Air war,8 to 10 Dec 1941

Air cover was provided by only ten Hawker Hurricane fighters of RAF No. 232 Squadron, based at Kallang Airfield. This was because Tengah, Seletar and Sembawang were in range of Japanese artillery at Johor Bahru. Kallang Airfield was the only operational airstrip left; the surviving squadrons and aircraft were withdrawn by January to reinforce the Dutch East Indies.

During December, 51 Hurricane Mk II fighters were sent to Singapore, with 24 pilots, the nuclei of five squadrons. They arrived on 3 January 1942, by which stage the F2A Buffalosquadrons had been overwhelmed. No. 232 Squadron was formed and No. 488 Squadron RNZAF, a Buffalo squadron converted to Hurricanes. 232 Squadron became operational on 20 January and destroyed three Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscars" that day,for the loss of three Hurricanes. However, like the Buffalos before them, the Hurricanes began to suffer severe losses in intense dogfights.

During the period 27 January–30 January, another 48 Hurricanes (Mk IIA) arrived with No. 226 Group (four squadrons) on the aircraft carrier HMS Indomitable, from which they flew to airfields code-named P1 and P2, near Palembang, Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies. The staggered arrival of the Hurricanes — along with inadequate early warning systems — meant that Japanese air raids were able to destroy a large proportion of the Hurricanes on the ground in Sumatra and Singapore.

n the morning of 8 February, a number of aerial dogfights took place over Sarimbun Beach and other western areas. In the first encounter, the last ten Hurricanes were scrambled from Kallang Airfield to intercept a Japanese formation of about 84 planes, flying from Johor to provide air cover for their invasion force. In two sorties, the Hurricanes shot down six Japanese planes for the loss of one of their own; they flew back to Kallang halfway through the battle, hurriedly re-fuelled, then returned to it. Air battles went on for the rest of the day, and by nightfall it was clear that with the few machines Percival had left, Kallang could no longer be used as a base. With his assent the remaining eight flyable Hurricanes were withdrawn to Palembang, Sumatra, and Kallang became merely an advanced landing ground. No allied aircraft were seen again over Singapore, and the Japanese had achieved complete air supremacy.

On the evening of 10 February, General Archibald Wavell ordered the transfer of all remaining Allied air force personnel to the Dutch East Indies. By this time, Kallang Airfield was so pitted with bomb craters that it was no longer usable.

Brewster F2A Buffalo fighters 

Hawker Hurricane 
No. 232 Squadron RAF

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Singapore(Date Accessed:17Feb2013)