203 (FB) Squadron at Aden 1935/36
In July 1935 203 Flying Boat (FB) Squadron RAF was based in Basra and was equipped with six Rangoon flying boats. Towards the end of that month four of these were flown back to England to be exchanged for three Singapore IIIs (registration numbers K4582, K4583 and K4584).
After familiarisation training on the new aircraft the same crews left Plymouth Sound on 9 September to return to Basra. The first leg of the journey was a non-stop flight to Gibraltar which took a little over 11 hours. Two of the three had reached Malta on the 16th when orders arrived for the aircraft to go to Aden where the two arrived on the 24th. The squadron was the first of three to be sent to reinforce Aden during the crisis in Abyssinia.
Meanwhile the remaining two Rangoons of the squadron had already set off for Aden from Basra, the route taking them via Alexandria. They arrived in Aden on 1 October, flying the last leg from Kamaran with one of the Singapores that had been sent there the day previous to assess its suitability as a seaplane base. On the 11th the two Rangoons would set off for Gibraltar to join another squadron. The third of the three new Singapores reached Aden on the 7th with a fourth, K4577, arriving three days later.
Initially they were moored to buoys off Obstruction Point but on the 11th one flying boat broke away from its moorings, as result of which all existing moorings were condemned and the boats were anchored instead. Within a fortnight new moorings had been laid for six flying boats. Personnel of the Squadron were accommodated with 8 Squadron at Khormaksar but as 203 was to be based at the Isthmus it was decided to have the personnel close by. Flight offices and stores were put up at the Isthmus, using old packing cases which were gradually augmented by huts. For sleeping accommodation the Aden Protectorate School at the Isthmus (see photo below) was taken over and occupied from the 14th.
With the Royal Naval presence having been increased considerably as well there was excellent training to be had over the next nine months, principally with destroyers but also with submarines. There was the occasional operational sortie too; for example on 19 November one flying boat took off with a 550lb bomb to be dropped on troublesome tribesmen in the hinterland, but it was recalled before it could drop its load.
203 Sqn shared the mail run to Kamaran and Perim with the other squadrons in Aden. On the run on 25 November the tail plane of K4577 was badly damaged on landing and another had to be sent from the UK, with the crew having to wait on Kamaran until it arrived on 10 December. The Singapore was quite spacious and was very suitable for short distance travel by VIPs and there were several such flights to Perim. It also carried commanders and staff officers to and from the detachments in British Somaliland that were keeping an eye on Italian progress in Abyssinia. It was also the era of formation flying and in Aden opportunities for this were more numerous than in other stations. In a way the flypast or air escort was also an alternative to a military parade or guard of honour, there being no British infantry battalion in Aden after responsibility for the defence of Aden and control of the hinterland passed to the RAF in 1928.
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In early 1936 two more Singapores left the UK for Aden to bring the squadron up to its establishment of six aircraft. One of the two, K6907, on its way to Aden on 29 January had to land at Perim due to shortage of fuel. It was moored to one of three newly laid moorings which parted during the night. Fortunately the crew was sleeping aboard and the aircraft was started up before any damage was caused. It then moored astern of a destroyer. The final plane, K6908, arrived on 18 February.
By mid-1936 it was obvious that the crisis in Abyssinia was not going to spill out beyond its borders and the extra squadrons could be dispersed to their home stations. 203 ceased flying on 1 July and prepared for the return to Basra. Heavy equipment left on the17th and the first two flying boats departed on the 23rd. Due to a shortage of spares these were the only aircraft serviceable and the forecast was that all the remaining aircraft would not be able to fly out by the end of the month, which was the target date. In the event they just made it. In three years and two months 203 (FB) Squadron would be back again in Aden, under a different set of circumstances – but that is a different story.
The Short Singapore III entered squadron service with the RAF in January 1935. 203 Squadron was the first overseas squadron to be equipped with this aircraft. Altogether 37 were built for the RAF. It had a maximum speed of 136 mph at 5,000 ft, a range of 1,000 miles flying at 105 mph and a service ceiling of 15,000 ft with a climb rate of 700ft per minute. It had a crew of six.
The engine layout was somewhat unusual – it had four engines but two were normal tractor engines and two were pushers, i.e. with the propeller facing the tail. The Singapore had three Lewis guns, one each in the nose and tail and one amidships. It had a bomb load of 2,000 lbs. The wing span was 90 ft and it was over 23 ft high.
The Singapore replaced the Rangoon in 203 Squadron, one of the last tasks of the latter being a flight of three Rangoons which attended the centenary celebrations of Victoria in Australia in 1934. From the specification given above it is easy to appreciate that the Singapore was at best obsolescent by 1939. As a flying boat it was replaced by the Sunderland, but as the maritime patrol aircraft of 203 Squadron in Aden it would be replaced by the long-nosed Blenheim Mk IV.
