488 Squadron
In response to the rising threat from Japan, the pilots of 488(NZ) fighter squadron arrived in Singapore in November 1941, where they received Brewster Buffalos. Together with RAAF and RAF Buffalo units, including No. 453 Squadron RAAF, (which was also partly manned by New Zealanders), they provided the Commonwealth's only fighter force in the region. While the Japanese army advanced down Peninsular Malaysia, these squadrons fought a desperate and unsuccessful defence. The Japanese were better trained and more numerous, and as numbers dwindled, the squadrons' aircraft eventually came to be amalgamated within 488 Squadron, before in January 1942 on the eve of Singapore's surrender 488 Squadron was withdrawn to Batavia (now Jakarta) and then New Zealand.
Read more about this topic: No. 14 Squadron RNZAF
Famous quotes containing the word squadron:
“Well gentlemen, this is it. This is what we’ve been waiting for. Tonight your target is Tokyo. And you’re gonna play ‘em the Star Spangled Banner with two-ton bombs. All you’ve got to do is to remember what you’ve learned and follow your squadron leaders. They’ll get you in, and they’ll get you out. Any questions? All right that’s all. Good luck to you. Give ‘em hell.”
—Dudley Nichols (1895–1960)