Zheng He said:
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but how would you like to be a fighter pilot who is told your trusty mount has a second hand engine that was pulled out of a commercial aircraft with the assurance, "Oh, but we rebuilt it for you so it's all good."
When I get home, I'm sure I can find some direct quotes from
Last Stand in Singapore
Not many quotes, but some comments of interest;
488 Squadron [RNZAF aircrew and groundcrew, fresh from NZ, took over unserviceable Buffaloes in Singapore] shared Kallang with RAF No. 243 Squadron and a Netherlands East Indies Brewster Squadron, so it wasn't long after the arrival of 488 [which had essentially no spares] that these squadrons found some of their stocks and supplies diminishing. Although 243 was a RAF squadron, most of the aircrew were Kiwis who had been posted there before the formation of 488 squadron.
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Bert remembers one day in particular the has the groundcrew almost tearing their hair out. A flight of 488 Squadron had left earlier in the day with some Dutch East Indies air force Buffaloes that has flown in from Batavia. The Dutch pilots had plenty of experience with this type of aircraft and the flight was part of a training exercise.While the group was away, Kallang experienced a heavy tropical downpour. Bert reckoned the water was 6 inches deep on the runway. The 488 boys landed first and ground looped five of their aircraft onto their noses. [...] There was no problems for the Dutch fliers as they had the experience and landed all their aircraft safely and the right way up.
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This was not a good day for 488 Squadron; unfortunately it set the scene for the rest of their campaign in Singapore. The Brewster Buffalo was hopelessly outclassed as a fighter aircraft. It could not sustain maximum power while climbing at full throttle without suffering from overheating and a drop in oil pressure, which caused the propeller oil seals to give way and blow oil all over the aircraft. The Buffalo could not operate above 25,000 feet but, worse than that, had to be nursed up to that height, a process that took 35 minutes. The Japanese aircraft were faster and more manoeuvrable; our pilots were disadvantaged from the very first day.