Churchill to blame for fall of Singapore? British realised aerial mismatch much too late according to Chan Kwee Sung I REFER to Dr Ong Chit Chung's letter "Buck stopped at Churchill's desk" (ST, April 30). There is no denying that overall responsibility for the fall of Malaya and Singapore rested on Sir Winston Churchill. It seems doubtful, however, that the 440 aircraft Churchill sent to Russia in 1941 would have made any difference if they had been diverted to the Far East. These aircraft were types that lacked the operational superiority of the famed Spitfire that the British needed at home to match the marauding German Messerschmitt fighter during the vital Battle of Britain days. Only the Spitfire could have out-fought the Japanese Zero. British airfields here at the time did not lack for planes, most of which could be considered as American cast-offs. Unaware that the Japanese ever possessed a vastly superior fighter like the Zero, the British banked their confidence on the Buffalo, a stumpy and clumsy creation just like its namesake, which roared noisily at take-off and stalled easily. It was only when the Japanese were going down the peninsula towards Kuala Lumpur that the British realised this aerial mismatch and despatched a squadron of Hurricane fighters to Singapore. The Hurricanes made their mark in the Battle of Britain but they still proved no match for the Zeroes. Even before the Japanese landed in Singapore, the remaining Hurricanes were evacuated to the East Indies. The Spitfire did not appear in the Far East until the danger of a German cross-Channel invasion was over and the tide turned against the Japanese in the Pacific and Burma. It fought in the skies over Burma in the Allied counter-offensive and was probably prepared to spearhead the invasion on Malaya when the Japanese surrendered. If only the British War Cabinet had given more credit to the military capabilities of the Japanese, a more effective defence - with contemporarily modern aircraft and an adequate naval fleet, in Dr Ong's view - could certainly have made a vast difference in the fortunes of war in this Far Eastern theatre. By Chan Kwee Sung This letter appeared in The Straits Times forum page on May 6, 1997. Fall of Singapore: Should Churchill take the rap? Correlli Barnett, former keeper of the Churchill archives Dr Ong Chit Chung Chan Kwee Sung Dr Brian P. Farrell Chan Kwee Sung (second letter) Dr Ong Chit Chung (second letter) Roger Boniface Roger Boniface (second letter) Fight to death, Churchill told British Army Moses' start page Copyright © 1998 Singapore Press Holdings. All Rights Reserved.