The Tengah Air Base is a

military airbase An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

of the

Republic of Singapore Air Force The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the aerial service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for controlling and defending the airspace of the country, and providing air support to the Army and Navy. It was establis ...

(RSAF) located in the

Western Water Catchment The Western Water Catchment is a planning area located in the West Region of Singapore. The planning area borders Tuas and Pioneer to its south, Sungei Kadut, Choa Chu Kang and Tengah to its east, Jurong West to its southeast, Lim Chu Kang t ...

, in the western part of

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. The air base is the most important airfield of the RSAF as it houses the majority of the RSAF's fixed-wing frontline squadrons, home to all of RSAF's Airborne early warning and control (AEWC) assets, most of the F-16C/D Fighting Falcons and many

UAVs An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

. The airfield goes by the motto of ''Always Vigilant'', which is supported by its main motif, a black knight chess piece symbolising the aircraft's operational readiness in Tengah. The sword represents war's heraldic sword of destruction, while the state is depicted by the castle. Prior to Singapore's independence, it was a flying

Royal Air Force station This list of Royal Air Force stations is an overview of all current stations of the Royal Air Force (RAF) throughout the United Kingdom and overseas. This includes front-line and training airbases, support, administrative and training statio ...

known as RAF Tengah.

History

RAF Tengah

RAF Tengah was opened in 1939. Tengah airfield was the target of

carpet bombing Carpet bombing, also known as saturation bombing, is a large area bombardment done in a progressive manner to inflict damage in every part of a selected area of land. The phrase evokes the image of explosions completely covering an area, in t ...

when 17 Japanese Navy bombers conducted the first air raid on Singapore, shortly after the

Battle of Malaya The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allied and Axis forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. It was dominated by land battles between ...

began. In a 1990 memoir, former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot Terence O'Brien described leading (in late December 1941) a flight of Lockheed Hudsons from Britain to Singapore, which was already under attack by the time he and his aircrews arrived at Tengah. He noted that only eight "of us out of the twenty who set off" from Britain for Singapore survived the Far East campaign. Tengah had already been under air attack by the Japanese, but he said it was easy to imagine the once elegant, but now badly damaged, officers' mess just a few weeks before their arrival. He said it:

. . . stood proud on a grassy slope to the south of the field, from the terrace you looked over the lush green grass, then a smooth-topped expanse of rubber plantation stretched away to misty blue hills . . . You could picture officers and guests out there on mess nights chatting under the Southern Cross . . . the strains of a waltz coming from the dance band in the spacious lounge brilliantly lit and aswirl in colour. Now, a month later and into war, all that was gone forever. Many of the windows were now empty of glass, so the rain came misting through in the frequent tropical showers . . . There was no longer any door at all on the room allotted to Peter and me . . .

Not long after their arrival, O'Brien and his Hudsons departed Singapore just ahead of the conquering Japanese. Tengah was the first airfield to be captured when Japanese forces invaded Singapore. After the Japanese completed their capture of Singapore, ''Tengah'' came under the control of the

Imperial Japanese Army Air Force The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ) was the Military aviation, aviation force of the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Its primary mission was to provide tactical close air support for ground ...

while the

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The (IJNAS) was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired its first aircraft in ...

took over the other two RAF stations of

Sembawang Air Base The Sembawang Air Base is a military airbase of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) located at Sembawang, in the northern part of Singapore. The base motto is ''Swift and Resolute''. Before Singapore's independence from the United Kingdom ...

and RAF Seletar as Singapore was split into north–south sphere of control. This effectively ensured that the Japanese Army took control of the south, including the administrative hub and population centre of Singapore City, while the Japanese Navy took command of the north, which included the

Royal Navy dockyard Royal Navy Dockyards (more usually termed Royal Dockyards) were state-owned harbour facilities where ships of the Royal Navy were built, based, repaired and refitted. Until the mid-19th century the Royal Dockyards were the largest industrial c ...

Sembawang Sembawang ( ) is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, residential town located in the North Region, Singapore, North Region of Singapore. Sembawang planning area is bordered by Simpang to the east, Mandai to t ...

Malayan Emergency

During the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

, Tengah was used to house

Avro Lincoln The Avro Type 694 Lincoln is a British four-engined heavy bomber, which maiden flight, first flew on 9 June 1944. Developed from the Avro Lancaster, the first Lincoln variants were initially known as the Lancaster IV and V; these were renamed L ...

s of the RAF and

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

and

Bristol Brigand The Bristol Brigand was a British anti-shipping/ground attack/dive bomber aircraft, developed by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as a replacement for the Beaufighter. A total of 147 were built and were used by the Royal Air Force in Malaya duri ...

s of No. 84 Squadron RAF which performed bombing sorties against pro-independence forces led by the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), led by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) deep in the jungles of

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

. In 1952 45 Squadron was equipped with

de Havilland Hornet The de Havilland DH.103 Hornet, developed by de Havilland, is a fighter aircraft driven by two piston engines. It further exploited the wooden construction techniques that had been pioneered by the de Havilland Mosquito. Development of the H ...

s and re-equipped with Venoms in 1955 at RAF Butterworth when it was amalgamated with 33 Squadron] T.11's of No. 60 Squadron RAF, 60 Squadron, joined by 14 Squadron of the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF; ) is the aerial warfare, aerial military service, service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed initially in 1923 as a branch of the New Zealand Army, being known as the New Zealand Perm ...

. In 1958 they were joined by 45 Squadron and No. 75 Squadron RNZAF, both equipped with

English Electric Canberra The English Electric Canberra is a British first-generation, jet-powered medium bomber. It was developed by English Electric during the mid- to late 1940s in response to a 1944 Air Ministry requirement for a successor to the wartime de Havilla ...

B.2. The RAAF retained their Lincolns, with 1 Squadron, until the end of the emergency.

''Konfrontasi''

During the period of Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, 20 Squadron with its

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...

fighter aircraft in addition to the

Gloster Javelin The Gloster Javelin is a twin-engined all-weather interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the Gloster Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s and was the final aircraft design to b ...

s of 60 Squadron and 64 Squadron, were based on the airfield to help upgrade the air defence of Singapore and Peninsula Malaysia against infrequent air incursions from the

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

s and

P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter aircraft, fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed ...

s of the

Indonesian Air Force The Indonesian Air Force (, sometimes shortened as IDAF / IdAF) is the Air force, aerial branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. The Indonesian Air Force is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is headed by the Chief of Staff of th ...

. 74 Squadron Lightnings were deployed following Confrontation to replace the Javelins of 64 Squadron. On 3 September 1964, an Indonesian Air Force

C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...

crashed into the

Straits of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, long and from wide, between the Malay Peninsula to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connecting the Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pa ...

while trying to evade interception by a Javelin FAW.9 of No 60 Squadron. On 30 April 1968, the Gloster Javelins of No 60 Squadron flew their last RAF operational sorties from ''Tengah'' and the squadron was disbanded the same day.

V bomber detachment

As a show of force to deter the Indonesian President

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

from launching an all-out war during this period, the RAF also deployed a

V bomber The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom, United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Mai ...

force detachment to Tengah in the form of

Handley Page Victor The Handley Page Victor was a British jet-powered strategic bomber developed and produced by Handley Page during the Cold War. It was the third and final ''V bomber'' to be operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), the other two being the Vickers ...

B.1A bombers from 15 Squadron in August 1963, which was rotated with those dispersed to RAAF Butterworth in Malaysia. The detachment of Victor bombers was replaced in October 1964 by a detachment of

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) was a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe ...

B.2 bombers from 12 Squadron, these were subsequently pulled back to RAF Cottesmore in December that same year. In August 1965, 9 Squadron resumed RAF's Vulcan bomber detachment to Tengah, followed by 35 Squadron in December 1965, these were in turn replaced by 9 Squadron again in February 1966. After June 1966, 9 Squadron returned to Cottesmore following the end of the confrontation. According to British MoD documents declassified in 2000, up to 48

Red Beard is a 1965 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' film co-written, edited, and directed by Akira Kurosawa, in his last collaboration with actor Toshiro Mifune. Based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's 1959 short story collection, '' Akahige Shinryōtan'', the film takes p ...

tactical nuclear weapons were secretly stowed in a highly secured weapons storage facility at Tengah, between 1962 and 1970, for possible use by the V bomber force detachment and 45 Sqn Canberras for Britain's military commitment to South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).

British withdrawal

The RAF station closed at the end of March 1971 and Tengah was handed over to the Singapore Air Defence Command (later the Republic of Singapore Air Force) by 1973, after the British Withdrawal following the defence cuts. Despite this, the airfield continued to host British and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

air forces and troops under the auspices of the

Five Power Defence Arrangements The Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) are a series of bilateral defence relationships established by a series of multi-lateral agreements between Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, all of which are Commonwe ...

(FPDA) until 1976. The RAAF pulled out of Tengah in 1983.

Tengah Air Base

It was renamed RSAF Tengah in 1971 (then it became Tengah Air Base (TAB)), when it was handed over to the Singapore Air Defence Command (SADC). Currently, the air base houses aircraft such as the

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

F-16C/D Fighting Falcons. RSAF50 parade took place on 1 September 2018 at TAB. The parade featured almost 500 personnel in a march-past, mobile column and a Salute-to-the-Nation flypast involving 20 aircraft. The new Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft made its maiden public appearance. The static display also showcased both retired and present aircraft. On 8 May 2024, an F-16 crashed shortly after take off, the pilot ejected with minor injuries.

Organization

Flying Squadrons

The Flying Squadrons based in Tengah Air Base are: * 111 Squadron with 4 G550 CAEW * 140 Squadron with 12 F-16C/D * 143 Squadron with 12 F-16C/D * 145 Squadron with 20 F-16D+ BLK 52 * RSAF Black Knights – the official RSAF Aerobatic team with F-16Cs from various squadrons.

UAV Squadrons

The Flying Squadrons based in Tengah Air Base are: * 116 Squadron with H-450

Support Squadrons

The Support Squadrons based in Tengah Air Base are: *Flying Support Squadron – 205 Squadron *Airbase Civil Engineering Squadron – 505 Squadron *Field Defence Squadron – 605 Squadron *Ground Logistics Squadron – 705 Squadron *Aircraft Operational Maintenance Squadron – 805 Squadron *Aircraft Specialist Maintenance Squadron – 815 Squadron

Former Flying Squadrons

* 142 Squadron with 16 A-4SU Super Skyhawk before the squadron was disbanded in 1997. The squadron was reestablished in 2016 at Paya Lebar Air Base.

Exercises

The RSAF regularly conducts Exercise Torrent which converts the neighboring Lim Chu Kang road into an alternative runway since its inception in April 1986. Its purpose is to demonstrate the RSAF capability of generating air power in the shortest time from public roads. The latest and seventh edition was held from the 10 to 13 November 2016.

Future

To accommodate the relocation of all RSAF assets and equipment from

Paya Lebar Air Base The Paya Lebar Air Base is a military airbase of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) in Singapore located at Airport Road in Paya Lebar, in the eastern region of Singapore. The airbase goes by the motto of ''Strength Through Readin ...

, Tengah Air Base will be expanded by acquiring 50,000 graves in the Choa Chu Kang Cemetery and 80 neighbouring farms/agricultural businesses. Military training areas will be rationalised, such as the closure of Murai Urban Training Facility. A new runway will be built on the expanded portion of the base. On the 8 June 2025, the new Lim Chu Kang Road will open.

Photo gallery

File:RAF Tengah 1953.jpg, An aerial view of the RAF Tengah taken in 1953 File:Bristol Blenheims 62 Squadron Singapore Feb 1941.jpg,

Bristol Blenheim The Bristol Blenheim is a British light bomber designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, which was used extensively in the first two years of the Second World War, with examples still being used as trainers until the end of the war. ...

Mk Is of No. 62 Squadron RAF lined up at RAF Tengah, February 1941 File:Bristol Blenheims Mk IV Singapore June 1941.jpg, Bristol Blenheim Mk IV bombers at RAF Tengah, June 1941 File:Avro Lincoln of 1 SQN RAAF at RAF Tengah in 1950.jpg, The first operation of No. 1 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force from RAF Tengah, August 1950 File:RAAFAvroLincolnMalaya1950.jpg, An Avro Lincoln bomber of No 1(B) Bomber squadron dropping bombs on Communist targets during the Malayan Emergency File:No 45 Squadron RAF in front of a Bristol Brigand at RAF Tengah, Singapore - 1950.jpg, Members of No. 45 Squadron RAF posing for the camera in front of a

at RAF Tengah, in 1950 File:45SqnB15s.jpg, English Electric Canberra B.15 of No. 45 Squadron at RAF Tengah, Singapore, in 1963 File:RSAF F-16D.jpg, RSAF F-16D prepares for flight File:111Sqn E-2C Hawkeye.jpg, RSAF 111Sqn's E-2C Hawkeye

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * *Wixley, Kenneth E. "Gloster Javelin: a production history, Part 2". ''Aircraft Illustrated'', September 1984, Vol. 17, No 9, pp. 420–422. .

External links

RSAF web page on Tengah Air Base (TAB)

The Brigand Boys at RAF Tengah

Video clips

*, accessed 26 December 2008. *, accessed 23 January 2009. {{authority control Airports in Singapore Camps and bases of the Singapore Armed Forces Military of Singapore under British rule Tengah Republic of Singapore Air Force bases