Tebrau is definately one of them, there’s a sketch by RNZAF artist Maurice Conly in “Portrait of an Air Force” of No.1 Aerodrome Construction Sqn. building it. I’ll let you know the others tomorrow when I get the book out. They were all close to the Singapore/Malay border from memory.

All of best New Zealands large bulldozers and earthmoving equipment was taken to Singapore. It was already very scarce in NZ as they still used horses in most places, so this gear was sorely missed. And of course once the invasion came the ACS scarpered and left the lot there in Malaya or Singapore, can’t remember which. I wonder if any of it is still there, perhaps even still operating in some capacity.

The squadron was interesting as they were all Public Works Department men, who built roads and dams, etc., and they were impressed into the RNZAF for this job in Singapore. I believe they are the only RNZAF members who didn’t volunteer – everyone else volunteered. However I may be wrong, perhaps the PWD men had a choice. I’d doubt it though as they were the only specialists around in the field. When they returned to NZ they built the runway at Rukuhia, now Hamilton International Airport, my local. A second Sqn, No. 2 ACS was also raised later and went to Fiji I believe.

Laurie, I doubt that ‘Singapore Harriers’ is available anywhere I’m afraid. In fact I don’t think it was commercially released. It looks like a local effort by the author, and he must have decided to let the National library know or something who got copies into the library system I’d imagine. It wouldn’t have sold in shops, but perhaps, just perhaps it may have been promoted through the Returned Services Association or maybe some other veterans Association I’d think. As I said, it is cheaply produced. It’s a shame in a way, but great that he recorded the story. he bought the camera on the way over in Aussie, and there’s loads of excellent photos, but he’s simply photocopied them and they look second generation. No doubt the RNZAF Museum will have a copy. I might see if they have the originals or if they know the author’s still around. I’ll have to get the book out again first. I’ll get back to you.

As for other books… ‘Portrait Of An Air Force’ by Geoffrey Bentley and Maurice Conly (Grantham House, 1987) has a chapter covering 488 Sqn RNZAF and No 1 Aerodrome Construction Sqn. This book is very good, the history of the RNZAF put out for their 50th Anniv. Easy to find copies as it was mass produced.

There is a book I’ve seen advertised online but never seen physically called ‘Buffaloes Over Singapore’ That apparently covers the RNZAF efforts, and no doubt the RAF, RAAF and Dutch East Indies efforts too.

I’ll see if I can come up with some other books, there must be some. One chap who I’;d love to chat with about it is Geoff Fisken, the RNZAF’s top Pacific ace. He fought in 253 Sqn and actually shot down a couple of Jap planes, which was fairly uncommon in the battle. He later became the hero of the Kittyhawk Fighter Wing in the Pacific with 14 Sqn, which was made up of the remnants of the RNZAF personnel who made it out of Singapore/Malaya.

One of the airfields the RNZAF built, or perhaps finished off, was Tebrau. I’ll have to look in the book to get the others. I know two were massive bomber strips, all cut out of the jungle. I think they were finished almost in time for the Japs to land on them!

Cheers
Dave

Thanks chaps, especially Laurie.

My goodness, they bulldozed a Buffalo? No!! What a huge shame. The chances are that may have been an RNZAF example from 488 Sqn.

I was reading recently about 488 Sqn’s fight to try and save Singapore and Malaya, that must have been an awful struggle. It mentioned the RAF had top secret emergency aerodromes hidden in the Indonesian jungle (Sumatra from memory) from where they operated Hurricanes and other aircraft. I wonder if anything remains at those locations now, maybe squadrons of abandoned aircraft still sit in the undergrowth?

Does anything remain of the aerodromes built in Malaya by the RNZAF? There is an excellent book by a member of No 1 Aerodrome Construction Sqn who went over and built four big strips before the Japs invaded. I can’t recall the book’s name but I’ll bet no-one here has seen it because it is an amateur effort, done on a typewriter and photocopied. There’s a copy in the University library. It is full of photos from before, during and after the outbreak of war in Singapore and Malaya. I tried to track down the author but he must be deceased. It would have been good to get decent scans of the photos and publish it properly rather than the hazy photocopis of his 1980’s book. I hope the originals are in safe hands.

Edit: I just remembered the book is called ‘Singapore Harriers’