Kallang Airport
Kallang Airport Lapangan Terbang Kallang 加冷机场 காலாங் விமான நிலையம்[1] | |||||||||||
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 The former control tower of Kallang Airport | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Defunct | ||||||||||
| Owner | Government of Singapore | ||||||||||
| Serves | |||||||||||
| Location | 9 Kallang Airport Way, Singapore 397750 | ||||||||||
| Opened | 12 June 1937 | ||||||||||
| Closed | 21 August 1955 | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 01°18′26.68″N 103°52′24.16″E / 1.3074111°N 103.8733778°E | ||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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Kallang Airport (also known as the Kallang Aerodrome, Kallang Airfield and RAF Kallang) was Singapore's first purpose-built civil international airport. Officially opened on 12 June 1937 and closed on 21 August 1955, it was located along the eastern edge of the Kallang Basin and spanned the modern planning areas of Kallang and Geylang. Constructed on 300 acres (120 ha) of reclaimed mangrove swampland, the airport featured facilities for seaplanes and was once regarded as "the finest airport in the British Empire", with Amelia Earhart calling it "an aviation miracle of the East". Though its official opening was in 1937, the first aircraft landed in 1935.[2]
During World War II, Kallang Airport was the only operational airfield in Singapore supporting the Allied forces against the Japanese. Under the Japanese occupation of Singapore, its grass airstrip was upgraded to a 5,500 feet (1,700 m) concrete runway. By 1950, growing air traffic made the airport inadequate despite expansions, prompting plans to replace it with a new facility at Paya Lebar, which opened in 1955. After its closure, parts of the airport were demolished, though key structures like the terminal building, control tower, aircraft hangars and administrative blocks were preserved and gazetted for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) in 2008. The People's Association (PA) had used the site as its headquarters from 1960 to 2009.[3][4][5][6]
Other parts of the former airport were repurposed. The old runway area first became Kallang Park as part of "Project Lung", then hosted the old National Stadium, and today forms the Singapore Sports Hub, including the current National Stadium and Singapore Indoor Stadium.[7] The eastern portion became the "Old Kallang Airport Estate", one of Singapore's earliest modern residential precincts. The terminal building was also used during the 2011 Singapore Biennale.[8] Roads such as Old Airport Road, Kallang Airport Drive and Kallang Airport Way reflect the area's aviation legacy, while Dakota Crescent, Dakota Close and Dakota MRT station commemorate the Douglas DC-3 "Dakota" aircraft and a 1946 aviation disaster. There are ongoing plans to transform the wider Kallang Airport area into a commercial and lifestyle hub.[9]
History
[edit]Looking into the future, I expect to see Singapore become one of the largest and most important airports of the world ... It is, therefore, essential that we should have here, close to the heart of the town, an aerodrome which is equally suitable for land planes and for sea planes; and the best site, beyond all question, is the Kallang Basin.
Naming
[edit]Kallang Airport got its name from the nearby Kallang Basin, which was named after a group of sea-gypsies living around the area in the 1800s.[11]
On 11 February 1930, the Dutch Airline KLM operated the first service flight between Amsterdam and Batavia (now Jakarta), landing at Seletar with a Dutch-made Fokker trimotor monoplane carrying 8 passengers and a cargo of fresh fruit, flowers and mail. This marked the beginning of commercial civil aviation in Singapore. KLM later introduced a regular Amsterdam to Batavia flight service in late 1931.
Two years later, in July 1933, Imperial Airways, the flagship airline of the British empire at the time, started a service between London and Darwin via Cairo, Karachi, Calcutta, Singapore and Jakarta. This service was later extended to Brisbane and operated jointly with Qantas on 17 December 1934.
Booming commercial aviation traffic led to congestion at the existing Seletar Airbase (today's Seletar Airport), creating a need for a new airport. On 31 August 1931, Cecil Clementi, Governor of the Straits Settlements, announced that Kallang Basin as the location for the new civil aerodrome suitable for land planes and seaplanes, and relieving Seletar of commercial flight activities. This place was chosen over other possible sites because of its proximity to the city centre as well as its location next to the Kallang Basin, which allowed seaplanes to land.[12]
Construction
[edit]
Reclamation work began on the 103 hectares of a tidal swamp in Kallang Basin in 1932. Seven million cubic metres of earth were used for the filling of this tidal swamp. By 1936, all reclamation and consolidation of land were completed, forming a 915-metre diameter, dome-shaped landing ground.
On 12 June 1937, the Kallang Aerodrome was officially opened by Shenton Thomas, who had taken over the governorship of the Straits Settlements from Cecil Clementi in 1934. At the time it was hailed as "the finest airport in the British Empire", with facilities that were considered revolutionary. The circular aerodrome allowed planes to land from any direction, and the slipway allowed seaplanes to be served at the same terminal building as regular planes.
Wearne's Air Service promptly initiated its Malaya internal air service on June 28, 1937, leveraging the advanced infrastructure of the newly unveiled Kallang Aerodrome.[13] Positioned at the forefront of aviation innovation, the circular aerodrome's state-of-the-art facilities provided an optimal setting for the airline's operations.
World War II
[edit]When the Japanese launched their invasion of Malaya and Singapore on 8 December 1941, Kallang was the principal fighter airfield. By January 1942, it was the only operational fighter airfield in Singapore, as the other airfields (Tengah, Seletar and Sembawang) were within range of Japanese artillery at Johor Bahru.
Brewster Buffalo fighters of 243 Squadron RAF, 488 Squadron RNZAF and a detachment of 2-VLG-V of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Air Force operated from the airfield, defending Singapore from repeated Japanese air raids. They were joined later by Hawker Hurricanes of 232 Squadron RAF, but attrition took a steady toll on men and machines, and by the last days of January 1942, the airfield had been badly damaged by the bombing and only a small number of aircraft were serviceable. The last of the fighters left in early February, escaping to carry on the fight just before Singapore was surrendered to the advancing Japanese.
Air Headquarters Malaya Communication Squadron RAF was formed here.[14]
The war years and after
[edit]The growth in aviation traffic was stunted during the war years, a period which saw the landing circle being converted into a single runway to allow use by warplanes. The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) and Qantas resumed their regular services to the airport, while the resurrected local airline Malayan Airways (MAL) began services on 1 May 1947.
In the early 1950s, the increasing size of aircraft and the need for longer runways resulted in it being extended beyond Mountbatten Road in the eastern boundary of the facility into what is now Old Airport Road. The new runway was 5,496 feet (1,675 m) long and 165 feet (50 m) wide.[12] This necessitated the installation of traffic lights to halt vehicular traffic every time a plane took off or landed.
Photo gallery
[edit]-
1945 aerial photo of Kallang Airport's runway -
1945 aerial photo of Kallang Airport runway and ramp, as well as Kallang Basin area -
1945 aerial photo of Kallang Airport runway, ramp and terminal building, as well as Kallang Basin area -
Brewster Buffalo Mk Is being re-assembled inside a hangar at Kallang in March 1941 -
The main hangar in 1941 -
Buffalo Mk I of No. 488 Squadron RNZAF, 1941 -
Abandoned Japanese Kawasaki Ki-45 fighters during the liberation of Singapore -
The first British prisoners of war to be evacuated from Singapore after liberation walk to their aircraft -
Royal Air Force personnel pass in front of a B-24 Liberator aircraft at Kallang airport, Singapore, in 1945–46 -
Video taken in January 2021
Accidents and incidents
[edit]- On 7 November 1941, a Royal Air Force Tiger Moth piloted by Flight Lieutenant Alec Wills was hit from behind by a landing Buffalo of 243 Squadron, resulting in Wills' death.[15]
- On 29 June 1946, one of the Dakota aircraft belonging to the Royal Air Force Police with 20 NCOs on board crashed at the airport in a storm with no survivors.[16]
- On 13 March 1954, a BOAC Lockheed Constellation, G-ALAM Belfast carrying mail crashed while attempting to land at Kallang Airport en route to London from Sydney. The accident killed 32 people, including eight crew members.[17] An investigation of the incident found that the most probable cause of the crash was pilot fatigue, but there was a serious problem of "inadequate response of the fire and rescue services". This remains the worst flight disaster in Singapore.[12]
Legacy
[edit]Kallang Airport has left several reminders of its existence. The old runway near to Mountbatten Road is now called Old Airport Road. The surrounding public flats there are named the Old Kallang Airport Estate. The estate is served by Dakota MRT station, which took its name from the Dakota DC-3 aircraft which used to land at the Kallang Airport.
Two new roads near Kallang MRT station have been named "Kallang Airport Drive" and "Kallang Airport Way". In addition, Old Terminal Lane, which links Geylang Road with Kallang Airport Way, references the Kallang Airport's conserved terminal building.
The slipway for seaplanes was occupied by the Oasis Building, a structure built on the Kallang Basin. The terminal building itself was used as the headquarters of the People's Association until 9 April 2009, when it moved to its new headquarters at King George's Avenue. The PA building held many activities for the ruling People's Action Party, ranging from school visits to social events.[18]
Kallang Airport was gazetted for conservation on 5 December 2008 by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) of Singapore.[19]
Architecture
[edit]The original Terminal Building is an iconic modernist building with Art Deco-style railings and columns by Frank Dorrington Ward. The international style is also visible in this building as a radical simplification of form, lack of ornaments, using transparent materials which make the building visually lighter; also the clear division of functions. There is a circular glass control tower in the centre, and there are two side blocks, the former terminal building, with an open-air viewing deck on the top floor. The People's Association kept the concrete structure and transparent glazed walls and repaired the façade, closed the gates, and rebuilt the window on the second floor for reshaping the interior space for the use of offices.
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ https://www.translatedterms.gov.sg/
- ^ "Amelia Earhart called Kallang Airport the aviation miracle of the east". Straitstimes.com. 9 December 2017. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
- ^ "Former Kallang Airport building". nlb.gov.sg. 11 June 2013. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ "Old Kallang Airport". remembersingapore.org. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ nickyeo (22 July 2014). "Old Kallang Airport". The Lion Raw. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ "Iconic of Old Kallang Airport". blogspot. 27 August 2017. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ "A Little History along the Kallang River". remembersingapore.org. 1 November 2016. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ "Singapore Biennale". nlb.gov.sg. 2017. Archived from the original on 8 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
- ^ "Urban Redevelopment Authority". Ura.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ "Former Kallang Airport building". Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
- ^ "Place Names: Gelam-Rochor-Kallang-Geylang". Singapura Stories. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
- ^ a b c Yong Kiat, Goh (2012). Where Lions Fly. Singapore: Straits Times Press. p. 63.
- ^ "Thousands of Letters by First Internal Airmail", The Straits Times, 29 June 1937, retrieved 25 January 2024
- ^ Lake 1999, p. 18.
- ^ McCrery, Nigel (2011). The Coming Storm: Test and First-Class Cricketers Killed in World War Two. Vol. 2nd volume. Pen and Sword. pp. 139–40. ISBN 978-1526706980.
- ^ Stephen R Davies (2004). "A Concise History of the Royal Air Force Police". Archived from the original on 20 February 2010. Retrieved 15 April 2010.
- ^ "32 are killed in Kallang air disaster". The Straits Times. 14 March 1954. p. 1. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
- ^ "Kallang Airport". Flickr. 22 December 2009. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
- ^ "Former Kallang Airport". Archived from the original on 28 June 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
Bibliography
[edit]- Lake, A (1999). Flying units of the RAF. Shrewsbury: Airlife. ISBN 1-84037-086-6.
External links
[edit]- Former Kallang Airport – article in the Singapore Infopedia published by the National Library Board of Singapore
- History of RAF