 It relocated to RAF Kota Bharu, near the Malaya–Thailand border, in August 1941.Two days before the attack on Malaya, its Hudsons spotted the Japanese invasion fleet but, given uncertainty about the ships' destination and instructions to avoid offensive operations until attacks were made against friendly territory, Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham did not allow the convoy to be bombed.Shortly after midnight, local time, on the night of 7/8 December, the Japanese force started landing on the beaches at Kota Bharu, close to the airfield, and from about 02