HF: I have updated the images shown so that, hopefully, details can be seen more clearly. Click on the link for the improved version, the miniature below gives a very rough idea of what you will see, Elizabeth Ride has sent a number of plans, maps and sketches compiled by agents of the British Army Aid Group. These all show […]
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Rob Weir: The following information comes from War Office (WO) and Foreign Office (FO) documents held at The National Archives at Kew, London, UK. These notes were basically made “in passing” as a diversion to my main interests and so are fairly rough. I’ve put them in ascending date order from the first reference I found until the last. This doesn’t mean there […]
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Tymon Mellor: We take for granted the Hong Kong rail transport system; barring the occasional but rare incident, it operates reliably and efficiently every day for 365 days a year. The system is so efficient that we forget about the enormous efforts required in the development of the lines, the complexities of the designs, the challenges of construction and […]
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Hong Kong Air International Ltd was founded in the 1970s to provide helicopter services in the territory, such as scheduled flights, tourist flights, and external load lifting. The company was started by Maurice Holloway, as part of Hutchison (now Hutchison Whampoa), in 1971(?) and ceased trading in 1976. Many thanks to IDJ for sending the material used here and to […]
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Tymon Mellor: There are three things we can rely upon; prices will rise, politicians will disappoint and there will always be a train on East Rail. The latter was not always the case though, as up until 1974, there were only 17 passenger trains a day, but this was all about to change with the modernisation of the line. During […]
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Our recently posted articles about the Far Eastern Aviation Company appear to have reminded IDJ about a couple of smaller British airlines both with a slight Hong Kong connection. First up the rather posh sounding Hunting-Clan Air Transport to be followed shortly by Lloyd International Airways Ltd. “Hunting-Clan Air Transport was a wholly private, British independent airline that was founded in the […]
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IDJ: When Hong Kong was liberated in September 1945, one of the military groups diverted to assist restoring the city’s electricity, gas and water utilities and railway was the Royal Air Force’s No. 5358 Airfield Construction Wing that was part of Shield Force. This fleet of Royal Navy Cruisers and Aircraft Carriers plus their support ships were transporting 3000 airman […]
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Tymon Mellor: At the end of the nineteenth century, the great world powers were all trying to expand their spheres of influence within China. The approach of the British was to use Hong Kong as a marine trading hub, enhanced with the provision of a railway network thus extending the Colony’s commercial reach into the Chinese hinterland and connecting with […]
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“Ingham Sutcliffe who had only recently set up in business as a consulting engineer in Siam, was previously engaged as assistant chief mechanical engineer and superintendent of workshops on the Royal State Railways of Siam. He had held this appointment since 1919 and resigned from government service in 1930. He was born at Bradford in 1880, and after serving as […]
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IDJ: During 1948 and 1949 there was immense turmoil in China as the Nationalist and Communist factions battled for control of the country. Events were moving towards a climax. As a result, the Chinese airlines CNAC (China National Aviation Corporation), CAT (Civil Air Transport) both with Sino-American interests and flight crews, and Central Air Transport (nationalist government owned) all based […]
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