Leg 15; Alor Star to Singapore.
Take off from Alor Star, mid-afternoon, and heading down the coast of Malaya. A late start, but for a purpose:
RMAF Butterworth below, and my first turning point. Originally RAF Butterworth, the Royal Australian Air Force is now a permanent co-tenant, and is upgrading the base for F-35 operations. I hope they also upgrade the VOR, which barely gave a squeak until I was almost upon it. In the distance is the island of Penang, where my godparents had their honeymoon:
Approaching Ipoh, and my second turning point:
Skirting round Kuala Lumpur. Far off in the distance can be seen the twin Petronas towers, the world's tallest twin skyscraper - not that there are many of them, of course:
Looking off towards the Malacca Strait, and Port Dickson on the headland. First time I went there, they had just come though a serious cholera outbreak, but things recovered, and we were fairly frequent visitors:
Singapore at last - the place I've been looking forward to most, since leaving Mildenhall. This is the western end of the island, at the bottom of the Malacca Strait, where the container terminals have been massively expanded on reclaimed land over the past 30 years:
Sliding over to look out the other window, there is Palau Bukom and Shell's main regional refinery:
Turning eastwards, and down below is the island of Sentosa - something of a recreational resort for Singaporeans, but many old British fortifications can still be seen, along with a very good war museum:
The main commercial and administrative heart of Singapore. Virtually all the land in the lower half of this shot is new, the area having been expanded in the last 30 years. Just above the port wing tip can be seen a small white building with a red pitched roof - that was Clifford Pier, the main landing point for boats, and it once faced onto the open sea. It's now a very nice restaurant called The Clifford - I'm glad they didn't demolish it:
Another view of the same area. I am studiously ignoring the triple towers of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. Much as I love Singapore, that building is just silly. With the flat deck on top, it looks like a cross between Stonehenge and an ironing board:
That grey dome is Singapore's national stadium, with the roof closed over. Note the rounded shape of the embankment - this is the site of Singapore's first airport, Kallang, and it originally had a circular pan enabling aircraft to take-off and land in any direction, hence the semi-circular edge of the reclaimed land. The beautiful 1930s terminal building still exists.
As I wait for sunset (the reason for setting off late from Alor Star), I fly over to the north side of the island, and have a look at the old R.N. dockyard at Sembawang. It was from here that HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse sailed to their doom on 8th December 1941, the day after Pearl Harbor. Remarkably, there is still a Royal Navy presence at Sembawang:
Sunset, and the lights coming on. Given the appropriate add-ons and enhancements, MSFS' night environment is spectacular:
On finals into Paya Lebar, which replaced Kallang as Singapore's civilian airport. As a boy, I landed here in a British Eagle Britannia, at night, so I had to do it again.
Once the new airport at Changhi was built, Paya Lebar was handed over to the Republic of Singapore Air Force, and now hosts F-15s and C-130s.
Coming to a halt in the GA parking area - it's nice to be 'home':
Singapore Landmarks:
https://orbxdirect.com/product/landmarks-singapore-msfs
Paya Lebar air base WSAP :
https://flightsim.to/file/8724/paya-lebar-air-base-wsap
Singapore coastline update:
https://flightsim.to/file/14571/singapo ... ine-update