Singaporeans in World War II

Seeing that the 60th anniversary of V-E Day is just over, I thought I'd post this intriguing bit about a Singaporean who flew in World War II over Normandy:
Singapore-born Wing Commander Tan Kay Hai was the first Straits Chinese to fly with the Royal Air Force and to win the Distinguished Flying Cross. He flew with 2 Squadron RAF on photo-recon missions in Mustangs over the D-Day beaches in June 1944.

Wing Commander Tan was one of the 114 Singapore wartime pilots who were sent to Canada under the Commonwealth Training Scheme. Shot down over France in June 1944 after the Normandy D-Day Landings, he was captured but escaped within eight months and made his way to England. His operations with the RAF won him the DFC. (From the eHangar.com Forums)
You don't really hear about things like this that often, which is too bad, although I'm told this might've been in the Straits Times - the very improbability of a Singaporean Chinese man being in the RAF is interesting enough, but to learn that he flew over Normandy as well as escaped from capture - that's one heck of a story there. I wonder if there are any more stories from the other 113 pilots?

Edit: My math was atrocious.

Comments

Mr Miyagi said…
His has got to be one of the best war stories I've read. The other being the story of Operations Jaywick and Rimau.
11 May 2005 at 05:36
Anonymous said…
Wow. I would never have imagined that could possibly happen. Singaporean. Normandy. Wow!
Very interesting indeed. I am an avid fan of WW2 war stories:)
11 May 2005 at 13:13
Sunny said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
11 May 2005 at 22:33
Sunny said…
Hi Daryl, glad you picked up on this inspiring story of Wing Commander Tan Kay Hai and thank you for providing the link to my website eHangar.com.

Just a slight correction in your blog - we actually celebrated the 60th anniversary of VE Day, not the 50th.

Yes, it would be a most interesting project to find out about the other 113 Singapore pilots. Anyone care to take this on? :)

eHangar.com - the Aviation Art Directory & Portal for Aviation Art enthusiasts, artists, dealers and publishers
11 May 2005 at 22:37
Daryl said…
I'm really interested in people who set up sites on hobbies they're passionate about, like your aviation art one.

And yes, my math was bad! Will correct.
12 May 2005 at 01:50
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

50 Cent's crib

This New York Times article on 50 Cent's life in the sleepy suburb of Farmington, Conn. , is quite wry - But a cook at China Palace said Mr. Jackson could save 10 percent on any order over $30... Ah, the privileges of fame... 10% off Chinese takeout! For the party, Mr. Jackson ordered more than $5,000 worth of liquor, including "a lot of Baccardi," according to the owner of a Farmington liquor store who spoke on the condition of anonymity "to protect his privacy." Sipping Bacardi (ooh, caught a Times misspelling) like it's his birthday. How anonymous could a liquor store owner in a suburban town be? It's not like there're hundreds of liquor stores in the town, I'm guessing. I like how they keep referring to him as Mr. Jackson...
Read more

Dog blogs, plus the I look like my dog "contest"

Image
I've just discovered Puptastic , another dog blog, and learnt the following disturbing facts: 1. The dog most likely to eat you when you're dead is the Dachshund. Beware the hot dog! 2. Some people look a lot like their dogs . A lot. But only if they own pedigrees . Actually, I've heard about this study for a long time - it made its rounds on the Net a while back. It's a selection thing. Anyway, the post had a link to pictures of what they claimed was a "I Look Like My Dog" contest (urban legend alert - I think it's more likely to be just a series of regular Cesar ads), including this one: Update: some quick Googling shows that the idea that this is a dog-resemblance contest is almost certainly not true. Presumably the "winners of the 'I Look Like My Dog' contest line was meant to be facetious, but people have taken it seriously. In reality, these were ads done by ALMAP/BBDO Sao Paulo that won some Gold awards at the 2000 Cannes Lions ( thi
Read more