Singapore's air
force contingent training there did one better by flying over hell and high water. Military helicopter training in the United States is famed for its
toughness, but Singapore's air
force contingent training there did one better by flying over hell and high water.
The pilots and crew of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) flew their Chinook medium-lift helicopters to combat a raging mountain fire and a coastal flood in the US state of Texas last year.
Yesterday, the first group of men and machines to return from the RSAF's four-year training detachment in Grand Prairie, Texas, were welcomed home formally.
They are the first to join RSAF's new helicopter unit, the 127 Squadron, which was inaugurated yesterday and will be based at Sembawang Air Base.
The new unit's three other current Chinooks and personnel are still in Texas, while another four Chinooks have been bought.
Their return will be announced later.
They will join five other existing squadrons here.
At the inauguration ceremony at the base yesterday, Second Defence
Minister Teo
Chee Hean said that the two real-world missions in Texas showed that the Chinook and its
crew were now ready for missions back home.
They had also taken part in exercises with the American and their allied air forces from Britain , Canada, Spain and Germany.
In May last year, they took their flying lorries into action near Marfa, about 600 km from the state capital, Austin.
The local volunteer fire department had struggled unsuccessfully with the blaze for nine days before they intervened.
Working with the Texas Army National Guard and its helicopters, the RSAF deployed one of its Chinooks to support ground-based firefighters by dumping huge buckets of water over the fire.
The operation took 11 days.
By the time the inferno was quelled, it had consumed an area 20 times the size of Tampines.
In September, two RSAF Chinooks ferried flood rescuers into staging areas close to the flood area in Corpus Christi, in south Texas, along with life rafts and hovercrafts.
Rear-Adm (NS) Teo, who is also the Education Minister said:" Our servicemen benchmarked themselves against the best.
"They can be justifiably proud of the high standards they have achieved."
(taken from The Straits Times, 9/6/99)