Republic of Singapore Air Force Museum

27th October, Tuesday ~ This is an out-of-sequence entry. I'd meant to blog about this earlier, but other events took priority, like The French Stall official opening & Halloween which are previous entries in my blog. Nevertheless, I make up for this late entry with lots of fotos! xD

If you like aircraft, I mean military aircraft, not airliner, where would you go? You can station yourself near an airbase with camera at ready. Nowadays, that might not be a good idea. Most probably you will be arrested on suspicion as a spy or a terrorist. Haha... well, you can always wait for an air show to come by, but what if there isn't any at long period of time? The best course is to visit an air museum, like one which I went recently, the RSAF Museum or known as the Air Force Museum in Singapore.

Air Force Museum


I knew about the Air Force Museum for some time now, but couldn't find the time to visit it. Now, I can & frankly speaking, I'm sexcited! I love military aircraft! Ya, ya, ya... I know I am a weird girl. Many people thought so too! I love military stuffs, guns, tanks & best of all, those Big Bad Mean Warbirds! Not that I love war, but those tough fighting machines... something very macho about them, turns me on. I'm nuts! LOL! xD

Big Bad Mean Warbirds


The problem with me is I am not good at identifying them, except for a few types, like my favorite, the attack copter, awesome Apache. So every time I sees a military aircraft in the sky, I will go at my soulmate like 'What is that?" or "What does it do?" Luckily, my soulmate is quite the expert at ID-ing military aircraft. He is so good that he can ID an aircraft from just a glimpse of it's silhouette or from just its tail, wing or some other parts. He had tried to teach me, but I'm so lost with aircraft terminology. Therefore, the ID of aircraft in my pics are all by him.

Upon our arrival at the Air Force Museum, we were greeted by the marvelous sight of 2 aircraft in the air supported by pillar. WOW!

A-4S Skyhawk & Hawker Hunter


Look at all those fabulous warbirds! I can even walk up to many aircraft at the museum & touch them! Weeeeee... this is WILD! =P
And there's a BIG missile on display. My soulmate told me that's a SAM(Surface-to-Air Missile) used by ground force to knock down enemy aircraft. It's a Bloodhound & it's so very cool! Hanging from the ceiling are some small cute aircraft. I like to pilot those! Haha... but my aircraft guru said those are UAV(Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) or drones, flown by remote control, no pilot needed. Alright, alright... let me get my itchy little hands on those jet fighters! Correction, many of those are actually fighter-bombers or trainers as according to him! Grrr... let me have those copters there! xD

Jets & Props

Fixed wings & rotary wing

BAC Bloodhound

Ceiling display


After looking at the planes, my aircraft expert stated that quite a few of those aircraft were from the Vietnam War era. These are what he listed of aircraft currently displayed at the Air Force Museum:
Hawker Hunter F.74S
McDonnell Douglas A-4S Skyhawk
McDonnell Douglas TA-4SU Super Skyhawk
BAC Strikemaster Mk.84
Lockheed T-33A Shooting Star
Aermacchi SF.260
Aermacchi S-211
Cessna 172 Skyhawk
Bell UH-1B Iroquois or commonly known as the 'Huey'.
Aerospatiale SA 316B Alouette III
Eurocopter AS350
RQ-2 Pioneer UAV
together with 2 other UAVs or drones & of course the BAC Bloodhound missile.

Ok, lets get the technicality over with! I wanna play with those beautiful warbirds! LOL! xD

Hamster Crew Chief! =P


First, lets try out the choppers. Rewind back to Nam... watch out Charlie! Here comes Ride of The Valkyries! Gung Ho Hamster Air Cavalry ready to rock & roll! Birddog confirmed target. Gunships clear the field! This is a Free Fire Zone! Call in the air strike! I love the smell of napalm in the morning. Smells like victory! LOL! xD

Air Cavalry

Apocalypse Now!

DustOff!


And here comes the jets...

My Eagle Flights

HATO = Hamster Assisted Take Off xD


Time to bug out of Nam, Hamster! Get the hell back to The World. You have got a plane to catch. Props coming in. Props? Oh... propeller-driven aircraft are called 'props'.

To Catch a Flight! =P


Sigh... what an experience! With images of dogfights & firefights still fresh in my mind, I wandered around in a daze admiring strange items. What's this? A bomb, a missile? No, that's a fuel tank & that's a rocket pod. Over there hanging under a pylon is an air-to-air missile, a AIM-9 Sidewinder & stop grabbing the guns, silly girl!

Fire hydrant, engine trouble & my fat tank! =P

Lock on!

TopGuns!


What are those funny markings on the aircraft? Those are national insignia to identify friend or foe. Some are either nose art or squadron insignia or warning signs.

National Insignias, past to present

Nose Art Girl! =P


On the day we were there, a group of NCC Air cadets were also visiting the museum. I wonder what they thought of the silly girl who was running around those hardwares posing for pics like crazy. xD

National Cadet Corps group pic


Above the hangar, on the 2nd level, there's an indoor gallery.

Welcome!


At the indoor gallery, rows of uniforms & suits are on display. Displays include terrain maps, air control boards, ordnance & some other gizmo too technical for my Hamster brain. However, I do get an idea on how an air force operates & my training for fighter pilot started there. xD

First, the uniforms...

From office wear to flight suit


Learn the call-signs, use the radar & always check your 6!

Air control, there's something on my tail! =P


Get acquaintance with the ejection seat & training in a simulator.

Eject the pilot trainee! xD


After my training, my Flight Commander gave me my very first mission.

My First Mission! =P


Flight Commander told me to go to the hangar, salute those veteran warbirds, don't twitch their tail or they will kiss your ass goodbye! Well... I'm a stubborn Hamster & I put those oldies to the test!

Salute, Tail Twitched & Butt Kissed! xD


Oh manz, those old machines really kick ass! Not much of them around now, but it's nice seeing them. Old soldier don't die. They just quietly fade away. Hopefully, some might end their glorious days as display for the younger generations to admire, like this little Hamster for one. Really enjoyed the experience! I didn't say goodbye to them, but instead, I bid them farewell. Fare you well, my friends. You will stay in my memory for a long long time. May your glory last forever! Au revoir!

Operational Check


Note: More and bigger pics in my Flickr album.