"Close Shave With Death"
Capt's Longhouse said...
,,,Yes, indeed Lt Col(R)/Capt. Chong Keng Lay is someone very special !. I remember first meeting him when I attended the Mines Warfare Course in PULADA, his men plus himself taught us how to disarmed booby traps (before joining RMAF he was with the Army Engineering Core). I was even invited for lunch at his home and got to know his beautiful family too !.(perhaps convinced him there to join us in the RMAF ! hehe but seriously, he was already very interested in flying then)
,,,Later, he surprised me when he joined us as an aircrew and flew bravely together into the heat of many battles against the CTs without fear or regrets. He as always will be there come rain or shine, with that smile in his face ever ready to serve or rather fly.
,,,Again, after his retirement from the Armed Forces, he joined us in the civil helicopter, 'dog eat dog' environment as an offshore helicopter pilot serving the nation indirectly/directly to nationalise the local helicopter market from being too dependent on foreign pilots that cost an arm and a leg of tax payers money !.
,,,I have lots of time and respect for this guy, he is an example to the rest of young Malaysian and if the nation needs an hero, please don't look too far !. We have got one typical guy here-lah. The real thing, not Hollywood/Bollywood stuff !!.I rest my case..and my salute to Capt. Chong again !!.
,,,O.K.-lah Guys !,,,while we awaits Capt. Chong KL to write his, perhaps you might want to know more about late Capt. Choo Yok Boon ....ref ;"The nation recognised our sacrifices by conferring bravery awards,,,in 1979; few received posthumously, eg, PGB for the late Capt (U) Choo YB and PTU for the late Lt (U) Chung Min Tat." ????....
,,,YES, indeed the late Capt. Choo YB relief aircrew from 7 Sqn. Kuching before being killed at Ops. Gubir, he was involved with another Thai/M'sia border Ops. with me from 10 Sqn. whereby he volunteered to be the "Dummy" chopper for the CTs to take pot shots at so that we can determine where from the damn CTs were shooting our chopper from !!. (actually he over-ruled me, for being more senior to take that particular role !!) Now, can you ever beat that ?. Talking about sacrifice and bravery and total dedication in defending this beloved country ??..this guy sandbagged his chopper and hovered just to be shot at !! ....and radio across for y chopper to abseil/winch down the troops accordingly to attack the CTs.
,,,with the Nuri carrying protective sandbags for the 12 x troops on board, my chopper was grossly over weight to hover out of ground effect as such we had to rest her belly on the tree branches, while the troops were abseiled/winched down or else we can't take-off safely or just have to jettison the sand bags in a hurry !.
,,,this technique of flight support were never written anywhere in our SOP as such we kept it to ourselves (o.k. am only now disclosing it ! hehe)but the troops were happy to have these kind of crazy Nuri aircrews that gave them the maximum support beyond the call of duty !.
,,,Indeed, it was Capt. Choo's idea to place his chopper as the target so that we could safely deploy our troops and surround the enemy. That special Ops. was indeed a big success and we brought back a couple of dead CTs as trophy.
,,,Unfortunately a few months later his chopper was shot down at Ops. Gubir and were killed together with everyone onboard.
,,,In fact, we were together that morning at RMAF Butterworth, all three of us - meself, Capt Choo and Lt (U) Chung were discussing "When, Where and How" to crash land the chopper in case of being shot down while we were having our morning shower !!. Maybe I will write more about the Ops. Gubir flight support whereby 21 of our choppers were shot at and Capt. Murad's 139 x bullets holed chopper that Capt Choo was supposed to help ferry back was unfortunately in vain on 27th April'76.
,,,Darm the CTs !!..you bloody guys killed my dear flying buddies..and if any body were to bring Chin Peng back, am still awaiting to settle the score !.. that is/was my last promise to late Capt. Choo & Lt(U) Chung, Kapt(U) Mustafa Kamel, Lt(U) Wan Munsif and Sgt Leong (Nuri helicopter was shot down in Ops. Gubir - 27/04/76)
November 3, 2009 9:13 PM
Capt's Longhouse said...
,,,Yes, indeed Lt Col(R)/Capt. Chong Keng Lay is someone very special !. I remember first meeting him when I attended the Mines Warfare Course in PULADA, his men plus himself taught us how to disarmed booby traps (before joining RMAF he was with the Army Engineering Core). I was even invited for lunch at his home and got to know his beautiful family too !.(perhaps convinced him there to join us in the RMAF ! hehe but seriously, he was already very interested in flying then)
,,,Later, he surprised me when he joined us as an aircrew and flew bravely together into the heat of many battles against the CTs without fear or regrets. He as always will be there come rain or shine, with that smile in his face ever ready to serve or rather fly.
,,,Again, after his retirement from the Armed Forces, he joined us in the civil helicopter, 'dog eat dog' environment as an offshore helicopter pilot serving the nation indirectly/directly to nationalise the local helicopter market from being too dependent on foreign pilots that cost an arm and a leg of tax payers money !.
,,,I have lots of time and respect for this guy, he is an example to the rest of young Malaysian and if the nation needs an hero, please don't look too far !. We have got one typical guy here-lah. The real thing, not Hollywood/Bollywood stuff !!.I rest my case..and my salute to Capt. Chong again !!.
,,,O.K.-lah Guys !,,,while we awaits Capt. Chong KL to write his, perhaps you might want to know more about late Capt. Choo Yok Boon ....ref ;"The nation recognised our sacrifices by conferring bravery awards,,,in 1979; few received posthumously, eg, PGB for the late Capt (U) Choo YB and PTU for the late Lt (U) Chung Min Tat." ????....
,,,YES, indeed the late Capt. Choo YB relief aircrew from 7 Sqn. Kuching before being killed at Ops. Gubir, he was involved with another Thai/M'sia border Ops. with me from 10 Sqn. whereby he volunteered to be the "Dummy" chopper for the CTs to take pot shots at so that we can determine where from the damn CTs were shooting our chopper from !!. (actually he over-ruled me, for being more senior to take that particular role !!) Now, can you ever beat that ?. Talking about sacrifice and bravery and total dedication in defending this beloved country ??..this guy sandbagged his chopper and hovered just to be shot at !! ....and radio across for y chopper to abseil/winch down the troops accordingly to attack the CTs.
,,,with the Nuri carrying protective sandbags for the 12 x troops on board, my chopper was grossly over weight to hover out of ground effect as such we had to rest her belly on the tree branches, while the troops were abseiled/winched down or else we can't take-off safely or just have to jettison the sand bags in a hurry !.
,,,this technique of flight support were never written anywhere in our SOP as such we kept it to ourselves (o.k. am only now disclosing it ! hehe)but the troops were happy to have these kind of crazy Nuri aircrews that gave them the maximum support beyond the call of duty !.
,,,Indeed, it was Capt. Choo's idea to place his chopper as the target so that we could safely deploy our troops and surround the enemy. That special Ops. was indeed a big success and we brought back a couple of dead CTs as trophy.
,,,Unfortunately a few months later his chopper was shot down at Ops. Gubir and were killed together with everyone onboard.
,,,In fact, we were together that morning at RMAF Butterworth, all three of us - meself, Capt Choo and Lt (U) Chung were discussing "When, Where and How" to crash land the chopper in case of being shot down while we were having our morning shower !!. Maybe I will write more about the Ops. Gubir flight support whereby 21 of our choppers were shot at and Capt. Murad's 139 x bullets holed chopper that Capt Choo was supposed to help ferry back was unfortunately in vain on 27th April'76.
,,,Darm the CTs !!..you bloody guys killed my dear flying buddies..and if any body were to bring Chin Peng back, am still awaiting to settle the score !.. that is/was my last promise to late Capt. Choo & Lt(U) Chung, Kapt(U) Mustafa Kamel, Lt(U) Wan Munsif and Sgt Leong (Nuri helicopter was shot down in Ops. Gubir - 27/04/76)
November 3, 2009 9:13 PM
