CLOSURE OF ROYAL AIR FORCE CHANGI ASSOCIATION (INCLUDING HQ FEAF)
The final item of business of the 2025 Annual General Meeting at the Hilton Hotel, Leicester, on Sunday, 11th May 2025, was the formal announcement by founding member and first chairman of the Association, Mike James, of the closure of the Association with immediate effect after 29 years.
RAF Changi – Service, Community and Legacy
RAF Changi was one of the final chapters in Britain’s long Royal Air Force presence in the Far East — a station shaped by post-war rebuilding, regional operations, family life, and ultimately a carefully managed withdrawal that marked the end of an era.
Located on the eastern edge of Singapore, the airfield developed rapidly after the Second World War as part of the restored RAF presence on the island. In the years that followed, Changi became more than just a flying station. It was also the home of Headquarters Far East Air Force (FEAF) — the senior command responsible for directing RAF air operations across the region.
From Changi, FEAF oversaw a wide network of RAF stations and units stretching across Singapore, Malaya and beyond. During the Malayan Emergency and later the Indonesian Confrontation, decisions taken at Changi helped coordinate transport, operational flying, logistics and air support throughout Southeast Asia. The presence of FEAF HQ made RAF Changi not only an operational base, but one of the key centres of RAF command and planning in the Far East.
But RAF Changi was far more than aircraft and headquarters.
For the thousands who served there — and for their families — it was a close-knit community. Service life was balanced with schools, sports, social events and lasting friendships, all lived out under tropical skies. For many, a posting to Changi was not just another tour of duty, but a formative and memorable part of their lives.
By the late 1960s, Britain’s strategic priorities were changing. The decision to withdraw permanent forces “East of Suez” brought the RAF era in Singapore to a close, and RAF Changi formally ceased operations in 1971.
At that time, Singapore’s main international airport was located at Paya Lebar. The transformation of the former RAF Changi site into a civil aviation hub came later, through extensive land reclamation, long-term planning and major national investment. Over the decades that followed, the area was reshaped and developed into today’s Changi Airport — now recognised as one of the world’s most modern and busiest international gateways.
While the physical station has disappeared and the landscape has been completely transformed, the memories of RAF Changi — the people, the friendships, the shared experiences — remain as strong as ever.
That spirit lives on through the RAF Changi Association.
The Association existed to keep those connections alive, to bring together former personnel and families, to preserve the history of the station, and to ensure that the story of RAF Changi continues to be remembered and shared with future generations.
Though the runways have changed and the buildings have gone, what mattered most was never the place itself — it was the people who served there and the community they created.
To all members of the RAF Changi Association — past and present — thank you for your loyalty, your support, and your commitment over so many years. Your dedication has kept the memory and spirit of RAF Changi alive.
The station may have closed, but through the Association, the friendships, the shared history, and the sense of belonging continue — and remained an enduring part of RAF heritage.