Fly Past

May 2018 FLYPAST 53

rapidly usually to around 500
to 550kts, as we hared off to the
reported area, invariably to find it
empty of any threat.
During the ‘special patrols’ I
logged 43 hours’ flying, all at low
altitude above the wide green
jungles of Borneo. We normally
flew 20 to 25 hours a month, so I’d
rather hogged it.
Despite intensive and continuous
daylight patrols, shared with our
Javelin colleagues, we never did
catch an enemy aircraft. Had we
done so, we would have been greatly
disadvantaged because, for political
reasons, we were supposed to ensure
that any enemy shot down fell on
our side of the border so that we
should not be accused of incursions
into Indonesian airspace.

Hong Kong
detachment
The routine continued well
on into 1966: normal training
from Tengah interspersed with

detachments to Kuching for patrols

over Borneo. In November I flew

as a passenger in an Armstrong

Whitworth Argosy transport, via

Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut airfield and

over battle-scarred Vietnam up to

Kai Tak in Hong Kong for a two-

week detachment.

Other pilots from 20 Squadron

flew four of our aircraft up to Kai

Tak via Labuan and the USAF base

at Clark Field in the Philippines.

At the time Clark was an incredibly

busy airfield involved in mounting

B-52 Stratofortress bombing sorties

over North Vietnam and the Ho

Chi Minh Trail. I flew as No.4 in

the returning formation on the

reverse route.

The second detachment to Kai

Tak was at the beginning of January

of 1967, when five of us flew up

to collect the five Hunters of 28

Squadron, which disbanded there

on the 2nd. We ferried them down

to join 20.

On a later occasion I went to

Hong Kong with the Royal Navy in

amphibious assault force support

vessel HMS Fearless as liaison

officer during a major air-sea

exercise.

I had not fired a single shot

in anger throughout the

Confrontation, but neither had

most of my colleagues. There were

very few instances of our Hunters

being in action against ground

targets and none at all against

aircraft.

In August 1965 Singapore left

the Federation to become an

independent republic. The crisis

with Indonesia came to an end with

the ratification of the Bangkok

Accord in August 1966.

In May 1967, I returned to the

UK to take up my next job as an

instructor at the Hunter OCU at

Chivenor. Thus ended my first

operational tour, when Britain’s

armed forces were much larger and

flying was rather less regulated, far

simpler and terrific fun.

“As we fl ew 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”

To p

An air-to-air view of

a fully-armed Hunter

during the Indonesian

Confrontation.

KEY COLLECTION

Above left

Sharing Tengah with

20 Squadron were the

Canberra B.15s of 45

Squadron. VIA ANDY

THOMAS

Above right

Built as an F.4, XF310

was converted to a

T.7, remaining with 20

Squadron until 1967.

It passed to the Royal

Navy in 1981 and was

sold in 1997, surviving

to this day in

Melbourne, Australia.

VIA ANDY THOMAS