Fly Past

SHORT SINGAPORE III 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

PATROLLERS AND AIRLIFTERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 19

Above

The RAF operated

33 Singapore IIIs

and K8856 was part

of the fi nal batch

of four airframes

to be ordered. This

aircraft was initially

delivered to 228

Squadron at Mount

Batten on Plymouth

Sound, and in 1937

it was deployed with

the squadron to a

temporary base in

Algeria, to prevent

gun running during

the Spanish Civil

War. The aircraft was

later transferred to

the RAF Flying Boat

Training School and

crashed while landing

on the Solent off

Hillhead, Hampshire

on December 4, 1939.

ANDY HAY/WWW.

FLYINGART.CO.UK

Below left

A 230 Squadron

Singapore III at rest

in Singapore in 1938.

and was powered by four 675hp (
kW) Rolls-Royce Kestrel engines.
The crew of six was located in a
central enclosed cabin as well as fore,
aft, and midships open gun positions.

The first production airframe

(K3592) performed its maiden

flight on June 15, 1934 and all 33

machines had been delivered by

June 1937. Although effectively

obsolescent by the time it was

completed, the Singapore III

first entered service with 210

Squadron at Pembroke Dock in

November 1934, replacing the unit’s

Supermarine Southamptons.

The following April the first

examples were delivered to an

overseas unit (aptly, 205 Squadron

in Singapore) and other squadrons

soon followed.

ACTIVE SERVICE

In September 1937, Singapores

of 209 and 210 Squadrons were

deployed to Malta and Algeria to

support anti-piracy operations in

the region, as well as protecting

British shipping during the Spanish

Civil War.

Replacement by the Short

Sunderland was well underway at

the outbreak of World War Two in

September 1939, but the remaining

19 Singapores were camouflaged

and put into action. The eight

UK-based examples were stationed

at the Flying Boat Training School at

Calshot and the remainder were sent

(or remained) overseas to Aden

and Singapore.

Incredibly, the 1920s-era biplanes

remained useful and 205 Squadron

retained its final four machines in

Singapore as late as October 1941,

when they were replaced by Catalinas

and handed over to the Royal New

Zealand Air Force’s 5 Squadron.

When Japan attacked Singapore

in December that year, the aircraft

found themselves on the front

line and accounted for a Japanese

submarine, as well as conducting

several air-sea rescues before being

replaced in April 1943.

“Singapores of 209 and 210 Squadrons were

deployed to Malta and Algeria to support

anti-piracy operations in the region...”