A Warm Welcome & Selamat Datang To All Who Have Entered the Realm of the Malayan Resource.

This section of the forum has been kindly set-up by SFTPMS in hope that all of you will find and hopefully contribute information on the history of our nation, our home. In many ways it is a tribute albeit in a small way to all those unsung heroes, civilian or military, young & old, all races and creed that has contributed to the rich tapestry of our country's history.

While this forum remains a Modeling Forum first and foremost, it also a historical based one as most models we build has some historical significance. With this we welcome all information, knowledge, stories pertaining from the impact of WWII on our great nation to the Emergency to the period before Independence.

Who knows with a bit of luck we could even publish a book with all our names on it ;) now won't that be something.

As a sidenote we do appreciate any photos posting but would just like to remind posters the need to be a bit careful about copyright issues.

Thank you. Let the History begin.....

Well there is a member in the forum who lived long enough to see the opening of WW2 in Malaya as a child. He told me that the first plane to land in the country is a DeHavilland Rapide (if not mistaken) landing at Sg Besi and during the war his father's house was commandeered by Aussie pilots flying the buffallo

There are fragments of history which he said to me and soem i just don't remember, something about B-29 bombing the Sentul railyard. Even in one occassion his brother was strafed by jap fighter in rubber estate in johor.

Sailors and airmen,

I salute you for this section. Eventhough I'm close to 40 now but I still remember my grandmother (RIP) story that her sister died in an aerial bombing over Penang (George Town area) by the B29 from India in the early days of WW2. Sad but that's war.

I've learn a great deal from her story. Surviving during the war is very hard but you make friends from other races. They even became brothers and sisters. Everyone shares what they have for the day. I see that in this forum.

By the way, my other hobby is finding WW2 aircraft wrecks in Malaysia. I have this group that I'm working with. This weekend there's a hunt expedition near CHighland as there has been sightings and reports by the Orang Asli that there's a Jap wreck in the jungle. Still virgin and good condition. I may go but my assignment with football comes first. I may ask one of the guys to take pictures and post it here.

And oh yes, I have with me a metal skin of a B24J crashed during WW2 supply drop to Force 136 at an area near Rompin. It's about A4 size. I'll try to post it here.

Sarge Bilko
Salute

This is wonderful news. We can now finally pool our resources to document this part of history which will be lost in another 10 years or so as those in their teens who can still remember the 40s will be in their 70s by now.

this section sounds interesting.... bring more of those wrecks in, BUD...

That guy is in his 70s that's right. We should get as much info from people like him as possible.

En. Koowilliams,

Infact as of last night, I've asked Mr Sager Ahmad (Chow's buddies too), the co-founder of the Malaysian Wrecks Team to e-mail me all the photos pertaining the wrecks and bunkers found so far. I'm compliling the pics and will everyone posted with the development.

Sarge Bilko

Many thanks for the excellent effort Bud. We'll pin your post here once you get the photos together so that it will remain at the top of the pile.

Gentlemen the Malaya Resource Need You.

Beachbum,

I may need your help to post those pics as IT is NOT my forte. Can I e-mail you personally those stuff once I get it?

TX
Sarge Bilko

Sure Bud. I'll PM you my email address.

Thanks for the assist.

This section looks like a part of our "Sejarah form 4-5". by the way i hope to see more information for Malaysian "Pahlawan" / "Defences Forces.

Thanks for those who carry out this section, it is really help a lot for me to learn more about our local history.

I was born at the end of 1934, two years before Hitler finally became the Fuehrer of all Germany. I may be the only person alive today to recount the experiences of a boy airplane buff, dating from the end of the halcyon days of the peaceful interregnum period between the 2 World Wars. Those days never came back again. If you hark back to the 1920s and especially the 1930s, the whole world was entranced by the aeroplane. My elder brothers were crazy about this 20th century wonder. They bought American and British magazines on the subject and built crude examples of models which were supposed to fly. In those days of slow moving and early to bed Malaya, such kits were difficult to obtain even if they were made at all overseas. Now, we are spoiled by choice. I got caught in the aeroplane fever by browsing over the magazines which my brothers left lying around. To top it off, our house (now known as Istana Negara) was directly along the flight path of aeroplanes heading north. The Kuala Lumpur aerodrome in Sungei Besi was located only a mile away from our house. In between, the Government quarters for high ranking expatriates extended from the back of our house to the Kwangtung Cemetary. Whatever spare land unused by the Cemetary was turned into vegetable gardens by the Chinese farmers who also reared chicken. We had our supply of chicken and fresh eggs from here. The aerodrome was situated to the south of the Cemetary. The direction of its run-way has not changed to this day. However, it was extended for the De Havilland Comet in the Fifties. I returned home in December 1960 by the Comet and landed at this air-port.
Every morning, around 9 am, I would rush out to the balcony on hearing an aeroplane engine noise and a De Haviland Rapide twin engined bi-plane would fly low overhead heading north towards the Batu Caves, bearing mail and newspapers.
On most lazy afternoons, when the sky was blue and laced with cumulus clouds between 4 to 5 pm, a Tiger Moth would practice acrobatics high above our house. The pilot would do the loop and cut-off the engine on its down-turn and re-start again to the excitement of the spectators on the ground.
I would fantasize small planes would land in the huge grass lawn which was part of the garden in front of the house. Little did I know then that decades into the future, the Yang-di-Pertuan Agung Malaysia, the Sultan of Johor would land his helicopter on that very lawn !
Ominous signs of war were looming, One day my brothers took me to the aerodrome to see a “Wildebeeste” torpedo bi-plane bomber which was parked on the grass field directly opposite the premises of the Kuala Lumpur Flying Club. It was painted silver in colour. Beside it, a De Haviland Tiger Moth. painted in a camouflage colour of green and brown. We were only allowed to observe the planes from a distance of about 100 yards.
Around Kuala Lumpur, there were not much preparations for war before 1941.
One night, I was taken for a motor ride and as we passed along Circular Road (Jalan Tun Razak), I could see a long line of lorries painted for a desert war in light khaki parked
near to what is now known as the Royal Selangor Golf Club. I could see many Indian soldiers lounging around the vehicles.
On the first day of war, 8 December 1941, my family rushed up to the Cameron Highlands. By the time we reached Tapah it was getting dark. There was a road block and we could go no further. We lodged in a Chinese lodging house for the night.
From then onwards, we could hear the rumble of aeroplane engines every night passing high overhead.
After a night in Camerons, we returned to Kuala Lumpur and entrained for our rubber estate at Jagoh, north Johore. The place where I first tasted watery bean-curd. I had roast chicken on the train.
One morning, I suddenly heard the sound of aeroplane engines coming towards our bungalow at a low height. We all rushed to a crudely dugged air-raid shelter beneath some rubber trees. On looking up, I could see two silver twin engine planes (Mitsubishi Betty) flying low overhead and to add to the din there was a crackling sound like fire crackers going off as they flew by.
After the raid was over, it was discovered one unfortunate tapper was shot in the leg by the gun-fire. He bled to death. One of my elder brothers stood behind a rubber tree to peep at the bombers and was shot at. He escaped injury.
We carried on our flight by car to Singapore. There were air-raids day and night. Air-raid sirens would go on and off depending whether the raid was coming in or going off.
One cannot see much during the day due to clouds. But I remember the silver bombers being caught by the arc of the searchlights at night and it was quite a sight.
A bomb fell about 200 yards from our house which had its roof painted in a camouflage colour of green and brown, probably we were mistaken for a military installation. A bomb shrapnel was recovered from the trunk of a tembusu tree in the garden.
I did not see any Buffalo. But one afternoon, I saw two Hawker Hurricanes passing low overhead above our house.. To this day, I can still remember the sound of their engines.
The family left Singapore shortly after this on the night of the 5th of February 1942, 10 days before the Surrender in the Messageries Maritimes “Felix Roussel” 17,000 tonnes.
for India which in the next few years would be my plane watchers paradise.
After we abandoned the family house in Kuala Lumpur, the Australian pilots of the Buffalos took it over from the 20th to the 23rd of December 1941. There was a big air-battle with the Japanese on the 22nd after which they retreated to Singapore.
After the Australians left the house, the town folk came to loot the house and odd pieces of the furniture would appear in residences well after the end of World War 2.
Recommended books for reading. Donaghue “Last Flight From Singapore” McMillan 1944. “ History of the Australian Airforce in Malaya & Singapore” Douglas Gillison.. Grub Hill Series –“ Bloody Shambles” Vols 1 & 2 . “ Hurricanes over Singapore “, ”Hurricanes over the Jungle”. “ Royal Australian Air Force 1939-1942” Douglas Gillison. “Singapore Burning” Colin Smith . “Battle for Singapore” Peter Thompson. “Defence & Fall of Singapore 1941-42” Brian Farrell.

I just saw this today, and have to apologise to Mr. Chan for the late posting.
You brief write up is valuable and we would love to read more from you.
Hawker Hurricanes in Malaya at the onset of the war is not something you read about.

I am at the moment trying to piece together some history of the impact of the war on my family and have only interviewed my father at the moment.

Mr Chan, do you have any memories of the type of trucks, bikes and universal carriers the british used in Malaya?

Like Loo I have also strangely missed this one as well. I can only offer my sincere apologies for missing out your most riveting and personal account of your experience Mr. Chan.

We hope to see you here in this neck of woods more often and set us straight should we go astray. Thank you for your most appreciated contribution and if I may speak on behalf of SMM forum we will treasure this little piece of history provided by your goodself.

Gentlemen, I was surprised how much was registered in my simple brain all these years. I was born under British Colonial rule, experienced wartime conditions in India, was a teenager during the British Military Administration, celebrated Merdeka in London and from 1960 has remained in Malaysia up to the 21st c. When the War broke out, I was only 7 years old. I could only remember that the British used the standard type of lorry which I saw along Circular Road and in North Johore. All vehicles were requisitioned including late American models like Ford, Chevrolet , Chrysler etc. Now and then I will certainly draw on my memories in support and contribute to your very successful website.

A few results of a simple Google search on Hurricanes in Malaya...

"January 21st, 1942...British Hurricane fighters go into action
against the Mitsubishi Zero in Malaya. The Hurricanes shoot down
eight Japanese bombers. Then the Zeros pounce. It turns out the
Hurricanes are no match for Zeros except above 20,000 feet, and
Zero pilots simply don't go that high, or pull Hurricanes down to
meet them. The British lose five Hurricanes. The Japanese bombers
whack Singapore." from http://www.usswashington.com/dl18ja42.htm

"A second convoy arrived on 13 January bringing, among other forces, fifty-one Hurricane aircraft and twenty fighter pilots. The continued advance of the Japanese down the Malay Peninsula, the apparent ease with which they had disposed of two of Britain's strongest warships, and their patent superiority in the air had had a most depressing effect. Now, it was thought, the enemy would at least be halted, and the Hurricanes would sweep his air force from the skies.

On 24 January No. 488 Squadron had two serviceable Buffalos. These were attached to No. 243 Squadron with pilots to fly them, and the squadron started to re-equip with Hurricanes which had arrived in the convoy on 13 January and had been assembled at Seletar and Tengah. No. 488 Squadron was allotted nine of them, and they were collected by members of the squadron on the 24th and 25th. For the next two days the pilots carried out practice flying and made themselves familiar with the new aircraft.

On the 27th a formation of enemy bombers appeared over the aerodrome with very little warning, at a time when all the machines were on the ground refuelling after a patrol. All the Hurricanes except one were damaged and most of No. 243 Squadron's Buffalos were either damaged or completely destroyed. Two Blenheims on the aerodrome were burnt out. Another wave of bombers came over forty minutes later and did further damage. The aerodrome was pitted with bomb craters, making it unserviceable. For the next three days all personnel were engaged either in repairing aircraft or in filling in bomb craters, and by the end of the month three Hurricanes and a strip of the aerodrome had been made serviceable."
from http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2AirF-c7.html

somewhere in the article above, there were mention of Flying Fortresses bombing KL. Looks like the list of planes in the Malaya campaign was quite varied as well.

Dr Chan:

Were you involved in authoring the recent UEM publication on Malayan Emergency? That's a wonderful reference book I would recommend to all member here.

All these are reminding me to build the Pacific Buffalos stashed in my room.. and of course more B29!

And don't forget, KL and Singapore has laso been bombed by India-based B-29s, although not on the scale as the raids on Japan.

Hi Agrillion,

Sorry to disappoint you, I did not write the book you mention. I recommend you
War of the running dogs by Barber and Tan Sri Dr CC Too's biography Chan Chin
Cheung.

Hi Kerastangan,

Some China Burma India World War 2 info for you. Thanks to Comcast.com.

Chan Chin Cheung

Thanks for the recommendation Dr Chan. Will keep an eye for it.

Further to my previous posts, I recall that on 22 May 1937, the Coronation of King George VI, the road in Kuala Lumpur now known as Jalan Raja was elaborately decorated with an arch at where the Federal House is now situated and also at the entrance of the road leading up to Bukit Aman. I remember two biplanes flew very low over the festive scene. One much bigger than the other, presumably a Wildebeeste and a Tiger Moth. These aircraft were the very first embedded in my memory

Many thanks Mr. Chan for the recent addition. Both your vivid memories and info are both interesting as well as immensely entertaining. The book by Noel Barber on the Emergency as mentioned by you in my opinion is a very good read on possibly the only fully successful counter-terrorism operation on a national scale.

This is a very nicely done animation of the Malaya campaign.
click here

great as a first step in understanding the basic strategy of the campaign.

Anyone wants to start a Malayan campaign group build?

when? I'm in........ ;)

Since you are the first one in, would you like take the lead in the Group Build?

I can help, but I also think that for location wise, I would like to nominate Loo CK and beachbum to co-lead this GB.. :P

Since the forum members are spread out in different states maybe an online GB would be better. By all means ask if CK/Beachbum would assist

I would not mind this. Lets get more volunteers here.

Looking at the 50th merdeka celebrations just around 9 months away, how about a group effort by all members to do up a good collection so that we can plan some activities with the powers that be?

The few names and projects that I can suggest....

Aidy/masterqq to spearhead all the birds in Malaysian service
CpTan to scratchbuild Tunku in his famous merdeka pose. :rolleyes:
Beachbum to do 2 human drama piece dio for the Emergency period...
Loo to concentrate on WW2 Malaya
xamel to head modern armor section....

What say you guys ?

:o

Errrmmm...

I'm flattered but I'm not really the person that I feel suitable to fill in the shoe (Silantra, perhaps?). I can give it a try though. But the Scorpion I'm building right now is for a customer. It'll be sent to him latest by next weekend.

I might make another replica of the PARA Scorpion after the current one is completed. Anyone to do the Stormer unit?

I think i can build a Malayan brewster buffalo

Before I put some gas on the footpedal on this event, just to update those who are interested, I have spoken to Aidy, Richard and CK Tang recently and I will reach out to Thomas and CP soon to check whether they can spare a good part of next year to plan and carry out builds on this event.

Keep posted but in the meantime, SFTPMS needs your help to make the Malaysian Project RUNWAY a success. Unfortunately, we can't get Heidi Klum here!

What? No Heidi Klum? What's the purpose then? :lol:

Anyway, just to get some confirmation, does Malaysia own a T-72 tank?. If so, shall we include it in this project?

I think so. I think it was a T something else rather than a T72.

I was at Putra Jaya on assignment the night before Merdeka Day 2005 and it was brought by trailer camouflaged with netting. Then they parked it with the rest of the armour. Could only get as close as 10 feet as sentries were posted around it.
The beast sure belched lots of fumes and smoke when it got started for the parade. The sound was awesome especially the tracks on the tarmac pavement.

After that never heard if we took delivery of the rest of the tanks.

Richard.

Gentlemen, Merry X"mas and a Happy New Year. China Burma India Roundup news October 1943 shows first Malayan working for the United States. I was the second with the United States Medical Research, IMR, Jalan Pahang, Kuala Lumpur 1962-1964.

Gentlemen, Merry X"mas and a Happy New Year. China Burma India Roundup news October 1943 shows first Malayan working for the United States. The grand-daughter of Wong Ah Fook, of Jalan Wong Ah Fook, Johor Baru. I was the second with the United States Medical Research, IMR, Jalan Pahang, Kuala Lumpur 1962-1964

Mr. C.C.Chan,

Sir, I read with interest your recollection of the war years in British Malaya. But I was not familiar with the Vickers Wildebeeste, so I'd to dig up Granpa's collection of Royal Air Force Flying Review Vol.XVII #6 and Airfix Magazine Vol.24 #2.