FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1959
1959 - 1303.PDF
630 FLIGHT A.V-M. A. A. Adams, C.B., D.F.C., who is Chief of Staff, Far East Air Force Right, balcony view from the F.E.A.F. headquarters officers' mess at Fairy Point, Changi, Singapore Island. The water beyond the trees is the East Channel, Johore Strait THE FAR EAST AIR FORCE... R.A.F. Transport Command and two charter companies (Air-work and Skyways) have provided through air transport between the U.K. and F.E.A.F. Comet 2s and Hastings of TransportCommand have carried personnel, despatches and freight. From Singapore to the U.K., casualty evacuation is by Comet 2. Oncasevac flights overnight stops are made. The Comet is chosen because it is both faster and less fatiguing. There is a militaryhospital at each stop except El Adem, but from there the military hospital at Tobruk is only 20 miles away; thus any emergency canbe quickly dealt with—which is not so at sea, where there may not be a qualified anaesthetist or even a surgeon capable of doingmore than an appendix operation. The Casualty Air Evacuation Centre is located at R.A.F.Hospital Changi and is responsible for all casevac organization movements to the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, includingU.K. Army and R.N. personnel. Since the homeward-bound Comets start from R.A.F. Changi the medical authorities in Ceylonand Aden request the O.C., C.A.E.C. (who has the rank of flight lieutenant), to keep seats for patients. P.M.R.A.F.N.S. sisters flyout from the U.K. to Changi by Comet to look after the patients on the homeward run, probably land at Changi at dusk and are offagain by eight o'clock the following morning. I was much struck by the keenness and devotion of these nursing sisters and thecomplete sang-froid they display in this tiring duty with its abrupt changes of climate. I think their work is insufficiently known. Itdeserves much praise. I have seen a Comet bound for R.A.F. Lyneham diverted because of fog to R.A.F. St. Mawgan in Corn-wall and land there with a load of sick who were taken over by the station sick-quarters while the tired sisters went to the mess.I know of no women's work for which I feel greater admiration. A weekly evacuation Valetta flies from Changi to Kuala Lumpur,Ipoh and Taiping and back to bring cases down to the base hospital. All do not necessarily return to the U.K., but only thoseso scheduled by the O.C., C.A.E.C. For example, a broken fibula or tibia (through games or other accident) is set at the base hospital and the patient returned to his unit unless he is almost tour-expired, when he will be sent home. The diagnosis and treatment of R.N. and Army personnel arethe responsibility of the British Military Hospital in Mindai, Singapore. Policy differs between the Army and the R.A.F. TheArmy sends home plenty of sick with the object of obtaining fit replacements quickly to maintain effective first-line strength. Butthe R.A.F. will keep a patient for ten weeks if he can be cured. The casevac aircraft carry no infectious cases. But there arequite a number of psychiatric patients, chiefly the wives of service- men, women who do not like the climate or had not wanted tocome to Singapore. The Comets stage home on casevac duty through Katunayaketo Aden, where they night-stop, then on next day through El Adem to Lyneham, whence the patients are transported by road to thenearby R.A.F. hospital at Wroughton. The journey can be com- pleted in about 18 hours of daylight flying on two consecutivedays. The nursing sisters will have flown for nearly 40 hours and travelled 15,000 n.m. in five days. The charter aircraft, Hermes, travelled day and night except forone night stop each way. They carried men, women and children, and generally it was considered a pretty strenuous journey bythose who flew that way. The out and return journey occupied seven days at half the flying speed of the Comet. This month,Hunting-Clan are to put Britannia 317s on this trooping run, flying to Singapore in four stages in 24 hours without overnightstopping. Fuelling stops are scheduled for Istanbul, Karachi and Bombay. F.E.A.F. lines of communication are not easy ones. They lieover inhospitable lands and great oceans. They are subject to changes consequent upon political upheavals. Flight plans areliable to be upset by short notice of re-routing. The Middle East "barrier" is a nuisance. Indonesia is overflown after obtainingclearance. R.A.F. aircraft can land in India only with prior per- mission, which normally takes seven days to obtain, though inemergency this time can be reduced. In practice Transport Com- mand avoids landing in India rather than seek for privileges.Aden - Ceylon may be flown non-stop or the aircraft may be routed through Karachi civil airport and thence non-stop (1,386n.m.) to Katunayake. On this leg the aircraft keep out to sea well clear of Indian territory and round Cape Cormorin (where anIndian radar checks the passage of all aircraft) at least 30 miles offshore. In a war the situation might become difficult. There isneed for a long-range transport with a stage-length of at least 8,000 nautical miles, which could carry either troops or missilesor both, and by missiles I mean both tactical and strategic missiles. Air transport might well be the key to ultimate victory in futurewar. Insufficient air transport could isolate F.E.A.F. and could in itself be the root of lost local wars. Singapore Air Garrison. Singapore is an island of lesser areathan metropolitan London. Within this area are sited three major and two lesser airfields. Paya Libar, 1\ miles north-east of Singa-pore city centre, is among the largest civil airports in S.E. Asia. Conforming to I.C.A.O. standard, its single runway is 8,000ft longand with room for ultimate extension to 10,000ft. It is aligned N.E.-S.W., the reciprocal directions of the nrevailing biennialmonsoon winds. Paya Libar currently controls aircraft over the island between 2,000 and 10,000ft. Above 10,000ft they are free,but cannot approach the civil or military airfield circuits below Marshal of the R.A.F. Sir Dermot Boyle, C.A.S., at Tengah during his recent visit to F.E.A.F. With him are the C-in-C, Air Marshal the Earl of Bandon (right); the A.O.C. No. 224 Group, A.V-M. V. E. Hancock (second from left); and G/C. J. E. S. Norton, station commander
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
