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First generation (1968 to 1984)

1969/05 - First aircraft purchase and first batch of pilots

Cessna 172K

1969

SADC received its first purchased aircraft—eight Cessna 172Ks—to train Singapore’s pioneer batch of 37 local pilots.

The SADC’s first-ever aircraft purchase of eight Cessna 172Ks arrived in May 1969 at Seletar Air Base, which took over from the Singapore Flying Club in training the first intake of 37 local pilot recruits using the Cessna 172Ks.

Two SADC airmen painting an insignia on an aircraft fuselage.

The SADC's first Cessna was hand-painted by the SADC’s airmen.

An air force personnel standing beside a Cessna 172 on an airstrip.

Basic and advanced flying training for the Cessna were held at RAF flying schools in Britain.

“When the SADC’s first aircraft arrived, it was a strange sight. Eight lorries, each carrying a wooden crate, slowly trudged down the road to hangar 505. Lying inside with its wings strapped along either side of the fuselage was a beautiful white aircraft. In the days ahead, local mechanics and their Australian instructors would lovingly assemble, service, and paint on the markings of the SADC’s first new aircraft.”

1WO (Ret) Mohd Haniffa, Air Force Technician, 1998 who was part of the first batch of technicians recruited under the Royal Air Force (Malaya) Scheme

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