Singapore Air Force museum

[planecrazy]

Fortunate to recently visit the small museum of the Singapore Air Force.

Situated around a 20 minute taxi ride from the city the small, very accessible
and free Singapore Air Force museum is well worth a visit.

Mainly jets in this one, a lot of countries have used the T33.




Strikemaster.


Hawker Hunter.




Like many a fan of the A4 Skyhawk, interesting to see the SAF two seaters
with their double canopies, were these a local conversion or did they recieve
them like this?
























Interesting to see the SAF had six Air Tourers and two Air Trainers.


A few displayed outside.












Little bonus the museum is located near an active Air Force base got lucky
with three F15s coming into the circuit, nice tight formation!


Also a few displayed outside.

[baz62]

Pretty sure the two seat A4 mod was done in the US.

[planecrazy]

Jul 16, 2023 21:35:40 GMT 12 baz62 said:

Pretty sure the two seat A4 mod was done in the US.

Thank you baz, wonder why they did them with two single seat canopies instead of like the RNZAF
and RAN two seaters? I guess there is a reason for this be interested to hear the pros and/or cons
of the different styles of two seater canopies?

[tbf2504]

I believe that the reason for their "T" bird configuration was they got a "job" lot price on a batch of single seaters and the conversion to the two seat using those airframes was more economical than purchasing new standard "T" birds which were in short supply at that time, and they would have to wait for them to be built.

[obiwan27]

Jul 16, 2023 21:45:53 GMT 12 planecrazy said:

Jul 16, 2023 21:35:40 GMT 12 baz62 said:

Pretty sure the two seat A4 mod was done in the US.

Thank you baz, wonder why they did them with two single seat canopies instead of like the RNZAF
and RAN two seaters? I guess there is a reason for this be interested to hear the pros and/or cons
of the different styles of two seater canopies?

Wikipedia has info on the two seater and other A4 aircraft specifically purchased and modified for use by the RSAF.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST_Aerospace_A-4SU_Super_Skyhawk

"The TA-4S trainers were not the standard TA-4 with a common cockpit for the student and instructor pilot, but were instead rebuilt by Lockheed with a 28-inch (710 mm) fuselage plug inserted into the front fuselage and a separate bulged cockpit (giving better all round visibility) for the instructor seated behind the student pilot. This arrangement was unique for the RSAF but was not the first by Lockheed (the Lockheed SR-71B and U-2CT/U-2RT/TR-1B/TU-2S trainers also used stepped cockpits). As such converted/rebuilt airframes, these TA-4S trainers were powered by the original Wright J65 turbojet engines as used in the B/C models instead of the Pratt & Whitney J52 used by the purpose-built TA-4E/Fs tandem-seaters from Douglas assembly line; this was the main reason why the RSAF decided to not procure the TA-4E/Fs (if indeed an order was placed) and then having to maintain two different engines to power essentially the same aircraft type (a scenario not unlike having a fleet within a fleet)"

[obiwan27]

Jul 16, 2023 21:45:53 GMT 12 planecrazy said:

Jul 16, 2023 21:35:40 GMT 12 baz62 said:

Pretty sure the two seat A4 mod was done in the US.

Thank you baz, wonder why they did them with two single seat canopies instead of like the RNZAF
and RAN two seaters? I guess there is a reason for this be interested to hear the pros and/or cons
of the different styles of two seater canopies?

Wikipedia has info on the two seater and other A4 aircraft specifically purchased and modified for use by the RSAF.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST_Aerospace_A-4SU_Super_Skyhawk

"The TA-4S trainers were not the standard TA-4 with a common cockpit for the student and instructor pilot, but were instead rebuilt by Lockheed with a 28-inch (710 mm) fuselage plug inserted into the front fuselage and a separate bulged cockpit (giving better all round visibility) for the instructor seated behind the student pilot. This arrangement was unique for the RSAF but was not the first by Lockheed (the Lockheed SR-71B and U-2CT/U-2RT/TR-1B/TU-2S trainers also used stepped cockpits). As such converted/rebuilt airframes, these TA-4S trainers were powered by the original Wright J65 turbojet engines as used in the B/C models instead of the Pratt & Whitney J52 used by the purpose-built TA-4E/Fs tandem-seaters from Douglas assembly line; this was the main reason why the RSAF decided to not procure the TA-4E/Fs (if indeed an order was placed) and then having to maintain two different engines to power essentially the same aircraft type (a scenario not unlike having a fleet within a fleet)"

[skyhawkdon]

When Malaysia bought their A-4s they faced the same problem, no second-hand TA-4s were available so they made their own from single seat airframes but used the standard TA-4 configuration/canopy. I think Lockheed did theirs as well. The Singapore T-bird was certainly a funny looking beast.

[30sqnatc]

Devastated. No Short Skyvan .... their most boootiful aircraft. Well almost.