Issue 41: November/December 1987

Hornet fighters will now rotate through Butterworth for 16 weeks a year, F-111C strike aircraft will also visit, and the No92 Wing P-3C Orion maritime patrol detachment will stay on. In addition, Australia will continue contributing to the five-nation Integrated Air Defence System, a grouping of Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Britain and New Zealand.

The upshot is that from a RAAF presence approaching 1000 now, the Air Force will reduce to a core of somewhat more than 100 personnel. That will swell occasionally to about 400, taking in transient visitors and families. In the peak years m the mid-70s, the RAAF presence in Malaysia came to some 1500 personnel. In the 30 years at Butterworth, the RAAF has evolved a highly professional and respected defence role, and has developed ancillary services which have provided important medical, entertainment, education, relaxation and family support.

Central to the Butterworth story is its history as an operational RAAF base. Two Sabre fighter squadrons and a Canberra bomber squadron were based at Butterworth between 1958 and 1967. After that, two Mirage squadrons were based there, No3 and 75. Both are back in Australia and No79 Squadron, which took over after No3 Squadron returned to Australia in March 1986, will bring down the curtain on RAAF Mirage fighter deployment overseas. The squadron is a ‘cut down’ outfit with just eight pilots and 1 0 aircraft, which will pack up and come hole in May 1988 when it will also disband. Total squadron numbers ground support are 225.

Butterworth, on the Malaysian mainland opposite Penang Island, was originally an RAF staging post. It was occupied by the Japanese in World War 2, and later the RAF used It as a base for operations against communist terrorists in Malaya. After the decision to formally allot RAAF forces to Malaya as part of the British Commonwealth Strategic Reserve, the RAAF’s No2 Airfield Construction Squadron moved to Butterworth in 1955. In the next 2½ years. The squadron transformed the airfield into the finest in the area at a cost of about $10 million. On 31 March 1970 the Butterworth air base was formally handed over to the Malaysian Government under arrangements covering the return of British military bases.

Before Butterworth’s ‘bite’ is blunted, the base’s ‘voice’, radio station ARB, will be silenced. ARB goes off the air on New Year’s Eve. The station has been on the air in the Butterworth and Penang areas since 1960, and the Officer-in-Charge, Sqn Ldr Greg Mitchell says the switch off will be “a dreadful moment. ” Probably about 50,000 service personnel and their dependents have filtered through Butterworth over the years and for them, ARB has been the voice of home.

Another key element about to fold up is the RAAF School. The RAAF school on Penang started in 1959 and the one at Butterworth in 1984. That’s 28 years of ‘chalkies’, the white-uniformed men teachers and tropically clad women teachers providing children of RAAF personnel with an Australian education far from home.

Meanwhile, No4 RAAF Hospital has been scheduled for disbandment on 1 July. But as an indication of just how integral to RAAF life at Butterworth the hospital has been, consider this: in the peak period of 1979-80, the hospital was involved in 150 baby deliveries a year. In the late. Some nine or ten Permanent Air Force doctors were stationed there, in addition to visiting staff. Three full-time doctors were busy at the RAAF Centre, Penang. Now, the average number of inpatients at the hospital is four, although in one week recently 23 patients were admitted.

From 1965, the hospital played an important role during the Vietnam War, providing a facility where medevac patients were rested and stabilised before transport to Australia. In the last 10 years, the hospital has handled 155 medevacs, ranging from babies with congenital problems to trauma and motor vehicle accidents. A medical and dental flight is being formed at Base Squadron Butterworth to carry on, but in future serious cases will be sent to medical facilities on Penang, which are rated first class.

The RAAF Hostel on Penang also is an enduring symbol of the Australian and British military presence in Malaysia. The ‘hostie’ as it is so well known, previously was a leave centre for the RAF and a centre for the British Army. The ‘hostie’ is destined to be relinquished by the RAAF in about June next year and it seems destined to end up as a maternity hospital or a private school. The RAAF would like to move out in November provided a smaller place can be found. The ‘hostie’ is a huge, rambling place and seemingly invites occupation by large numbers. As far as the RAAF is concerned, those days are past.