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Kallang Airport Lapangan Terbang Kallang 加冷机场 காலாங் வான்முகம் | |||||||||||
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 The control tower of Kallang Airport | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Defunct | ||||||||||
| Serves | |||||||||||
| Location | 9 Kallang Airport Way, Singapore 397750 | ||||||||||
| Opened | 12 June 1937 | ||||||||||
| Closed | 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 the first purpose-built civil international airport in Singapore. It was officially opened on 12 June 1937 and was closed in 1955, when its operations were relocated to Paya Lebar. At its greatest extent, the airport, which was situated on the eastern shore of the Kallang Basin, spanned the modern planning areas of Kallang and Geylang. The conserved remains of the airport, including its terminal building, are located wholly within Kallang.
Boasting an anchorage area for seaplanes along the airport's perimeter on the Kallang Basin, the Kallang Airport was hailed as "the finest airport in the British Empire" at that time. Famous aviator Amelia Earhart once described it as "an aviation miracle of the East".[1]
Construction of the Kallang Airport began in 1931 with 300 acres (120 ha) of mangrove swampland being reclaimed. It resulted in the displacement of a large Malay community to the area around Jalan Eunos. Three Hawker Osprey aircraft first touched down in the Kallang Airport around two years before its official opening, on 21 November 1935. During World War II, the Kallang Airport was the only operational airfield in Singapore capable of supporting Allied campaigns against the Japanese forces. It was during the Japanese occupation period that the airport's grass landing zone was upgraded into a concrete runway and extended to 5,500 feet (1,700 m). As early as 1950, plans were made to build a new airport at Paya Lebar (the current Paya Lebar Air Base) as the Kallang Airport was unable to cope with the increase in air traffic despite being expanded. The Kallang Airport finally closed in 1955.[2][3][4][5]
The Kallang Airport compound was subsequently occupied by several organisations following its decommissioning, the most notable being the People's Association which used the facility as its headquarters from 1960 to 2009. While most parts of the airport were demolished soon after its closure, numerous structures remain. The structures which were gazetted for conservation by the Urban Redevelopment Authority on 5 December 2008 include the airport's terminal building, administrative blocks, aircraft hangars and control tower. The conserved complex is currently unoccupied.
Other parts of the Kallang Airport were redeveloped. The area surrounding the airport's former runway was first converted into the Kallang Park, a large public park created as part of "Project Lung";[6] later, the old National Stadium was built on the same site; today, the Singapore Sports Hub (including the new National Stadium and Singapore Indoor Stadium) is a major national landmark. The eastern portion of the Kallang Airport was redeveloped into one of Singapore's first modern residential precinct, now called the "Old Kallang Airport Estate".
It was one of the locations that hosted the 2011 Singapore Biennale art festival.[7] There are plans to transform the Kallang Airport area into a commercial hub, along with the adjacent Kallang riverside.[8]
Today, roads like Old Airport Road, Kallang Airport Drive, Kallang Airport Way directly reference the Kallang Airport; Old Terminal Lane refers to the conserved Kallang Airport terminal building; Dakota Crescent, Dakota Close and Dakota MRT station are named after the Douglas DC-3 "Dakota" aircraft that used to land frequently at the Kallang Airport and serve to commemorate an aviation disaster in 1946.
- ^ "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.