Royal Air Force News Friday, November 14, 2025 P21
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The RAF’s challenges in ‘forgotten’ Far East BRISTOL F.2BS: North West Frontier, 1919
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HE ROYAL Air Force experience in the Far East is certainly worthy of further study. In RAF Boys in the Far East (grubstreet. co.uk) Steve Bond embraces this ambitious remit. Having already written books on the ‘boys’ who flew iconic RAF aircraft, he tells the story with commentary and testimonies from beginning to end, some 82 eventful years. He starts with the arrival of the first Royal Flying Corps units in India in 1915 and ends with the disbandment of No. 28 Squadron and its Wessex helicopters before Hong Kong’s handover to China in July 1997.
Cold War The author has drawn on first-hand recollections of those who served in the region, largely covering the wartime theatre and Cold War period, from all ranks across air and ground crew. The result is a fascinating and wide-ranging book. The reader is introduced to fast-changing weather, challenging terrain and epic flights. The book ranges from the pioneering air evacuation of Kabul in 1928 to daring Search and Rescue operations mounted
from Hong Kong, notably during Typhoon Koryn in 1993. There are major landmarks, including the outbreak of war with Japan in December 1941 and the near four years of brutal conflict which followed. The Japanese foe was described as ‘crafty’ but also ‘very brave’. One pilot recalled they put trip wires across rivers at the height they expected the RAF to be flying. Similarly, a lighthouse at the end of Ramree Island in Burma was fitted with remote controlled guns. When he approached bullets suddenly flew past his head. Conflict continued after Japan’s formal surrender on September 2, 1945. Various small wars and insurgencies flared up throughout the region necessitating RAF participation. Most significantly British rule in India ended in 1947, transforming the political landscape. The Malayan insurgency, Operation Firedog (1948-60), and the confrontation with Indonesia (1963-66) were key developments in the 22-year story of the Far East Air Force (FEAF) covering 1949-1971. Post-1947 there was a concentration of remaining
NO. 28 SQN: Wessex formation, Hong Kong, early 1990s
VULCAN: Tengah, Singapore, 1966
Win copy of book You could win a copy of this excellent book. For your chance to own one, tell us: What was Leading Aircraftman Shaw better known as? Email your answer, marked RAF Boys in the Far East book competition, to: tracey. allen@rafnews.co.uk or post it to: RAF News, Room 68, Lancaster Building, HQ Air Command, High Wycombe, HP14 4UE, to arrive by November 28.
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forces at Changi, Seletar and Tengah in Singapore and a single squadron in Hong Kong. From the late 1950s Gan in the Maldives was built up as a staging post for UK to Singapore transit. This is well covered in the accounts. The sheer scale and variety of combat and transport aircraft at airfields in Singapore and Malaya is underlined, packing a punch and with nuclear capabilities into the bargain. FEAF The death knell for the FEAF was the Government decision in the late 1960s to withdraw forces stationed east of Suez by the early 1970s. The UK doubled down on Nato commitments, financially constrained and able only to confront challenges closer to home.
The testimonies underline that RAF squadrons in the Far East were at the back of the queue for equipment. This was most exposed during the early months of war with Japan. Often aircraft were obsolete, if not ancient. The resultant losses were heavy. When Hurricanes finally arrived in India in crates in 1942, they were in poor condition. Spitfires were late on the scene too. This pattern tended to continue during the immediate Cold War period and the early years of the jet age. Most of the famous fighters, bombers, transport aircraft and helicopters eventually found their way to Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong. It was also the scene of the last operational flight for many famous RAF aircraft types. The
book’s numerous photographs testify to this. Chapters extend to encompass nuclear testing in Australia and at Christmas Island (Kiribati) in the 1950s, as well as the final decades in Hong Kong. Prominent individuals are highlighted. There was Leading Aircraftman Shaw, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, who was observed in 1928 serving at faraway Miranshah on India’s north-west frontier. With his ‘very intelligent blue eyes’ he had ‘a very direct and measuring gaze that could be disconcerting’ but nonetheless ‘got on remarkably well with the other airmen, and with most of the NCOs’. Eyewitnesses The book is well presented. The eyewitnesses supplied many of the pictures. There is a helpful glossary and useful index. The bibliography is short, with no mention of ACM Sir David Lee’s overarching study Eastward, which covered 1945-72. Nevertheless, this is a most enjoyable book featuring fascinating stories interspersed with informed commentary. It goes some way to helping redress the lack of sources on the challenges the RAF faced in the ‘forgotten’ Far East for most of the 20th century. Review by Alastair Noble