Four Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Boeing CH-47F 'Foxtrot' Chinook Helicopters Touch Down at Rockhampton Airport for Exercise Wallaby 2023

An awesome sight and sound on Thursday 31 August, as four Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) Boeing CH-47F 'Foxtrot' Chinook helicopters arrived into Rockhampton Airport ahead of the Singapore Armed Forces' Exercise Wallaby 2023 (XWB23).

They arrived as one flight of four, flying up direct from their base at Oakey. They were identified as 88167, 88170, 88161 and 88163, and were heard to use the radio callsign of "Celtic".

Of interest, the Chinook helicopters are flown by the RSAF's 127 Helicopter Squadron which is based at the Sembawang Air Base (SBAB) in Singapore, however as mentioned, with a detachment at Oakey.

The squadron goes by the motto of "Strength, Courage, Swiftness", the motto is supported by the squadron motif, a white horse in full battle armour.

The still fairly new CH-47F 'Foxtrot' Chinook helicopters are making their third visit to Rocky for Exercise Wallaby and there is information suggesting that more will be arriving on Friday.

UPDATE!  Indeed on Friday 1 September, a further four RSAF Chinook helicopters arrived into Rockhampton Airport also from Oakey - see Blog post above.  To have eight on the ground is a record number compared to previous years!

Meanwhile, it appears that the four RSAF Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopters delivered earlier in the week on board the Antonov An-124 have had their rotor blades attached and should be heading off for test flights in the coming days.

Sincere thanks to local plane spotted John L for taking the time to capture and send through these great photos!

All photos taken by John Lee  ©