By popular request then, here's few more.
This is an MR1A VP267 in late 1961.
The Mk 2C's were beginning to arrive, certainly by the start of 1962. They had to go off to be painted and slowly began to fill in the line of 205 Sqn aircraft over on the far side of the runway from where I lived.
Changi had an 02/20 North/South runway with the taxiway down the western side of the runway. On the northern end of the runway was a road that led around to 205 Sqns dispersal. Here is a shot of a Mk2c doing a very low run down or slightly to the side of the runway from that road.
It was quite a walk for me to go round to the Eastern dispersal but on one occasion I raced around after school (I was 14). A detachment of Aussie Neptunes turned up for a short stay and were based alongside their RAF 'maritime' collegues.
I thought these guys were really fantastic. Well they had jet engines slung under their wings as well as great sounding prop engines!
My dad had been at Topcliffe a few years before, where Neptunes had been based, so I knew they weren't 'really modern aircraft' but they just seemed to have such style-with all those pointy radomes making them look like very serious anti-sub machines.
I wonder what the Brit crews thought of them.
Here's a closer shot of one
Many aircraft in the far East got 'tattoed' by the Aussie's and New Zealanders on visits and often 205s Shackletons wore kangaroos or kiwi's.
One of the Neptunes was painted with a 205 Sqn 'penguin' emblem, so I guess we got our own back sometimes.
I think I'll start another thread in a few days, as I've quite a few pics showing these adornments on a wide range of visiting planes.
David Taylor.