The airfield was an RAF station long before Malaysia existed. Wikipedia, citing Jefford’s RAF Squadrons, puts No. 36 Squadron’s Vickers Vildebeest torpedo bombers at Kuantan from July 1935 until December 1941, Blenheims of Nos 60 and 62 Squadrons there in 1941 and No. 100 Squadron’s Beauforts at the end of the year. When the Japanese landed at Kota Bharu on 8 December 1941, No. 1 Squadron RAAF pulled its Hudsons back to Kuantan the next day.

Kuantan’s place in the history books, though, comes from a landing that never happened. At 00:50 on 10 December, Admiral Tom Phillips, at sea with Prince of Wales and Repulse, received a report from his chief of staff in Singapore, Rear-Admiral Arthur Palliser, of Japanese landings at Kuantan. He turned towards the coast without signalling his intentions; the destroyer Express found nothing, and the "invasion force" spotted at 05:15 turned out to be a trawler towing barges. No fighter cover had been requested over Kuantan.

Japanese land-based bombers, searching further south, found the ships later that morning. Repulse sank at 12:33 and Prince of Wales at 13:18, about 110 km east of Kuantan. Wikipedia’s figures are 840 British dead against 4 Japanese aircraft destroyed and 18 Japanese killed. The detour did not cause the sinking, but it put the ships where the bombers could reach them.

The RMAF set up its base at Kuantan on 24 June 1968, and early on, according to Wikipedia, CL-41G Tebuan jets of Nos 3 and 9 Squadrons flew from it. Its real growth came with the Skyhawk. In 1982 Malaysia bought 80 refurbished A-4C and A-4L airframes from US stocks under a programme called PERISTA; 40 were rebuilt by Grumman to a standard unique to Malaysia, the A-4PTM, and the rest stayed in the United States as reserves and spares.

The A-4PTMs and two-seat TA-4PTMs were delivered between 1984 and 1985 and served with Nos 6 and 9 Squadrons at Kuantan. Their record was poor: Wikipedia says they suffered frequent maintenance problems and a high accident rate, which is believed to have shortened their careers. They were retired in 1995 and replaced by the BAE Hawk; No. 6 Squadron now flies Hawks from Labuan.

In 1995 Kuantan received the most surprising purchase in the RMAF’s history: Russian MiG-29s for a Commonwealth-trained air force. Malaysia took 16 single-seat MiG-29Ns, the 9.12SD export version, and 2 MiG-29UB trainers, and based them with No. 19 Squadron ‘Cobra’ at Kuantan; Wikipedia’s base article also names a No. 17 Squadron. The squadron’s MiGs also flew displays as the Smokey Bandits team, according to Wikipedia.

Keeping them flying was expensive. Two were lost in separate crashes, in 1998 and 2004, and six were retired in 2010 to cut maintenance costs. The remaining ten were retired in 2017, leaving the Su-30MKMs at Gong Kedak and the Hornets at Butterworth as Malaysia’s only fighters. Neither No. 17 nor No. 19 Squadron appears on the official portal’s current list of flying squadrons.

Since 2017 Kuantan has had no resident fighter squadron, but it remains a fighter-capable airfield. The Malaysian AIP lists a single 2,743 m runway, 18/36, with arrester barriers and cables at both ends for military aircraft, RMAF air traffic control, night flying by authorisation and a circuit closed during Friday prayers. Wikipedia places No. 10 Squadron’s EC725 Caracal helicopters here.

Its fast jets are now visitors. On 21 August 2025 an RMAF F/A-18D crashed shortly after taking off from the airport after, according to Wikipedia, an engine fire; both pilots ejected. Where Malaysia’s 18 FA-50M light fighters, ordered on 23 May 2023, will be based was not confirmed by any source reached for this dataset.