'Helicopter Heroes'

27/8/2015 jam ~1100...Akhirnya,....tercapai juga impian saya, yang bermula semenjak 2009, agar sumbang bakti The Old But Faithful Iron Birds - NURI - terhadap keselamatan dan pembangunan negara diabadikan dalam bentuk filem dokumentari. Filem ini telah dilancarkan oleh YB Menteri Pertahanan di auditorium, KEMENTAN, syukur alhamdullah.

Veteran yang hadir ialah Brig Jen Dato' Goh S.T., Lt Kol Mior Zubir, Mej Oon L.H., Kapt Tien, PW1 Patrick Lee, PW1 Pak Singh, dan PW1 Mohsain. Sebelum perasmian, sempat berjumpa dengan rakan seperjuangan....

Dari kiri: PW1 Mohsain, Lt Kol Mior Zubir, NIBS, Mej Oon L.H.

Dalam auditorium

Perasmian oleh Mentah

Bersama Zaini Zaid (Redz Productions) selepas perasmian

Momento dari Redz Productions

Sapa2 yang berminat, tontonlah di History Channel 555 seperti yang dicatatkan oleh  Zaini Zaid melalui kumpulan WhatsApp 'Nuri Warriors'...

"Helicopter Heroes

...This one hour documentary tells the story of crews and pilots who flew the Sikorsky S61 during the 1969 Communist insurgency and the evolution of its strategic role in protecting and building the nation.

UPCOMING AIRINGS:

SUNDAY,30 AUG, 2015 - 22:00
MONDAY,31 AUG, 2015 - 06:00
MONDAY,31 AUG, 2015 - 11:00
MONDAY,31 AUG, 2015 - 15:00"

Redz Productions....Saya tidak mewakili sesiapa tapi mengambil kesempatan ini untuk merakamkan penghargaan diatas initiatif anda mengabadikan sumbang bakti "NURI" terhadap keselamatan dan pembangunan negara tercinta kita yang satu ini....MALAYSIA. Selepas ini para pengkaji boleh mendapat sedikit sebanyak maklumat tentang 'Talian Hayat' kepada anggota Pasukan Kesalamatan di suatu ketika dulu di Arkib Negara. Untuk itu....TERIMA KASIH.

MERDEKA....MERDEKA....MERDEKA

Mak...Pergi Buat Selama-lamanya

20/8/2015...Genap 8 hari mak kembali ke rahmatullah.

Pada 12/8, saya terima panggilan daripada adik saya, Ahmad Kamarudin@Mek, memaklumkan mak, RAHAMAH BT MAT WAHI, sedang nazak di rumahnya di Taiping. Walau pun sepatutnya nak celebrate segelas nescafe ice kurang manis kerana mengalahkan members, saya bergegas balik ke Taiping. Adik saya, Wahinuddin, sudah tiba dari Ipoh manakala kak, Intan dan Cik Su tiba lewat petang.

13/8, jam 1039....mak pergi buat selama-lamanya. Saya telah membuat laporan kematian di balai polis Taiping. Jenazah selamat dikebumikan di Tekah pada jam lebih kurang 1730.

Laporan polis

Saya tabik spring kepada Mek. Pada 2/8/2015 isteri beliau, NOREHAN, telah pergi buat selama-lama. Arwah disemadikan di Tekah juga. Arwah mak juga tinggal bersama Mek. 2 kematian dalam tempoh 12 hari! Sungguh besar ujianNya.

Iman (anak kak)  mengadap pusara mak sementara Bukhari (belakang berbaju hitam) mengadap pusara ibunya, Norehan

SEMOGA ALLAH MENEMPATKAN MAK DAN NORIHAN DIKALANGAN ORANG YANG SOLEH  

Gathering of Super Veterans

7 August 2015, 2000 hr; Loc: Wisma Pahlawan, MINDEF... I drove to KL to attend a gathering of the 'super veterans' of an instrument of modern warfare.....HELICOPTERS. Actually, I don't like to travel to KL with all those suffocating jams.  Worse still, I'm no longer familiar with the roads. Nevertheless, this was one gathering I wouldn't want to miss since it was to honour  Mej Benjamin Lee and his wife, Ailsa Lee. He was formerly an Alouette 111 and Nuri pilot. He has migrated to New Zealand a long time ago and they came over for a visit. 

Frankly, I had never served under him when I was in the service. I knew him during my flying days at SEA Helicopter in 1973-74. He was then the OC Examining Unit. Throughout the flying course, I was checked by him on 4 occasions. 

During the course of gathering information for my research, I had to get in touch with him to obtain information regarding the formation of No.7 and 10 Squadrons since he was the first OC of No. 10 Squadron.

Among my correspondences with him....

 ben_lee@xtra.co.nz
 5 Aug 2014

To

• nibsny@yahoo.com

Hello Nor Ibrahim

Well we did have a chuckle over Ben’s mood being judged by his legs!!! You’ll be pleased to

hear he hasn't smoked in years and of course no longer drives a Mazda Capella - that was a 

pretty useless car!! Went to East Malaysia with us 

after Ben left the Air Force and very glad to leave it there!!

These have been such interesting times for us both and has taken us back to such happy days in

both our lives for which I thank you sincerely -   even though that wasn't the object of the

 exercise.   It is interesting to read everyone’s recollections of events - with everything being 

new to the Air Force  there was a lot of fun times, though the work being done was treated with

the utmost integrity.

I think you deserve some sort of recognition for digging through the history.    Well done.

Regards

Ailsa

PS Like Ben, please call me Ailsa - I feel I know you too now. 

Sent from Windows Mail

From: nibsny@yahoo.com
Sent: ‎Monday‎, ‎4‎ ‎August‎ ‎2014 ‎4‎:‎37‎ ‎p.m.
To: ben_lee@xtra.co.nz

Dear Mrs Lee,

Your response came as a nice surprise. To me, Mej Ben Lee's involvement in the

helicopters of the RMAF has left an indelible mark in the history of RMAF. I salute

 him for being the FIRST in a series of events pertaining to 'Dragonfly'

(Aloutte 111) and the 'Iron Bird' (Nuri). 1st Malaysian QHI; 1st OC No 10 Sqn;

 1st OC EU, 1st OC Heli FTS; 1st OC ILIT. Not forgetting, of course, he was also

entrusted to train Nuri pilots, and setting up of EU, Heli FTS and ILIT from scratch.

What an achievement!

I never had the opportunity to serve under him during my RMAF days. My memory

 of him was confined to my flying training days at SEA Helicopter. Each time he 

appeared at SEA in the blue Mazda Capella RE and smoking his Players Gold Leaf,

 our hearts missed a beat for this meant we were due for the dreadful check ride. 

We had our own way of determining our progress during the check ride. All we had

to do was to monitor the positioning of  his legs. If he seemed relaxed and decided

to put his left leg on the window frame  of the Bell 47, then we knew for certain 

that we had passed the test. If he sat prim and proper with both  legs down, then we

knew we had to do another check ride.

 My primary objective in conducting this research is simply to document a small 

fraction of the history of the RMAF, in particular the Nuri, for posterity.

Regards, 

Nor Ibrahim

The function was a success. Almost all the former PTUs were there...

The Seniors and The Juniors

From left: Ailsa Lee, NIBS, Mior Zubir, 

Dato' Rahim. I'm flattered when Ailsa told

me that I was the one who  triggered Ben's
interest to start digging into his logbook 
again and to pay a visit to KL Base.

From left: Mej Jen Dato' Yahya Bidin, NIBS, 

Ben Kamaruddin, Lt Jen Dato' Sabri Adam,

Khairuddin, Mej Jen Dato' Razak,
Mior Zubir

With Ben Lee

Dato' Rahim...Thank you for sponsoring the event.

Dato' Karim...Thank you for organizing and inviting me.