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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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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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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IDJ has sent an extract from a book by Martin Barnett published in 1984 about the history of tramways in Hong Kong. HF: Chevalier R Pescio was an Italian with an exotic name and an alluring proposal. Namely to build a tramway between Victoria and Aberdeen. He repeatedly tried to obtain government interest in this scheme between 1906 and 1910 […]
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York Lo: China International Motors (鎧興汽車) – Distributor of Bedford, Vauxhall and Buick automobiles Left: China International Motors ad from the 1950s; Right: Vauxhall ad in the HK Police Magazine in 1956 The American auto giant General Motors (GM) once had a significant presence in the HK automobile market from the late 1940s to the 1960s with its Chevrolet and […]
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Tymon Mellor: In the early days of flying, there were no paved runways, just large flat areas allowing take-off and landing to suit the prevailing wind conditions. Initially there was little interest from the Hong Kong Government to identify a suitable site within the territory for an aerodrome as flying was seen as a niche interest with little practical use. […]
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A little more information on the history of taxis in Hong Kong to add to our other articles, on the subject, linked below. Many thanks to SCT for proofreading the retyped version. Taxis cars can be further classified into those that charged according to the meters and cars for hire which did not charge by mileage. 1922 From the 17th […]
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York Lo: Rosalind Henwood of Flying Cargo – Pioneer of the Air Freight Industry in Hong Kong According to HKTDC, there were 1314 air cargo forwarders in HK employing 17287 that handled 4.5 million tons of air freight in 2016 and the HK International Airport also ranked first in the world in terms of international air cargo throughput last year. […]
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