RAAF Mirages in Tengah - Early Days

damienthedevil SG

One the most eventful time for me in my early days in Tengah was seeing the RAAF Mirages doing a storm climb just after take-off from the Alert Hangars. It was pure awesome. I will wait eagerly to hear the sonic boom once the Mirages breaks the sound barrier. There were time when the Mirages were dispatched to intercept high flying unidentified planes ( Usually Russians - Cold war time ). It was before we had the F5Es and F16s. We were depending on the Aussies to defend our high altitude airspace coz the Hunters could not climb that high for interception.

The Mirages were barebone, no drop tanks ,only armed with 2 Magic AAM ( Similar to Early Version Sidewinder ) They were fast and swift. The Mirages was never involved in any firing incident in all their interceptions.

Joe Black SG

Are you sure they were Russians? The nearest airfield would be somewhere in Vietnam. I also haven't heard of them deploying aircraft carriers near Singapore, not even when the Russians were having a Naval base in Vietnam.

Fairyland SG

Well, I heard stories about some high altitude intruders and how even the F5s couldn't climb fast enough to intercept within our airspace.

Everyone assumed it's a MIG 25 from Cam Ranh Bay......but it's anyone's guess.

The mirages were kinda small, I saw them on the flight line in Paya Lebar during some Adex exercises. Their take off runs were always longer and louder.

Hunters are the best. Beautiful machine. Wonderful melody.

Saw a belly landing once! Would have liked to see the 30mm Adens fire off at once and see the effects on the ground...... Sad

Remember reading about one in Australia......journalists saw our pilot open the cockpit, step out, took his helmet off and walked away! Just like that. Mr. Green

Garang!

Civet SG

Those were the days, I still remember the jet blast from the Mrages, remember one crashed short of the runway near Tengah AB.

Anyone has any idea, what's the outcome between F5E v Mirage in dogfight , similar category?

IAF SG

there was a big accident in 1983, when a raaf mirage collided mid-air with one of our skyhawks around tengah. The falling debris destroyed surronding kampongs and even killed a woman – both pilots ejected to safety though

cavsg SG

the mirage pilot was used to the way they land in australia which is straight in approach without atc clearance and thus when he see the runway he just came in to land without noticing the skyhawk at base.

during my early days of flying, my instrutor always made me pitch the nose lower for a quick look on base to check its clear before turning final so that the same thing would not happen to me in future.

cavsg SG

Tu-95 Bears were deployed in the 80’s, we had F-5E in 1979, Mirage detachment was here in 1971 but I not sure which year it went back to butterworth.

eurofighter SG

cavsg, you a pilot?

Viper52 SG

From www.adf-serials.com

Mirage IIIO(A) - Serial A3-69
Delivered 12/10/66. Served with 77 Sqn Williamtown NSW. Served with 75 Sqn Butterworth Malaysia. Collided with RSAF A-4 30/03/83 1 nm south of Tengah Airfield, Singapore Midair collision with RSAF Skyhawk A-4S No 636 whilst on finals for Rwy 36. Mirage pilot ejected at 400 ft and 190 kts with only minor injuries. Skyhawk pilot (LTA Foo Siew Ngan) also ejected successfully. One civilian on ground killed. Crew; FLGOFF J.T. O'Halloran.

Theres a book on the history of RAAF 75 Sqn called "Seek and Strike" (75 Sqn motto) and it describes the incident in more detail. The Mirage was grey painted and the Skyhawk in SEA scheme. The collision occurred on a hazy (ie. grey) afternoon and the Mirage was joining the TAB circuit during a complicated runway change procedure and came down onto the Skyhawk from above. Believe that the accident report stated that weather and camo may have been a factor (grey Mirage against grey sky; green/brown A-4 against green/brown terrain prevented both pilots from seeing one another clearly)

Performance wise the book states that the Mirage Hunters found low-flying RSAF Hunters and Skyhawks very hard to fight due to their effective camo and agility. While another book I've read on the English Electric Lightning stated that 74 Sqn RAF wiped the floor against the RAAF Mirages at all altitudes when 74 Sqn were based at Tengah.

The intercepted aircraft could have been Soviet Tu-16 Badgers, Tu-95 Bears, Il-38 Mays (ELINT) or even Tu-22M Backfires staging from Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam in the 70s/80s. Since Soviet subs were known to transit through these waters its not surprising their aircraft flew this way too

BTW, I have seen a photo of a Tengah-based RAF Javelin intercepting an Indonesian Tu-16 Badger near Singapore during the Confrontation

Viper52 SG

BTW damienthedevil, I have a few friends who were with the RAAF during the Mirage days. They told me that RAAF used only the AIM-9B Sidewinder during those days (late 70s/80s), and photos I have of the Butterworth/Tengah-based Mirages I've seen seem to bear that out. Just checking, are you sure its the Magic you saw?

The only French missile used by the RAAF Mirages then was the SARH R530 (piece of rubbish apparently)

damienthedevil SG

Viper52, I am quite sure it was an early version Magic AAM.

Viper52 SG

Some pics of the Mirage after the prang, and pics of a Matra Magic vs AIM-9B

Matra Magic/Magic II

AIM-9B Sidewinder

cavsg SG

I spoke to a former skyhawk pilot who was also foo siew ngan’s course mate at flight school regarding the incident, there was no one party to blame for the incident, both pilots and ATC were at fault. however, the AFI conclusion seems to blame the mirage pilot.

Civet SG

Another accident involving 2 Mirages at Butterworth back in the 70s where a Mirage was about to land, landed on top of another Mirage which was about to taxi to the takeoff runway. Pilot on the ground Mirage was killed.

Seems to me there has been lots of Mirage crashes/incidents those days, was told that most pilots were mostly young RAAF pilots (usually pilot officer - 2nd Lt or flying officer - Lt) doing their tour of duty in South East Asia before going back to Australia. Not sure whether aircraft problems or pilots error.