The 127 Squadron is a helicopter squadron of the

Republic of Singapore Air Force The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the aerial service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for controlling and defending the airspace of the country, and providing air support to the Army and Navy. It was establish ...

. The squadron goes by the motto of "''Strength, Courage, Swiftness''", the motto is supported by the squadron motif, a white horse in full battle armour.

Unit history

Formed at Sembawang Air Base in 1996, the 127 Squadron consisted of six newly purchased CH-47D initially with another ten CH-47SD Chinooks added to the squadron strength by 1999. The squadron was set up to provide the RSAF with much needed help in the heavylift/support role of troop-lift and equipment transportation. Occasionally, the squadron's Chinooks are used to augment 125 Sqn & 126 Sqn in Search & Rescue (SAR) operations. One such incident happened on 18 December 2008 at 1612hrs (

Singapore Standard Time Singapore Standard Time (SST), also known as Singapore Time (SGT), is used in Singapore and is 8 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+08:00). Singapore does not observe daylight saving time. History As part of the Straits Settlements, Singapore origina ...

), when a multi-role survey vessel of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

— , made a call for assistance to the RSAF's Air operation centre (AOC) requesting for emergency evacuation of an unconscious crew. As HMS ''Echo'' was then outside the normal operational range of 125 Sqn's SAR Super Pumas, LTC Vincent Chin of AOC decided to launch one of 127 Sqn's Chinook helicopter to undertake the task of long-range

medical evacuation Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...

(Medevac). Within 45 minutes from the time of activation, the squadron's commanding officer—LTC Low Chung Guan along with co-pilot MAJ Andy Lim and Medical Officer CPT (Dr) Charles Goh was in the air. The unconscious casualty,

Leading rating Leading rating (or leading rate) is the most senior of the junior rates in the Royal Navy. It is equal in status to corporal, as the Royal Navy is the "Senior Service" and oldest service. Leading rates are permitted entry to and full use of cor ...

(LH) Cleary, was subsequently airlifted to

National University Hospital The National University Hospital (NUH) is a tertiary referral hospital and academic medical centre in Singapore, located in Kent Ridge. It is a 1,160-bed tertiary hospital serving more than 670,000 outpatients and 49,000 inpatients and serves ...

in Singapore for medical treatment, whereupon he made a full recovery. On 29 December 2008, while docked at Singapore, Commander Gary Brooks of HMS ''Echo'' commented that "if LH Cleary had not received medical attention for just another four to six hours, he might not have survived."; Commander Brooks then thanked the RSAF and 127 Sqn for their prompt response and professionalism demonstrated during this medical emergency. During Singapore's annual National Day Parade, the Chinooks of 127 Sqn have flown the national flag over the parade venue since 2000.

Training detachment

From 1996 until 2018, the squadron maintained a training detachment (Peace Prairie CH-47 Training) at Redmond Taylor AHP in (

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it t ...

) with six CH-47Ds. In June 2018, the entire detachment was relocated to

Oakey Army Aviation Centre Oakey Army Aviation Centre is situated approximately from the town centre of Oakey in Queensland, Australia. It provides a training establishment for Australian Army Aviation, and also hosts the Republic of Singapore Air Force's "Cougar" 12 ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

following a decision by the Singaporean Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) to consolidate and enhance the training process between the RSAF and the

Singapore Army The Singapore Army is the land service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). The largest of the four branches of the SAF, the Singapore Army traces its origins to the 1st Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment (1 SIR), which was formed i ...

Shoalwater Bay training area Shoalwater Bay is a large bay on the Capricorn Coast of Central Queensland, Australia 100 km north of the coastal town of Yeppoon and 628 km north-north-west of the state capital, Brisbane. Since 1966, the land surrounding Shoalwater Ba ...

Replacement

On 7 November 2016, a press release by MINDEF was issued after a decision was made to acquire ten new build CH-47Fs to replace the six older D-models which has been in service since 1996. Concurrently, the ten CH-47SDs were to undergo a modernisation process to bring them up to the same standard as the CH-47Fs.

Aircraft operated

#6× CH-47D/10× CH-47SD Chinooks (1996/1999–present) #10× CH-47F Chinooks - ordered in 2016, delivery slated for 2020 to replace the CH-47Ds. File:CH-47 Chinook (Republic of Singapore Air Force) h.jpg, 127 Sqn's CH-47SD lands aboard during Exercise CARAT 2001 File:127Sqn CH-47SG.JPG, Singapore Air Show 2010: A CH-47SD of 127 Sqn on static display

References

External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Squadrons of the Republic of Singapore Air Force Mandai