Such was the reality for those in the Fifth Division who flew the propellor-driven Scottish Aviation Twin-Pioneers to Bario during the height of the Confrontation with Indonesia near the Sarawak-Kalimantan border.
But Brigadier-General (Rtd) Soon Lian Cheng persevered for nearly four years, from March 1964, in the mountainous township famed for the Kelabit tribe.
Recounting his experiences 60 years ago, the then young pilot officer shared an instance during which he and flying officer Ahmad Merican ST Merican – who would later retire as a major-general – faced a daunting task.
“We had earlier departed the British Royal Air Force (RAF)-administered Labuan airbase and picked up Gurkha troops from the Anduki airstrip in Brunei for deployment in Bario,” the now 83-year-old said.
“However, heavy low clouds over Batu Lawi made it impossible to land at Bario’s Long Semado airstrip. So we circled around, not realising we were under heavy enemy gunfire.
“Upon diversion to Bandar Seri Begawan in Brunei, we were shocked to be unexpectedly greeted by many British and local top brass, who were elated we had made a safe return. They had received prior information that we had failed to land in Bario and had been shot at near the Indonesian border.”
The RAF, he explained, woud deploy its Gloster Javelin fighter jets as overhead aerial escorts during the missions to ward off Indonesia’s North American Aviation P-51 Mustangs marshalling their airspace.
“We were aware of the dangers but were trained well enough to face the challenges,” said Soon, who had been part of the first batch of Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) pilots to have trained on the piston-engine North American Harvard at Wigram station in Christchurch, New Zealand, from January 1962.
Prominent RMAF pilots with whom he had flown included Col (Rtd) Maximilian Albert Theseira, Brig-Gen (Rtd) Huang Chew Siong, squadron leader (Rtd) Arthur Cheah Nee Wah, deputy RMAF chief Major-Gen (Rtd) Abdul Malek Sahar Harun, and retired RMAF chiefs Lt-Gens Mohamad Taib, Mohamed Ngah Said and Mohd Yunus Mohd Tasi.
“In fact, my first sortie as a young pilot officer was with Maximilian, then a flying officer, in March 1964. Max showed me the ropes in navigating through the mountains and valleys as we flew without proper ground navigational aids,” Soon said.
The East Malaysian missions, he added, had been carried out monthly, with alternate detachments in Taiping, Perak to cover northern peninsular Malaysia.
He remembers Labuan being packed with RAF aeroplanes and helicopters to complement the Commonwealth Forces in the defence of Sabah and Sarawak, which formed the federation of Malaysia along with Singapore on Sept 16, 1963.
Malaysia’s move had irked Indonesia, which set out to invade East Malaysia for three years.
Later on, Soon would be reposted to East Malaysia, first serving as Labuan base commander in January 1973, then as senior air staff officer in Kuching in 1982, before returning to the Sarawak capital as East Malaysian air force commander in 1993.
He would go on to serve as Headquarters Integrated Area Defence System deputy commander in Butterworth, Penang; Armed Forces Defence College commandant; and RMAF inspector-general prior to his retirement in 1996.
After retiring, Soon continued to visit East Malaysia for hiking, mountain-climbing and social-club activities.