto be a small clearing high up in a steep-sided valley and com- pletely out of sight when we were on the downwind run. Bal-loons were put up from this D.Z. to guide us to it, and we successfully dropped five packs—one of whieh, however, brokeaway from its parachute. This last drop was an ideal illustra- tion of the arduousness of this work of supply-dropping inMalaya, both for the aircrews and the Army dispatchers—con- trolling and navigating the aircraft and humping heavy weightsabout inside its fuselage (where the smell of blood from the meat may be sickening enough, added to human sweat) in bumpy andhot conditions, over mountainous jungle terrain protected by an increasing bank of cumulus and where a forced landing wouldbe almost impossible. According to the Far East "airlift alphabet", supply loadsdropped by Valettas or landed by Pioneers vary from arms and ammunition to malted milk, X-ray equipment and zoologists.And as the station commander at Kuala Lumpur put it, "This is one part of the R.A.F. where you can still say to a pilot, 'Takean aircraft in there' or 'Drop supplies there'—and he alone can decide on the spot whether the operation can be successfullycarried out." Similar hazards surround the work of the Pioneers when theyland at jungle forts with men or supplies. Fort Langkap, for example, is less than 25 minutes' flying from Kuala Lumpur byPioneer—but going in there is like landing on another world, a still, humid jungle world where man seems to have only atenuous existence. These Pioneers can carry four passengers or one stretchercase or 1,000 lb of freight; they unstick at 30 kt with the aid of slots and flaps and adjustable tailplane, and they can land inabout 85 yd. At Fort Langkap the approach had to be made down the side of a hill. One would scarcely believe it waspossible; but with the Pioneer flown by one of the Air Supply Force's most skilful pilots it seemed "no trouble at all". Infact the Pioneer used under half the 170 yd grass landing strip. On one occasion seven Pioneers carried 176 fully-equippedfighting men and 12,800 1b of supplies into and out of two jungle forts in little more than six hours in a "changing the guard"operation. The buildings at Fort Langkap—none of these forts, of course,is a "fort" in the mediaeval or French Foreign Legion sense, but rather a police post—stand at right-angles to the landing strip.Behind it is the aborigine village, with its curious brown wooden houses built up on stilts. It was clear even from a short visitthat the aborigines at least—small, hardy people, descendants of the original inhabitants of Malaya—have benefited from the anti-terrorist campaign, which has brought them a measure of civiliza- tion Prominent in the village was a school for their numerouschildren; and the younger women now use nail varnish as to the manner born, as well as wearing some of the more intimate
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