RAF Tengah RAF Tengah was opened in 1939. Tengah airfield was the target of
carpet bombing when 17
Japanese Navy bombers conducted the
first air raid on Singapore, shortly after the
Battle of Malaya began. In a 1990 memoir, former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot Terence O'Brien described leading (in late December 1941) a flight of
Lockheed Hudsons from Britain to Singapore, which was already under attack by the time he and his aircrews arrived at Tengah. He noted that only eight "of us out of the twenty who set off" from Britain for Singapore survived the Far East campaign. Tengah had already been under air attack by the Japanese, but he said it was easy to imagine the once elegant, but now badly damaged, officers' mess just a few weeks before their arrival. He said it: . . . stood proud on a grassy slope to the south of the field, from the terrace you looked over the lush green grass, then a smooth-topped expanse of rubber plantation stretched away to misty blue hills . . . You could picture officers and guests out there on mess nights chatting under the Southern Cross . . . the strains of a waltz coming from the dance band in the spacious lounge brilliantly lit and aswirl in colour. Now, a month later and into war, all that was gone forever. Many of the windows were now empty of glass, so the rain came misting through in the frequent tropical showers . . . There was no longer any door at all on the room allotted to Peter and me . . . Not long after their arrival, O'Brien and his Hudsons departed Singapore just ahead of the conquering Japanese. Tengah was the first airfield to be captured when Japanese forces
invaded Singapore. After the Japanese completed their capture of Singapore, Tengah came under the control of the
Imperial Japanese Army Air Force while the
Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service took over the other two RAF stations of
Sembawang Air Base and
RAF Seletar as Singapore was split into north–south sphere of control. This effectively ensured that the Japanese Army took control of the south, including the administrative hub and population centre of Singapore City, while the Japanese Navy took command of the north, which included the
Royal Navy dockyard at
Sembawang. The base was home to 11, 17, 20, 28, 32, 33, 34, 39, 45, 60, 62, 64, 74, 81, 84, 103, 136, 152, 155, 204, 242 & 258 RAF squadrons during its lifetime.
Malayan Emergency operated by
No. 45 Squadron RAF at
Tengah During the
Malayan Emergency, Tengah was used to house
Avro Lincolns of the RAF and
Royal Australian Air Force and
Bristol Brigands of
No. 84 Squadron RAF which performed bombing sorties against pro-independence forces led by the
Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA), led by the
Malayan Communist Party (MCP) deep in the jungles of
Peninsular Malaysia. In 1952
45 Squadron was equipped with
de Havilland Hornets and re-equipped with
Venoms in 1955 at RAF Butterworth when it was amalgamated with
33 Squadron T.11's of
60 Squadron, joined by
14 Squadron of the
Royal New Zealand Air Force. In 1958 they were joined by 45 Squadron and
No. 75 Squadron RNZAF, both equipped with
English Electric Canberra B.2. The RAAF retained their Lincolns, with
1 Squadron, until the end of the emergency.
Konfrontasi F.3 similar to those operated by
No. 74 Squadron RAF at
Tengah During the period of
Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation,
20 Squadron with its
Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft in addition to the
Gloster Javelins of 60 Squadron and
64 Squadron, were based on the airfield to help upgrade the air defence of Singapore and
Peninsula Malaysia against infrequent air incursions from the
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s and
North American P-51 Mustangs of the
Indonesian Air Force.
74 Squadron English Electric Lightnings were deployed following Confrontation to replace the Javelins of 64 Squadron. On 3 September 1964, an Indonesian Air Force
Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashed into the
Straits of Malacca while
trying to evade interception by a Javelin FAW.9 of No 60 Squadron. On 30 April 1968, the Gloster Javelins of No 60 Squadron flew their last RAF operational sorties from
Tengah and the squadron was disbanded the same day.
V bomber detachment As a show of force to deter the Indonesian President
Sukarno from launching an all-out war during this period, the RAF also deployed a
V bomber force detachment to Tengah in the form of
Handley Page Victor B.1A bombers from
15 Squadron in August 1963, which was rotated with those dispersed to
RAAF Butterworth in Malaysia. The detachment of Victor bombers was replaced in October 1964 by a detachment of
Avro Vulcan B.2 bombers from
12 Squadron, these were subsequently pulled back to
RAF Cottesmore in December that same year. In August 1965,
9 Squadron resumed RAF's Vulcan bomber detachment to Tengah, followed by
35 Squadron in December 1965, these were in turn replaced by 9 Squadron again in February 1966. After June 1966, 9 Squadron returned to Cottesmore following the end of the confrontation. According to British
MoD documents declassified in 2000, up to 48
Red Beard tactical nuclear weapons were secretly stowed in a highly secured weapons storage facility at Tengah, between 1962 and 1970, for possible use by the V bomber force detachment and 45 Sqn Canberras for Britain's military commitment to
South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
British withdrawal The RAF station
closed at the end of March 1971 and Tengah was handed over to the Singapore Air Defence Command (later the Republic of Singapore Air Force) by 1973, after the British withdrawal following its defence cuts. Despite this, the airfield continued to host British and
Commonwealth air forces and troops under the auspices of the
Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) until 1976. The RAAF completely pulled out of Tengah in 1983.
Tengah Air Base It was renamed RSAF Tengah in 1971 (then it became
Tengah Air Base (TAB)), when it was handed over to the Singapore Air Defence Command (SADC). Currently, the air base houses aircraft such as the
Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcons and will house the
F-35As and F-35Bs by the 2030s. In 2017, it was announced that all RSAF assets and equipment located in
Paya Lebar Air Base will be moved to Tengah Air Base. Tengah Air Base will be expanded by acquiring 50,000 graves in the
Choa Chu Kang Cemetery and 80 neighbouring farms/agricultural businesses. Military training areas* will be rationalised, such as the closure of Murai Urban Training Facility. A new runway will be built on the expanded portion of the base. A RSAF50 parade took place on 1 September 2018 at TAB. The parade featured almost 500 personnel in a march-past, mobile column and a Salute-to-the-Nation flypast involving 20 aircraft. The new
Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aircraft made its maiden public appearance. The static display also showcased both retired and present aircraft. On 8 May 2024, an F-16 crashed shortly after takeoff, the pilot ejected with minor injuries. It was later determined that the crash was caused by an extremely rare malfunction of the pitch rate gyroscopes. On 8 June 2025, the adjacent Lim Chu Kang Road was closed for the base expansion. It was replaced by a new stretch of Lim Chu Kang Road further west. ==Organisation==