Fly Past

52 FLYPAST 52 FLYPAST May 2018May 2018

WINGS OVER THE EAST INDONESIAN CONFRONTATION

20 Squadron Hunters had been sent

to Labuan two days earlier to take

part in an exercise and these were

immediately tasked to patrol the

border area to deter or shoot down

any further intruders.

A further three FGA.9s, one flown

by me, were sent to Labuan to enable

the Air Commander to step up the

patrol rate on the 17th. Six more

arrived the following day. For three

weeks we staged a continuous daylight

patrol along an extremely large stretch

of the jungle border in the north.

Each aircraft was fitted with two

outboard 100-gal (454 lit) drop tanks

as well as the two standard inboard

230-gal examples. By flying at best

range speed to and from the patrol

areas, and then at endurance speed

along the border, we were able to stay

for just over two hours at low level.

My first patrol, the day after

arriving at Labuan, involved a take-

off soon after dawn and was typical

of these ‘special patrols’. We headed

off over the mangrove swamps of

mainland Borneo and then on to our

patrol area a further six minutes and

35 miles away.

As we flew south over the jungle in

the early light of the day and in the

gathering heat, steaming mists rose up

all around us out of the tree canopy

like huge columns of smoke from a

volcano. It was a stunning sight in the

early morning.

We kept a listening watch on the

army radio frequency from which

we heard occasional, and usually

outdated, calls relating to further

suspected Indonesian incursions.

Sometimes, we thought we were on

to something and the leader would

call ‘Buster!’, whereupon both pilots

would select full thrust, accelerating

craned back to see vertically above, we

would ease into a climb, changing to

a bunt at a suitable point in order to

rake the target with cannon shells as it

passed through the gunsight, ideally

before the tail gun could be operated.

Fit for the fray

Guerrillas landed in November

and December 1964 in Johore near

Kota Tinggi and south of Pontian.

My operational colleagues were in

action against them on December

23 and again on Boxing Day. In

February, March and April 1965,

the squadron flew armed escorts

for Bristol Belvedere twin-rotor

helicopters carrying troops into the

Kota Tinggi area.

A force of 24 Indonesian soldiers

came ashore on the east coast of

Johore, only seven miles from

Changi in May. Four 20 Squadron

Hunters were in action against them

under the direction of a forward air

controller. The JPs of course did not

get a look-in.

I was eventually declared fully fit

for the fray and was dispatched to

Kuching in Sarawak to join in the

regular border patrols by detachments

of Hunters and Javelins from Tengah.

We flew at low level in twos or threes

and took part in exercises with the

army from its border encampments.

At that time maps for Borneo were

very poor indeed. Huge areas consisted

of little more than a blank space on

which only rivers were marked. There

were no contours or even spot heights

shown, although the terrain was often

up to 5,000ft in Sarawak and much

higher further north in Sabah.

Better maps became available in

1966 but, until then, we virtually

made our own as we went along.

Pilots would come back from low-

level flights into the hinterland, having

spotted some previously un-noted

significant feature. The master map on

the crew-room wall would be updated

and we would transfer the data to our

own personal maps.

Although the frontier areas

were generally better marked,

the border itself often did not

conveniently follow the terrain.

Accurate navigation was therefore

very difficult, yet it was essential,

particularly in western Sarawak. It

seemed the Indonesians had cleverly

sited their air defence guns where the

terrain was most indistinct.

We flew low-level navigation routes

along the great muddy brown Rajang

and Bateh rivers, the latter with huge

jungle-clad mountains soaring to

several thousand feet barely a mile

to either side of us. The Indonesian

border turned from parallel to our

track to cut directly across it in a

spectacular, green, mountain-fringed

dead end.

Clear weather at the mountain ridges

was rare, so we mostly needed a steep,

full-power climb out from the end of

the cul-de-sac into cloud to clear the

ridge-tops. Wingmen like me had to

tuck quickly before the leader entered

cloud and then be ready to fly through

heavy rain and often hail.

Bucking about like a wild horse in

the turbulence, we fought to stay in

close formation in marginal visibility

and turned around to return to

Kuching. My first session in Borneo

lasted two weeks, and then I returned

to Tengah.

In August 1965 the squadron

celebrated its 50th anniversary and the

occasion was marked by a 16-aircraft

flypast at Tengah in which I flew as

No.6.

Labuan patrol

Two Indonesian Air Force North

American B-25 Mitchells strafed a

small Malaysian village close to the

border in Sabah on September 1,

1965. As luck would have it, four

Above

Personnel of 20 Squadron

scramble at Tengah. Note

the ‘XX’ marking (Roman

for 20) on the nosewheel

doors of the aircraft. KEY

COLLECTION

Right

Canberra PR.7 WH780 of

81 Squadron low over the

jungle canopy during the

Confrontation period. VIA

ANDY THOMAS