RAF Seletar Air Base

British Belvederes

RAF Seletar Marine Craft unit close to the Yacht Club and Sunderland Hangar on the waterfront.

Beverley

Seletar Pier.Notice a mounted Oerlikon Gun on the marine craft to be used in case of contact with the enemy. It was 1965 and during the height of confrontation with Indonesia.

Bloodhound ground to air defence missles on the base

Officers and airmen of No. 389 Maintenance Unit on parade in 1965

Seletar Base Country Club

Runways at the airbase




Base aircraft hangers

A

Road leading to the camp.

Seletar was one of the many airbases that the Royal Air Force had here in Singapore. Their plans in 1921 was to build an airbase, a naval and flying boat base here, with the first planes arriving in 1928, a few years after completion. It was the largest airbase outside of Britan since it was contructed.

The RAF base in Seletar also served as a civil airport from 1930 and onwards.

It was during the 1960s that the airbase was home to squadrons of a variety of planes and helicopters, mostly to help cope with the troops stationed in North Borneo during the "Confrontation" with Indonesia.

Most of its servicemen were the airmen from Britan, and also a few handful of locals as well, who maintained and stationed at the base from 1947 (after WWI) till 1971, when the British withdrew their forces from Singapore.

For the British, they were either housed at the camp site itself, or for the officers or permanent residents, at the "black and white" bungalows in an area informally known as "Little England" located within the camp, and their streets held names such as "Hyde Park Gate" and "Duke Street" . They also had the convience of the the local food stores and shophouses which were outside the camp. Also, there was the Seletar Country Club also within the camp, with allowed the officers and servicemen to engage in recreational activities while off duies during the weekends.

The airbase was along the West side of the Seletar Camp. The living quaters at the airbase was divided into the "Married" quaters and the "Singles" quaters. There were also ample facilities for the servicemen to use while serving at the airbase.

References and Photos courtesy of John Deyer 389 MU, RAF Seletar

By Benjamin Low 3E3