 The bitumen runway was built by the Japanese during their occupation of these islands between 1942–45.After 1945, it was used by the British Royal Air Force as a refuelling base for regular (generally twice-weekly) flights between RAF Negombo (now Colombo International Airport) in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and RAF Changi in Singapore (& vice versa), with an additional stop in RAF Butterworth, on the Malayan peninsula (opposite Penang).These flights were generally operated by Vickers Valetta twin-prop aircraft.