I wonder whether 60 or 64 would have used the same route if they had deployed to HK?
Yes, Brian, the 60 Sqn Javelins used the Tengah - Labuan - Clark route to get to Kai Tak in 1967/8. This was only possible, though, in the Mark 9R with 2 x 230 gallon underwing tanks in addition to the standard 2 x 250 gallon ventrals. I am absolutely certain that none of our aircraft had detached to Kai Tak before my return to the UK in 1966. I am also pretty sure that 64 never detached to Hong Kong, they had disbanded before the 60 Sqn visits.
Without the wing tanks we had to stage through Kuching to get to Labuan for our "confrontation" border patrols; Clark was way out of our range capabilities. My logbook shows that my first flight direct from Tengah to Labuan was on 10 April 1964, IIRC we hadn't any 9Rs until shortly before that date.
With the drop tanks fitted the aircraft was speed (350KIAS?) and G limited but it did at least fly a bit longer & further.