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
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
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.
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
Mior Zubir
With Ben Lee
Dato' Rahim...Thank you for sponsoring the event.
Dato' Karim...Thank you for organizing and inviting me.
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