Tengah Air Base

"RAF Tengah" & "Tengah Airfield" redirects here.Infobox Airport
name =Tengah Air Base (TAB)
nativename-a =登加空军基地
nativename-r =Pangkalan Udara Tengah


image-width =150
caption =Tengah Air Base Crest Badge
IATA =TGA
ICAO =WSAT
type =Military
owner =Singapore Armed Forces
operator =Republic of Singapore Air Force
city-served =
location =Tengah, Singapore
elevation-f =50
elevation-m =15
coordinates =Coord|01|23|14|N|103|42|31|E|type:airport
website =
metric-elev =yes
metric-rwy = yes
r1-number =01/19
r1-length-f =2,258
r1-length-m =688
r1-surface =Asphalt
r2-number =18/36
r2-length-f =8,999
r2-length-m =2,743
r2-surface =Asphalt
r3-number =18R/36L
r3-length-f =1155
r3-length-m =352
r3-surface =Grass or Dirt
stat-year =
stat1-header =
stat1-data =
stat2-header =
stat2-data =
footnotes =

Tengah Air Base airport codes|TGA|WSAT is the most important airfield of the Republic of Singapore Air Force. It is home to the RSAF's F-16 Fighting Falcons, E-2C Hawkeyes and a large number of UAVs. The air base goes by the motto of "Always Vigilant".

Prior to Singapore's independence, it was an Royal Air Force station known as RAF Tengah.

RAF Tengah

RAF Tengah was commissioned in 1939. Tengah airfield was the target of Carpet bombing when seventeen Japanese navy bombers conducted the First air raid on Singapore, shortly after the Battle of Malaya began. It was also the first airfield to be captured when Japanese forces invaded Singapore.

After the Japanese capture of Singapore, RAF Tengah came under the control of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force while the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service took over the other two RAF stations of RAF Sembawang 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 center of Singapore City, while the Japanese Navy took command of the north, which included the Royal Navy dockyard at Sembawang.

During the Malayan Emergency, it housed Avro Lincolns of the Royal Air Force and Royal Australian Air Force which performed bombing missions on communist guerrillas. In 1954 the Royal Air Force was re-equipped with Venom FB4's and Vampire T11's of 60 Squadron and was joined by 14 Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. In 1958 they were joined by 45 Squadron RAF and 75 Squadron RNZAF, with Canberra B.2. The Royal Australian Air Force retained their Lincolns with No 1(B) Bomber squadron until the end of the emergency.

During the period of Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, the RAF deployed 74 Squadron with its English Electric Lightning F6s followed by 20 Squadron with its Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft in addition to the Gloster Javelins of 60 Squadron and 64 Squadron, to the air base to help bolster the air defense of Singapore and Peninsula Malaysia against air incursions from P-51 Mustangs of the Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU). In support of this, the base was also used by No. 15 Squadron RAF as a dispersal to rotate its Handley Page Victor B.1A bombers and crews with those based at RAF Butterworth, Malaysia, until the end of the Confrontation.

In 1964, an Indonesian Air Force C-130 Hercules crashed while trying to evade interception by a Javelin of 60 Squadron. On 30 April 1968, the Gloster Javelins of 60 Squadron flew their last RAF operational sorties from Tengah and the squadron was disbanded the same day.

Closure

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 pullout.

Tengah Air Base

It was renamed Tengah Air Base (TAB) in 1971 when it was handed over to the Singapore Air Defence Command (SADC). And from 1971 to 1976, under the Five Power Defence Arrangement, Tengah housed British, Australian and New Zealand forces. Currently, the air base houses aircraft such as the Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes and the F-16C/D Fighting Falcons. Tengah's reserve storage includes some 100 units of A4-SU Super SkyHawks that are capable of laser-guided bombings and air defence. These were retired in 2005, but kept in reserve storage.

The Flying squadrons are: [cite web| url=http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/mindef_websites/atozlistings/air_force/assets/airbases_and_squadrons/tengah.html| title=Squadrons of Tengah Air Base| publisher=MINDEF]
*111 Squadron with 4 Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes;
*140 Squadron with 12 F-16C/Ds;
*142 Squadron with 16 A-4SU Super Skyhawks before the squadron was disbanded in 1997;
*143 Squadron with 12 F-16C/Ds.
*RSAF Black Knights - the official RSAF Aerobatic team and is also the formation insignia of Tengah Air Base.

The Support Squadrons are:
*Air Logistics Squadron (ALS)
*Airfield Maintenance Squadron (AMS)
*Field Defence Squadron (FDS)
*Flying Support Squadron (FSS)

Photo Gallery

ee also

*Battle of Singapore
*Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation
*Far East Air Force (Royal Air Force)
*List of RAF stations
*Republic of Singapore Air Force
*RSAF Black Knights

References

* [http://www.rafweb.org/Stations/Stations-T.htm#Tengah Crest badge and Information of RAF Tengah]

External links

* [http://www.raf.mod.uk/history_old/histories.html History of RAF]
*WAD|WSAT
* [http://www.mindef.gov.sg/imindef/mindef_websites/atozlistings/air_force/assets/airbases_and_squadrons/tengah.html RSAF web page on Tengah Air Base (TAB)]
* [http://www.singas.co.uk/HTML/tengah.html Memories of Singapore - RAF Tengah]