Three F-5 Jets Flew Home
Thursday, 24th February 1983
Three F-5 supersonic jet flew home from US via UK. The first leg from US, Nellis Air Base in Las Vegas, to UK, RAF Leuchers in Scotland, which took the American team 8 days. The second leg from UK to Singapore took another 8 days which was done by the local team. The local team was led by Major Mark Wong who is the Commanding Officer of 144 Squadron. The 8 days trip from UK with stop-over in France, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand and Malaysia.
In 1982, an order for three more F-5Fs was placed, these were forward delivered in 1983 to RAF Leuchars in Scotland where they were taken over by pilots of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF). With the arrival of the 3 F-5s, the total number of F-5 jet is up from 27 to 30.