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  5. 1968/09 - Birth of the Singapore Air Defence Command (1968 - 1975 Mar) (SADC)
First generation (1968 to 1984)

1968/09 - Birth of the Singapore Air Defence Command (1968 - 1975 Mar) (SADC)

Training Aircraft

Cessna 172K

Year

1968

Group photo of uniformed personnel with officers seated in front, taken outdoors with trees in the background.
Red and white roundel with a solid red centre, representing the insignia of the Singapore Air Defence Command (1968 - 1975 Mar).
Large cylindrical decompression chamber mounted on a trailer inside a covered facility.
Aerial view of Bukit Gombak Radar Station in the 1960s.

“When I first opened the hangar doors in 1968, I was greeted by two Cessna aircraft. If either one of the aircraft was down, it meant Singapore had only one aircraft to defend its skies.”

“I was given a little cubicle in Pearl’s Hill where I was to work out what sort of people I needed and how many, and how I could obtain them. I had an officer called Henry Cheong, who was there to assist me, and one clerk. That was all. So that was where we started.”

“In May 1968, I was setting up the Air Staff, building it up in phases. At the same time, I was involved in the flying grading and recruitment programme for pilots. I also faced the problem of finding suitable people who could be sent for other air vocational courses."

“An Air Force or Navy did not constitute a force if there were not the people with the expertise.”

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