RAF Malaya was seen as the dumping ground for obsolete or unwanted RAF types, such as the Buffalo and Vildebeest. So, let’s have Malaya Commands requests for better aircraft results in RAF 263 Squadron (fully equipped with Whirlwinds Dec 1940), RAF 137 Squadron (equipped with Whirlwinds Sep 1941) and RAF 25 Squadron (ITTL equipped with Whirlwinds Dec 1940) being transferred to Malaya Command in October 1941, about the same time as Force Z departs the UK.
Now, the Whirlwind is hardly well suited for the situation in Malaya. It’s short ranged, required a long and hard runway, and its 20mm cannons while powerful, were only supplied with 60 rounds per gun for a total 5 seconds of shooting (one aircraft was fitted with 12x.303mg to help address this issue). But RAF is refusing to release Spitfires or additional Hurricanes, so the Whirlwind is a take it or leave it situation.
So, early October 1941, 54 Whirlwinds (18 aircraft per squadron - including spares) set sail on the deck of HMS Furious for a fast transit to Ceylon (22 days at 20 knots from Portsmouth, UK via Cape), in time to return to Gibraltar to re-join Force H in Nov-Dec. 1941. During the trip the aircraft are modified to carry drop tanks and each is equipped with a fuel bypass valve to share fuel between engines, while at the same time runway extensions are prepared in Burma and Malaya. Arriving at Trincomalee in late October, the 54 aircraft, equipped with drop tanks for 1,500 mile ferry range, fly 1,200 miles to RAF Mingaladon, refuel and then fly the 1,100 miles to RAF Seletar, Singapore. Loaner pilots from Trincomalee who brought over the spare aircraft are sent back to Ceylon.
By first week of November the three squadrons are operational, and practicing their bombing tactics and strike interceptions. Meanwhile a further fifty Whirlwind aircraft are crated and sent by ship to India, intended for onward ship to Singapore by February.
Now I know this thread is contrarian bait, and some will be compelled to tell us why this shouldn't, wouldn't or couldn't have happened. But, we'll carry on.
Three squadrons of Whirlwinds won't change the war, but they may help save Force Z for a day, as they could get to the area faster than the Buffaloes, and will rip the bombers apart (if only for 5 seconds). And how does the Whirlwind compare against the Zero? Given its heavier twin engine design I wonder if its pilots were already briefed about not close dogfighting with Bf-109s, so they may have a chance to avoid close in destruction from the A6M.
And, assuming the Whirlwinds are withdrawn once the IJA is closing in on Singapore, where are they withdrawn to? And how and from where do they fight on? My thinking is they go to Sumatra and then immediately fly to Burma or India, where the 50 additional crated Whirlwinds will soon arrive. Will we see the Whirlwind fight on into 1944 in India and Burma? Will spares be an issue? Can the Whirlwind's long take off requirements be accommodated in India/Burma?