Sembawang Air Base

Sembawang Air Base (SBAB) Pangkalan Udara Sembawang 胜宝旺(三巴旺)空军基地 (Shèng Bǎo Wàng [Sān Bā Wàng] Kōngjūn Jīdì) செம்பவாங் வான்படைத் தளம் (Cempavāṅ Vāṉpaṭait Taḷam)
150px Sembawang Air Base Crest Badge
IATA: none – ICAO: WSAG
Summary
Airport type	Military airbase
Owner	Ministry of Defence (Singapore)
Operator	Republic of Singapore Air Force
Location	Sembawang, Singapore
Elevation AMSL	26 m / 86 ft
Coordinates
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 04/22 1,907 6,255 Asphalt 05/23 1,036 3,400 Asphalt

Sembawang Air Base (ICAO: WSAG) is a military airbase of the Republic of Singapore Air Force located at Sembawang, in the northern part of Singapore. The base motto is "Dare and Will".

RAF Sembawang

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
Prior to Singapore's independence from the United Kingdom, it was a Royal Air Force station known as RAF Sembawang as well as being the Royal Naval Air Station – HMS Simbang – to the carrier pilots of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (attached to the Eastern Fleet based in Singapore) who used it for rest and refit whenever an aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy berthed at the nearby HMNB Singapore for refuel and repairs, which also housed the largest Royal Navy dockyard east of Suez up to the time of UK forces withdrawal from Singapore.

After the Japanese capture of Singapore during World War II, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service took over the two RAF stations of Sembawang and Seletar. Singapore was split into north-south spheres of control, and the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force took over RAF Tengah. It was not until September 1945 that the two airfields reverted to British control following the Japanese surrender.

RAF Sembawang was a key part of Britain's continued military presence in the Far East (along with the three other RAF bases in Singapore: RAF Changi, RAF Seletar, RAF Tengah) during the critical period of the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960), the Brunei Revolt in 1962 and the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation (1962–1966).

The base was renamed Sembawang Air Base (SBAB) in 1971 when it was handed over to the Singapore Air Defence Command (SADC). From 1971 to 1976, under the auspices of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA), Sembawang housed British, Australian and New Zealand forces.

In 1983, the airbase became a full-fledged rotary-wing air base when the first resident helicopter squadron – 120 Squadron – was permanently relocated from Changi Air Base.

Currently, there are approximately 100 helicopters based in Sembawang Air Base, almost all are operating in support of the Singapore Army and the Republic of Singapore Navy. It is the home base to all the RSAF helicopter squadrons, consisting of AS-332 Super Pumas, CH-47SD Chinooks, Sikorsky S-70B (derivative of Sikorsky SH-60 Seahawk) naval helicopters, as well as the Fennecs and UH-1Hs, which are currently stored in reserve. Recently added to the base are the AH-64D Longbow Apache attack helicopters.

The Flying squadrons are:

• 120 Squadron with 20 AH-64D Longbow Apaches;
• 123 Squadron with 6 S-70B Seahawks, these are owned and operated by the Republic of Singapore navy but flown by RSAF pilots;
• 124 Squadron with 5 EC120 Colibri, headquartered at SBAB with a training detachment at Seletar Airport;
• 125 Squadron with 22 AS332M Super Puma, four of these are configured for Search and rescue duties;
• 126 Squadron with 12 AS532UL/AL Cougar but is currently based at Oakey Airbase in support of SAF's training need in Australia;
• 127 Squadron with 6 CH-47D and 12 CH-47SD Chinooks.

The Support Squadrons are:

• Air Logistics Squadron (ALS) - 706 SQN
• Airfield Maintenance Squadron (AMS) - 506 SQN
• Field Defence Squadron (FDS) - 606 SQN
• Flying Support Squadron (FSS) - 206 SQN

Currently, the RSAF's Chong Pang Camp SADA (Singapore Air Defence Artillery), with its associated Air Defence assets, is also located within the compound of the air base as well as the famous local Sembawang Hot Spring.

Photo gallery

• RAF Sembawang entrance 1941.jpeg

  Entrance of RAF Sembawang, c. 1941

• 

  Brewster Buffalo Mark Is being inspected by RAF personnel on 12 October 1941 at RAF Sembawang

• RSAF SBAB helicopters & staffs.jpg

  The staff and personnel from Sembawang Air Base Air Logistic Squadron posing in front of the helicopters currently in RSAF service. MINDEF

• 

  120 Squadron AH-64D Longbow Apache on static display during RSAF Open house

• Republic of Singapore Air Force Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma taking off from the RSS Resolution with the USS Russell on the horizon - 20040607.jpg

  125 Squadron Super Puma takes off from the flight deck of the RSS Resolution - an Endurance class LST. Visible in the foreground is the Aircraft Ship Integrated Secure and Traverse (ASIST) system

• 010713zsingapore-h.jpg

  127 Squadron CH-47SD lands aboard USS Rushmore during Exercise CARAT 2001

See also

• Republic of Singapore Air Force
• Singapore strategy
• British Far East Command
• Far East Air Force (Royal Air Force)
• Far East Strategic Reserve
• Former overseas RAF bases
• Battle of Singapore
• Malayan Emergency
• Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation

External links

• History of RAF
• Airport information for WSAG at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
• RSAF web page on Sembawang Air Base (SBAB)
• Background history of R.N.A.S. Sembawang