Some Thoughts on Reaching Hong Kong

Barry Williamson
January 2011

Too many long years ago, aged 18, I flew to Hong Kong for the first time. This was in a propeller-driven RAF Handley Page Hastings aeroplane, with four wing-mounted radial piston engines. That journey, one of the best ever, took seven days, flying only by day. The unpressurised aircraft had a ceiling of 10,000 ft, giving splendid views of ocean, desert and countryside throughout the long, noisy slow-motion flight.

The plane staged for a night at RAF Castel Benito in Libya, RAF Habbaniya in Iraq, RAF Mauripur in NW Pakistan and RAF Negombo in Ceylon (as was) before reaching Singapore on the fifth day. I spent a week in Singapore, sleeping in an unlocked military police cell at RAF Changi (now the international airport) during the day, and guarding aircraft on the tarmac by night. I was issued with a Lee Enfield bolt-action rifle, but they didn't trust erks like me enough to provide the .303 ammunition. A clip of 5 rounds was kept in the guardroom to be collected and signed for, but only when needed.

I did get into Singapore town, a very different place in those days and still recovering from Japanese occupation during WW2. Raffles hotel was there but not much else. Changi itself was well out of the city, in scrubland.

After that week, I flew in a twin-engined Vickers Valetta aircraft to Hong Kong (my posting) in two days and three stages. We landed briefly in British North Borneo (as was) to refuel; the night was spent at the US Air Force air base at Clarkfield in the Philippines.

Hong Kong was remote and isolated, with Mao Tse Tung and the Red Army recently in power in mainland China. The landing was so difficult on the runway at RAF Kai Tak in Kowloon (the only runway in Hong Kong, with one end out to sea and the other below Lion Mountain), that the plane had to have enough fuel on board to fly back out to the Philippines, if necessary. It wasn't.

Those were the days, my friends; we thought they'd never end. However, they did and now half a day in a Jumbo from London to Singapore isn't too bad, after all. In fact, it can even be boring, and now, if you have to wait in an air-conditioned lounge for a connecting flight to Hong Kong, Perth or Sydney, there's always a Burger King on hand.