In this enjoyable memoir Jack Docherty recalls his first overseas tour of duty as a young RAF airman at RAF Seletar in Singapore in the 1950s.

Having never ventured abroad before, the outbound trip by steam ship was an exciting adventure and the foreign environment of Singapore, with its tropical climate, strange food and unusual customs was a revelation to this naive young man from Paisley in Scotland.

He recalls the camaraderie he shared with his fellow airmen and the many high jinks they got up to in their off duty hours as well as his work as an aircraft mechanic.

The RAF base at Seletar, which was home to many thousands of airmen over the years, is fondly remembered, as are the other delights of Singapore, such as Tiger beer, curry and Chinese food, for which the author and his pals soon acquired a taste!

Of course, Singapore has changed a great deal since those far off days and the RAF left Seletar in 1976, so Jack’s return visit in 2009, accompanied by a pal from the 1950s, was a very special sentimental journey, in the course of which he discovered what had become of all their old stomping grounds. His journal of the trip records his impressions to round off this entertaining autobiographical account spanning 50 years.