End of an era at Seletar

Seletar airfield pics 2009.

Herewith afew airfield pics taken in 2009 before looking around the old domestic site at Seletar:-, Control tower with Type ‘A’ hangar behind still extant, plus another view of the tower across from the end of Maida Vale road, new airliner servicing hangars, if my memory serves me right, there used to be barrack blocks where these are situated?.

Gerry R

Seletar Pics 2009

Hello all,
These are the pics that should have appeared in post 99, all taken at Seletar 2009, and are as follows:-
1. 22-28 Edgeware road, about to be demolished to make room the new Aeropark.
2. Seletar Primary School, about a month before the buildings were schedule to be demolished.
3. The former NAAFI shop in Oxford road, which looks like it has been converted into a Temple.
4. Looking down Battersea road, (not Oxford road as mentioned in my last post), the Secondary School is on the right, also scheduled soon after my visit in 2009.

Gerry R

For those of you that were out at Seletar near the end of the Sunderlands, I used to work with a Phil Sharrett who was serving out there at the time on the Sunderlands, sadly he passed away last year.

For those of you that were out at Seletar near the end of the Sunderlands, I used to work with a Phil Sharrett who was serving out there at the time on the Sunderlands, sadly he passed away last year.

Disappearing Seleter 2009

Hello All,
I visited Seletar in 2007 and 2009, on my first visit I had to leave my photo gear at the Guardroom of the Singapore Forces at the main gate, and continue my exploring by taxi. Two years later I was delighted to find that the secuity side of the base had been moved further towards the old East Camp, (near the Astra Cinema), which those of you who knew Seletar will remember its location, and a larger part of the Base was now accessible.

I was able to travel up Edgeware Road towards the airfield and took these pics,I then went in search of my old scout hut from the sixties without success:(. On the way back I photographed numbers 22-28 Edgeware Road about to be demolished, to make way for the new Aero Park, also my Old Primary School, which I just caught before its demise, as it was scheduled to be demolished the following month, also the former NAAFI shop which looks like it has been converted into a Temple, I think this is Oxford ROad, the School was behind the tree at left.

Finally, DP that is Seletar Pool alright,the Britannia Pool had a sun deck behind the main diving board, overlooking the City and Harbour.:)

Gerry R

I remember Seletar as an enthusiast’s paradise in 74 & 75. Six week detachments to Tengah gave plenty of time to get to Seletar to be rewarded with USAF aircraft such as EC-47P and C-130s various. There were a couple of South Vietnamese Hercs in ’74, but these had been re-painted in USAF colours by ’75. Civilian? aircraft included a DC-6 of Bird Air and C-46Rs of Continental Airways, both known Air America operators. Genuine civilian aircraft included a HU-16 and Volpar Turboliner in Indonesian marks among others. To be allowed to wander around without hindrance was a real joy.

I’m pretty sure that that pool is at The Britannia Club in the city, not Seletar.

Me and Bro at Tiger Balm Gardens (as if we could even begin to pretend it was anywhere else but)

Shopping….?

Brother at the pool

Gardener and nuts…!

Ladder to our ‘pretend tree house’ at the back of the bungalow.

Hello slightly off topic, I was born in singapore in 1965 and adopted by a english couple in the RAF, in 1968.

I remember Robinsons and meeting father christmas there, “was going to tell him what I wanted for christmas, bur ended up not saying a word”

I remember Belverdears flying overhead and I believe Andovers as well. I always had an intrest in Aircraft….

Anyway I hope these photos bring back some memorys to others

Having touched upon Seletar and Changi how about a slight drift to Tengah- only place I’ve ever landed in where the brief before we left the aircraft was to’ leave the porn and chewing gum behind’. Only managed a Sunflower detachment to Singapore- had a brilliant time. Ah Tiger- why did it go that strange colour overnight, the sew sew lady at the end of the block and of course Buggis Street- a nights entertainment from dusk till dawn. Great memories!

Cheers
Madus Jockus

End of an era at Seletar

Here’s a few random memories from the mid-1950s at RAF Seletar:
I was on 205/209 Squadron on the Flying Boat Wing there. I was an S.A.C. Engine Mechanic on the Sunderland Mk Vs, between 1955/56, as a National Serviceman ( one of the last, I guess). I lived in ‘K’ Block, first floor, nice airy accomodation (no windows needed!).
There are some good photos of the Flying Boat Wing’s hangars, and the slipway for the ‘boats. Our crew hut was right on the water’s edge, in front of the maintenance hangar.
Most of our work on the engines was out on the water. We’d go out to the end of the pier with our toolbags and any parts needed, and were taken out in a motor launch by one of the Malay civilian workers on them. Working on the metal wings soon gave us all coppery tans. We’d never heard of sun block cream then; a pint bottle of coconut oil, costing a Straits Dollar (2s 4d served the purpose). To get back to shore, you had to flash Morse Code ‘D’.
I scrounged a few trips up in Sunderlands with a pretence to listen to the engines. I also had a longish flight up to Penang Island, for a week’s leave there. I remember the crew doing some gunnery practice at a target on an island en route. I also had a 10-hour flight, each way, to Ceylon where we were on a three month’s exercise. This was at China Bay, near Trincomallee, now right in the middle of Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger country. As the Malayan Emergency was on, this gave me an Active Service-Malaya medal. Truth to tell, the greatest danger I faced was from sunburn or scorpion bites in Ceylon (Singapore was too civilised for such nasties). I believe it was tagged ‘Emergency’ rather than ‘War’ to safeguard the insurance concerns of the rich Brit rubber planters. 😉 Besides the amply opportunites to swim ‘on the job’, the excellent Seletar pool, close to our Squaqdron area, was a favourite leisure spot. Others were the Malcolm Club, for numerous pints of Tiger Tops (just a dash of lemonade to temper the strong lager), and trips to the Union Jack Club, and Happy World and New World in Singapore city, for food, drink and other attractions 😀
One of my close friends on 205/209 was John Bertola, Bert, the Squadron’s photographer. We did did a memorable trip up the Thames in his tiny outboard dinghy from his home at Leigh-on-Sea to Windsor and back. Would love to hear from you, Bert, if you are ever on this excellent thread.
Roy Green

Hi Roy welcome to the Forum

Ex Sooty too on 5/9 a couple of years after you though, I am in touch with many of the bods from 1949 to 1959, see your Private Message box.

50 years in May since the last of the boats in RAF Service how sad is that eh, one bright spot though once a Webfooter always a Webfooter aye:o

Since my first brief post, I’ve noticed some personally interesting posts, and good photos, from others who must have been there, or at least remember, the old Flying Boat base, and 205/209 Squadron. For me, the only Seletar planes were the great Sunderland MkVs of our Squadron.
There’s a very good aerial photo on this thread showing the FB slipway and hangar. As engine mechs, our crewhut was right on the shoreline to the left of the slipway. We hung out there all day, awaiting a summons from Chiefy Todd to go out and do an After-Flight inspection, or some work on the Sunderlands. Most common was an oil filter change. Memorable trips away from Seletar were up country to Penang Island (on leave), and on detachment to China Bay, Ceylon, an area now frequented by the Tamil Tigers.
The splendid swimming pool was quite near the FB base, you turned right from the road down to the base. I was billeted in ‘K’ block, short walk from the base, on the first floor, and close to the Malcolm Club, where many, many pints of ice-cold Tiger beer were sunk (strong stuff, not like the gnat’s p you can now buy here in supermarkets).
Though the work had its responsibilities, these were certainly the most carefree days of my life.
Last real contact with Sunderlands was a visit to the reunion organised by noted aviation author John Evans at Pembroke Dock in 1990. I visited with my old friend Ken Fairbairn, now sadly deceased (in 2007, aged 93). To a humble S.A.C. National Serviceman he was a big figure indeed, a Squadron Leader Sunderland Navigator in WWll, on 201 Squadron.
I would be delighted to hear from any of my 205/209 Sqdn contemporaries, there in 1955 and 1956, not long before the final Sunderland flight from Seletar in 1959. The Grand Old Lady was one of the longest-serving RAF aircraft, first entering service in, I believe, 1937.

Any signs at all remaining of the old Flying Boat Base?
I was on 205/209 Squadron in 1955 and 1956, on National Service as a Sunderland engine mechanic. Would be interested to hear from anyone there at that time.

Sqd Leader Everett Howlett

My mother spent four years in Seletar as a young girl from 1953. Her father was Sqd Leader Everett Howlett. She loved life there being cared for in the ‘bungalow’ by her ‘Armor’, who also taught my Grandmother the local cuisine – a form of Chinese food, which is still cooked in our family to this day.

Few more photo’s from Seletar ! look at the last few pages of this thread.

Keith.

http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=85496

I moved to Changi in 1961 aged 14. Mad about aircraft I soon included Seletar in my travels and managed to get pics of RAF Dakota KP277 ‘Faith’, one of the original ‘voice’ aircraft used in the Malayan troubles. Here is a shot of her with the partially scrapped Pioneer XK368 and Vampire T11 XE957, which got sold to the Indian Air Force. Dakota ‘Faith’ was also sold in Nov, 1962 becoming PI-C481.
Another general shot showing the control tower, with Army Auster XK407 taking off and one of a 34 sqn Beverley 283 lifting off.
Finally there’s a couple of visiting AEW3 Gannets from Hermes, XP224 and 7.

David Taylor.

we had the grey-blue RAF buses, sure, but half the time it was the infinitely more desirable Bedford canvas-topped trucks

1953/4 at the Alexandra Secondary Modern School (Army) …we were transported in Army Bedford Trucks complete with a guard(usually a corporal).

I see a few mentions of Robinsons store … etc……

The Cathay – saw Quo Vadis there , also….Change Alley,The Padang, Collyer Quay ,Kallang Airport(where I watched G-ALAM crash), Bukit Timah road ,The Botanical Gardens………………

Some talk within this thread about the slipway at Seletar ? Would this photo from 1953 be of any help ?

Keith.

I remember that whilst living in Jalan Kayu, we were transported to school in white single decker buses, with the teachers manning the vehicles.

What an interesting thread! I never had much to do with Seletar, since my father was stationed at Changi, but I dare say I went there once or twice – I recall much of Singapore, but not Seletar, after all it was June 1956 (out from home on the Asturias, former troopship) ’til January 1959 (back to Southampton on the BI Line’s Nevasa, last seen moored close to the King Harry Ferry in the River Fal, late 1960s…) so things are a little dim…
But your school transport doesn’t sound as much fun as ours: we had the grey-blue RAF buses, sure, but half the time it was the infinitely more desirable Bedford canvas-topped trucks (“gharries”), driven not by schoolteachers (ugh!) but RAF junior ranks – probably National Servicemen, who formed a high proportion of my dad’s small unit – he was i/c currency exchange or something. The senior boy used to sit up front with the driver, while in the back there was great competition to sit next to the tailgate.
Some of the photos thoughtfully posted by various folk look very familiar, the whole style of childhood dress back then, and so on. On a different site a couple of years ago I contributed to a thread about RAF Changi, and was contacted by a guy living very close to where we’d first lived, outside Katong on the East Coast Road in a flat: he has a growing archive of pictures about the area, so I scanned a few old family snaps for him, while he sent me some updated ones of the same spot, showing what had replaced our old home. My mum spent a couple of days there on her way back from a trip to Oz in 2006: said it didn’t feel like the same place… Half a century on, who would be surprised. I see a few mentions of Robinsons store – the other big air-con department store was Littles, wasn’t it? There was a great American-style place in Orchard Road where you could get a real milkshake – and the Cathay Cinema, in fact all decent cinemas, were streets ahead of Brit ones at the time, comfortable and air-conditioned. Tiger Balm Gardens, yes, spooky and sinister…
I’ll dig out my scans, maybe do some more showing aircraft, like the first visit of a Vulcan to RAF Changi.

Thankyou Flightpath for the info on Milo:) I know next time I am out that way I will buy some ( last found Milo in Cyprus in 1994!).

There was an airconditioned Robinsons department store in Kuala Lumper built with at least 1 ,perhaps more grand staircases to walk up and down – I remember the long walk to the toy department to choose new Matchbox toys on a good few occasions:)