Wings Over Malayan Jungle
No 1 Squadron (RAAF) Lincoln Bombers in the Malayan Emergency 
By David Mitchelhill-Green 
Published by Big Sky Publishing
RRP $36.99 in paperback
ISBN 9781923514003

The Malayan Emergency remains the most successful of Australia’s Cold War military commitments — yet its strategic, political, and operational significance is too often overlooked. In fact it is probably fair to say that the Malayan Emergency would not be widely known or recognised in Australia today.  

Author David Mitchelhill-Green brings this neglected conflict into focus through the story of No. 1 (B) Squadron RAAF. From 1951 to 1958, Australian aircrews flew Avro Lincoln bombers in a challenging and often under-appreciated role. 

As a contemporary RAAF review put it, the Emergency was a ‘different war’, one requiring ‘great skill and planning’, one demanding ‘ticklish flying, either day or night.’ 

The crews, a Singapore masthead reported, flew ‘through mist-swathed valleys and below rugged mountains,’ the war against the Communist insurgents fought as much above the jungle as it was by ground forces below. 

Interestingly, with the benefit of years, we see a British Government trying desperately to hang onto a rich source of revenue in the rubber plantations, and for insurance purposes, refusing to call the insurgency a ‘war’ or use war-related terminology.

But against this backdrop, the RAAF fulfilled an important role despite ‘vague targets’ and often wildly inaccurate maps. 

In the air, power was used to harass small bands of terrorists hidden in the jungle. In the end it was effective. The Federation of Malaya gained independence from British colonial rule on 31 August 1957. Tunku Abdul Rahman became the country’s first Prime Minister.