As you enter the building, setup as an open hanger on the main floor, you're greeted by more aircraft, parked close together without a lot of space between them.
"Hey", I said to Jonathan as I pointed to one hanging from the ceiling - "I can fly that one":
Indeed, it was the first aircraft the Singaporean Air Force ever purchased, the Cessna 172K.
Prior to 1968, the British had been in charge of Singapore's air defense, and with the British pulling out and Malaysia kicking Singapore out of Malaysia to be an independent city-state (this is not how the Singaporeans recall the event however), it had to look to itself for air defense.
In addition to the Cessna 172s, they acquired BAC Strikemasters for lead in jet training:
They also acquired T-33 Jet trainers:
Another Hawker Hunter sat inside the hangar, suitably armed:
And there were A4 Skyhawks, both the A4S and the A4SU, the Singaporean upgraded Super Skyhawk.
The A4S:
The A4SU is easily distinguishable from the A4C:
A Huey and an Alouette rounded out the aircraft collection:
A Bloodhound missile, and a target drone that was shot down in training, complete with shrapnel holes from the missile that knocked it down round out the collection on the hangar floor.
Above the hangar is a gallery, quite dark as Singaporean museums tend to be, with spotlights that played heck with getting decent camera shots, that related the history of the Air Force from its beginnings to the modern day.
There was an interesting set of placards that showed the changes in the Air Force's emblem over time (note the differing roundels on the various aircraft in the pictures above):
The remainder of the exhibit had various pictures of aircraft, discussed the force's composition and change in various eras through to the modern day, where they now fly F16C and Ds, and F15SGs (A Singaporean upgraded F-15 Strike Eagle).
Interestingly enough, due to having extremely limited airspace, the Singaporean Air Force trains in the USA (including at Mountain Home Air Base and Luke Air Force base), Australia and France.
Overall it was a very nice museum to go to and well worth the visit.
3 comments:
Hey Aaron,
Good Post and thanks for the pics, I didn't know that they had an airforce or that they were their own "masters".
Yes indeed, they've been officially independent from Malaysia for 52 years now and have quite a potent military to protect their interests.
Nice! Their pilots are actually trained by the Aussies at Perth. :-)
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