Hong Kong hijack by Scots Guards!

[ShotOne]

There was an attempted hijacking of a Cathay Pacific TriStar on the ground at Kai Tak airport by two disgruntled Scots guards squaddies ? I think about 1983; they apparently helped themselves to a rifle and one or more handguns, commandeered various vehicles en route to the airport where they tried to hitch their ride home. Anyone know what happened to them subsequently?

[Wrathmonk]

According to the book "Among Friends: The Scots Guards 1956-1993" ...

....two members of C Company absconded from their posts on the border and attempted to hijack an aircraft at Kai Tak airport; they were eventually talked out of taking such action by a Hong Kong Police Officer and no damage was done other than to the battalion's reputation which regrettably never recovered with the Colony media who were understandably critical. For their part the military authorities played the incident in a low key leaving Colonel Ross to sort matters out within the battalion.

[Courtney Mil]

Ah, Scotch Guard. Wonderful stuff.

[Barksdale Boy]

The unfortunate incident coincided with the arrival of an RAF shooting team. They were given a right going over at Kai Tak.

[Fonsini]

An RAF shooting team? I hope none of their guide dogs were injured.

[ShotOne]

Although it's been written up as a schoolboy stunt gone wrong, there's no disguising the desperate and lethal intent here. A number of shots were fired along packed HK streets and it's surprising nobody was killed. Had the aircraft they stormed been ready to go, there's little doubt they would have put their hijack plan into effect. Given the Chinese governments robust attitude to such events, there's a good chance this would have cost hundreds of lives had they succeeded in reaching Chinese airspace.

Despite all this, their Colonel seems to have been more bothered about his regiment's reputational damage. What does "sort matters out within the battalion" mean in terms of punishment?

[Jumping_Jack]

An RAF shooting team? I hope none of their guide dogs were injured.

Nothing like showing your ignorance publicly :ugh:.

I believe that the RAF beat the other two services in every category of service shooting this year (pistol, rifle, close quarter, etc) and with the conrtibution from Target Rifle retained the Burdwan Trophy for the top shooting Service.

[Wrathmonk]

Despite all this, their Colonel seems to have been more bothered about his regiment's reputational damage. What does "sort matters out within the battalion" mean in terms of punishment?

That question may be best asked over on the Army Rumour Site. However, seeing as it happened in the 'good old days', it may well have included:

- A stint of (probably) one minute less than 28 days in the guardroom (>28 days would have been spent at MCTC Colchester I believe and been 'outside of the Battalion').
- Running a lot carrying very heavy objects.
- Painting a lot of kerb stones white.
- Polishing brass items over and over again.
- Being a Guards outfit, a lot of marching up and down.
- Being subjected to a lot of shouting.
- Standing to attention, for long periods of time, in different uniforms (probably being shouted at).

It may also have involved a bit of 're-education' behind the Guards equivalent of the hanger/bike shed. But remember - the first rule of "sorting matters out within the battalion" is that you don't talk about "sorting matters out within the battalion"!;)

[mad_jock]

that made me smile.

And add in sleep depravation.

[floppyjock]

I was in 1SG out there but flew back to UK a couple of weeks before the incident. I thought they did time in Stanley Prison. I will try and find out what happened to them.

Floppy

[huge72]

I was also serving in HK at the time of the incident on 28(ac)Sqn. The 2 concerned were on duty on the Border at the time. For one reason or another they decided after a few drinks that they wanted to return home. They stole the patrol Land Rover and headed for Stanley. This of course meant they had to go through both Lion Rock and Harbour Tunnels. Did they stop to pay at the Toll Booths, no but an SLR got them through!!!!! After picking up their Kit from Stanley, they headed back to Kai Tak back through the Harbour Tunnel. Shots fired again, they then crash the Airport which at that time of night was closed so take up position in the departure lounge to wait like good soldiers for the morning. Meanwhile the Hong Kong Police Special Duties Unit surrounded them to wait it out prior to the Morning; however before they were taken by this unit the Colonel turned up, marched into the departure lounge and the two by now sober guardsmen gave themselves up. They were taken into police custody and subsequently tried and sent to Stanley Jail. At the time of the handover in 97 I believe they were still there but I heard they were to be returned to UK to serve out the rest of their sentence.

[parabellum]

Wrathmonk - The offences they committed, with fire arms and ammunition, would take them way beyond the maximum punishment a CO can dish out, plus stealing a vehicle, then there are the civvy offences, including attempted hijack of an aircraft. Several years in clink, I would say, plus being kicked out in disgrace. From what huge72 says sounds as though they had substantial jail time.

[Wrathmonk]

Parabellum

Don't disagree - my original post (#2) was quoting straight out of a historical record of the Scots Guards. To me "sort matters out within the battalion" suggests everything was kept in-house (and by that no CM, no jail time etc - very surprising but also very army and also very hard to keep that out of the press).

Given subsequent posts from previous members of 1SG suggest jailtime was involved it would appear that the even the author of the historcal record of the Scots Guards is keeping it all in-house.

[Al R]

At the time, there was a lot of inter-battalian bragging rights.. (2SG) went south on Corporate and didn't these guys on 1SG want to get involved (at any cost)? As a slightly unruly airman on 34 Sqn at Akrotiri, I was once invited to do jankers with 2SG.. pine pole races up and down Happy Valley wearing early body armour and steel helmets. Not via the road but using re-entrants, bondu tracks and through the b*stard scrub.

I still remember the official designation of a Compo sweet screamed into my brain at close range - "sweet general service issue, hard boiled, coloured various, suck or chew". Slightly tangential note - who remembers the RAF JNCO murdered by three Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at Akrotiri at about the same time? They dropped a paving slab onto his head near the Pen Club.

[ShotOne]

It wasn't kept out of the press - how could it have been, whatever the army wanted? Indeed it was a major talking point in HK at a crucial point in the lead up to the joint declaration. But it seems the Scots Guards official history is guilty, not so much of airbrushing, but whitewashing. Still be interesting to hear what became of the two stars of the show.

[ValMORNA]

Off-topic, but a somewhat similar scenario occurred in Egypt in 1957-ish at RAF Fayid. One night an airman and a Royal Sigs squaddie 'acquired' a jeep and went off camp for a joyride. Eventually they were stopped by an Egyptian policeman who received fatal gunshot wounds from one of the miscreants, arms being carried quite routinely. A Court Martial was held on camp and I think they were returned to UK and served time at 'Hotel' Colchester.

[parabellum]

ValMORNA - pedantic, I know, but Colchester used to be sentences up to about 156 days, then soldier usually, (not always), returned to unit, serious jail time, in those days, was served at Shepton Mallet, followed by a dishonourable discharge.

[Archimedes]

Siege Guardsmen Surrender - Glasgow Herald, 2 Nov 1983 (http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19831102&id=LPs9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=K0kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4426,270139)

Libyans Detain Three More Britons Glasgow Herald, 25 May 1984 (http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19840525&id=88NAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=_aUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1580,5630515)

The story of the two Guardsmen getting four and three years in jail respectively appears at the end of the story about Libyan authorities detaining three Britons.

There is a Masters thesis from HK University which looks briefly at the case in the context of race and sentencing in HK; it appears that the judge thought that the Crown's throwing of the book at the defendants was excessive as this was clearly a case of drink-fuelled stupidity. The prosecutor reported that he felt that the sentence should've been at least six years.The (HK) DPP agreed and was in favour of an appeal against the sentence length. It appears that the DPP eventually concluded that there was little prospect of success, and the process of appealing to increase the sentence was dropped (See Edward KN Lau, The influence of race on sentencing in Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, 1990, pp.64-66)

[ValMORNA]

parabellum,


Thank you for the correction; Shepton Mallet may well have been their destination. I had hoped that other Canal Zone vets might have shed more light on the case.

[ShotOne]

Thanks for the Glasgow Herald article, Archimedes, that answers my question. I certainly recall that at the time, in the eyes of most HK Chinese, the sentence was regarded as absurdly lenient, given that any PLA Soldier pulling the same stunt just the other side of the border would certainly face execution. By way of a benchmark, there's currently a mandatory five year sentence in UK simply for having an unlicensed/unauthorised firearm, even if it's locked in a loft/cellar with no criminal intent.

[Wrathmonk]

ShotOne

By way of a benchmark, there's currently a mandatory five year sentence in UK simply for having an unlicensed/unauthorised firearm, even if it's locked in a loft/cellar with no criminal intent.

Not quite mandatory (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10201862/Ex-SAS-sniper-Sergeant-Danny-Nightingale-avoids-jail-for-illegal-gun-and-ammunition-possession.html).

Archimedes

Awesome Google-Foo skills!

[ShotOne]

Agreed, wrathmonk, special circumstances there...plus, it's fair to say, a pretty generous helping of benefit of the doubt.

The account by huge 72 tallies fairly well with the other sources, the only exception being the Colonel getting credit for talking them down. In fact an Royal Hong Kong Police Sergeant showed great bravery by going in (which probably wouldn't happen today)to talk them out shortly before the SDU did their stuff. This certainly saved their lives. This doesn't of course exclude the Col may have played a role but his performance leaves unanswered questions; how did they acquire industrial quantities of alcohol at their operational post on the border, what where their immediate commanders doing in the hours it must have taken to consume it, how did they access a rifle, ammunition and a Land Rover in that state...then why weren't they missed, and how on earth could they have waltzed in and out of a different base an hour or so later? Ought he really go down as the hero given the, to put it mildly, failures in supervision and leadership that allowed such a pantomime?