Document Created: 24 August 2007
Air & Space Power Journal Fall 2007
Buffaloes over Singapore: RAF, RAAF, RNZAF and Dutch Brewster Fighters in Action over Malaya and the East Indies, 1941–1942 by Brian Cull with Paul Sortehaug and Mark Haselden. Grub Street/the Basement, 10 Chivalry Road, London, SW11 1HT, United Kingdom, 2003, 288 pages, $36.95 (hardcover).
Paraphrasing Lord Wellington, one can say, “The Battle of Britain was won on the flying fields of England.” After reading Buffaloes over Singapore, I would add, “The Battle of Singapore was lost on the playing fields of Malaya.” I would also add—less in jest—that this book is a first-rate primer on how not to fight an air war.
On 7 December 1941, no one “in the know” really expected the Japanese to attack British Malaya, despite their demonstrated aggressiveness in China (1931–41) and French Indochina (1940–41). If they did attack, British Far East Command knew that the four squadrons of newly arrived, American-made Brewster Buffalo fighters, flown by Royal Air force (RAF), Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), and Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) pilots, would soon sweep the Japanese air fleet (1,000 strong) from the skies.
Any air officer above flight lieutenant knew that the Buffalo wasn’t a first-class “kite.” It couldn’t succeed against the Germans or Italians, but Headquarters RAF decided that the Buffalo would suffice against the poorly constructed (canvas and paper), fourth-rate fighters the Japanese flew (according to the RAF’s air intelligence). Some of the Buffalo’s less seasoned pilots wanted the Japanese to attack, thinking that a few easy air kills could only sharpen their combat air skills while they awaited transfer to the European war.
In the meantime, pilots, intelligence officers, and the command staff plotted promotion, partied, and generally enjoyed the “good life.” Their complacency ended on 8 December 1941. Four hours before Pearl Harbor felt its first aerial bomb, Japanese naval gunfire saturated northeast Malaya’s beaches. Despite the fact that members of the Associated Press had noticed a large Japanese convoy heading south, the British were caught off guard.
Japanese pilots and aircraft were not fourth-rate, as anticipated. Rather, their pilots proved themselves well trained, experienced, and aggressive. Their Zero fighters outsped, outclimbed, and outturned the Buffaloes.
The heavier Buffalo could dive better than the Zero, but for a diving attack, a pilot needed warning time to gain sufficient altitude. British radar deployed in Malaya would have given the Buffalo that advantage, but the radar sets were quickly moved far to the rear, to “protect [their] secret.” Doing so preserved the “secret” but not the slow-climbing Buffaloes or, eventually, British Southeast Asia.
Buffalo pilots who did manage to climb, dive, and survive often found their homes under new management of the Japanese. Panicky airfield evacuations were the rule. Kota Baru, the finest airfield in northeast Malaya, fell to a sniper attack. Nearby Alor Star gave the Japanese 1,000 barrels of high-octane aviation gas and tons of bombs. Such “gifts,” coupled with the excellent pilots who flew the Zero fighters, enabled the Japanese to quickly gain air superiority over all of Malaya.
The British might have regained air superiority after a convoy battled its way to Singapore carrying 51 Hawker Hurricane fighters. Instead of sending the superb Hurricanes into battle en masse, the local air staff used them to replace Buffaloes lost to attrition. On Singapore’s last day of battle, many still-crated Hurricanes ended up being pushed off piers while Buffaloes twisted and turned in combat overhead—even with plenty of pilots available to fill empty Hurricane cockpits. Long after the Japanese gained air superiority over Singapore, the RAF still sent pilots there for training. Unfortunately, the fledglings proved too inexperienced to fly. Apparently, making the training pipeline look good was more important than admitting to Headquarters RAF in London that the air battle wasn’t going well. In sum, Buffaloes over Singapore is a first-rate story of second-string pilots flying a third-rate fighter under the command of, at best, a fourth-rate air staff.
Capt Murdock M. Moore, USAF, Retired
Dayton, Ohio
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