There have been several threads about RAF Changi etc with some fantastic pictures from the 60s.
My stay in Singapore was a little earlier 1953-1954.
At this time Kallang was still in use for civilian traffic .
My father’s ship (the RASCV Malplaquet) was often at anchor in such a position as to afford an excellent view of the airport – I was on the ship when the BOAC Constellation G-ALAM crashed on landing on 13 March 1954.
Does anyone have any photos of Kallang from the 1953/54 era …or of Changi at that same time?
There was flypast for the Coronation in June 53 – presumably the aircraft originated from Changi and Seletar..again – does anyone have any photos or information about this?
By: Postfade - 9th February 2009 at 21:14
daveg4otu:
I found some superb pics of Lincolns’s taken in the 50’s on Flikr by ‘Ikinlin18’
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20762086@N05/
No aircraft in Singapore but they start with Lincolns on Gibraltar. On page two there are some pics at Changi. The shot called ‘Changi 42’ shows the ‘western dispersal’ and control tower from above and you can tell that it was once an east-west runway, as made by the Japanese. Well ‘made’ by the unfortunate British and Aussie POW’s of course. Changi was a site for the ‘big guns’ -15″ guns from a battleship that were to defend Singapore. The POWs were housed on the camp but later in the war the ‘civilian’ prisoners were moved out of Changi Gaol and the POWs moved there.
Our RAF quarter still had identifiable Japanese writing on the doors.
Here’s a report about the Constellation crash in 1954.
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19540313-2
DT
By: pagen01 - 9th February 2009 at 20:23
As part of my Grandfathers fire and crash training with BEA he had to watch footage of the Constellation crash, maybe the film of it is still out there somewhere.
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February 9, 2009 at 7:25 pm