Most viewed - Memories of Singapore

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An aerial shot of RNWS Kranji - This is taken from a northerly direction looking south.351 viewsThis is taken from a northerly direction looking south. It shows the old aerial field which my father believes was built originally as an oil container field before the war. In 1941 the oil containers were all set on fire during the Japanese invasion. The aerials are radio aerials that served WRNS Kranji. The straight road visible left was "Woodlands Road" which ran along the railway line. In between is the monsoon drain.2/3rds up the road is the entrance to the level crossing where there was the hut which was lived in by the keeper. The village to the left of the railway line was Yew Tee village, where my amah lived in a kampong.

The bungalow visible bottom left was lived in (1970-2) by Cdr Baller. The roof visible next to it is of bungalow 7 where we lived for the first 2 months of our time in Singapore before moving up the hill to the base which can be seen top right of the picture. the tall microwave aerial is visible in front of the white cliffs of the quarry on the horizon.

My father remembers the wealthy labour contractor Koonho who had the grass cutting contract for all the naval bases. This huge aerial field had approximately 100-200 men working in lines with long-handled scythes trying to keep the vegetation down.